Tag Archives: Science Teachers

Chalkboard Champion Ricky Arnold: The Astronaut and Aquanaut

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 A 3068A very unique group of American educators are teachers who have also become astronauts. One such teacher is Ricky Arnold, a science teacher from Maryland.

Richard Robert “Ricky” Arnold II was born November 26, 1963 in Cheverly, Maryland. He was raised in Bowie, Maryland. In 1985, Ricky earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Frostburg State University in Maryland. He completed the requirements for his teaching certification from Frostburg in 1988, and earned his master’s degree in marine, estuarine, and environmental sciences from the University of Maryland in 1992.

In 1987, Ricky began working at the United States Naval Academy as an oceanographic technician. After earning his teaching credential, he accepted a position as a science teacher at John Hanson Middle School in Waldorf, Mayland. In 1993, Ricky joined the faculty at the Casablanca American School in Casablanca, Morocco, where he instructed courses in college preparatory biology and marine environmental science. While there, the gifted educator began presenting workshops at various international education conferences focusing on science teaching methodologies. In 1996, Ricky and his family moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he was employed as a middle and high school science teacher at the American International School. Before long, Ricky was hired by International Schools Services to teach middle school mathematics and science at the International Schools in Kuala Kencana, in West Papua, Indonesia, and in Bucharest, Romania.

4e712e592af12.image[1][1]Ricky was selected as a Mission Specialist Educator by NASA in May, 2004. After becoming an astronaut, he flew on space shuttle mission STS-119, which was launched on March 15, 2009. On this fourteen-day mission, this remarkable educator-astronaut delivered the final set of solar arrays to the International Space Station. He completed two space walks. Not content to end his career in space, in August, 2007, Ricky served as an aquanaut during the NEEMO 13 project, an exploration research missino held in Aquarius, the world’s ponly existing undersea research laboratory.

 

Clayton Brough: The Teacher and the Television Weatherman

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$RKZAZ3VVery often gifted teachers earn recognition in fields other than education. One such teacher is Robert Clayton Brough, a retired middle school teacher who is also well known as a climatologist and television personality. Known widely as Clayton Brough, he is probably best known for his position as a long-time weatherman of ABC4 in Salt Lake City, Utah, a position he held for twenty-eight years. He also worked on the weather team at CBS2.

Clayton was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 29, 1950. As a youngster, he was a longtime member of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1967 Clayton was selected by his district to report on the status of Scouting in America to President Lyndon Johnson. After his high school graduation, Clayton enrolled in Brigham Young University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1974 and his master’s degree in 1975, both in the field of geography.

During the years he worked as an on-air weatherman, Clayton also taught science, geography, and journalism in middle school. His first teaching assignment was at Springville Junior High in 1975 in Springville, Utah, where he worked between 1975 and 1978. Between 1978 and 1984, Clayton took a break from teaching, returning to the profession to teach at Springville in 1984. In 1986,  he transferred to Eisenhower Junior High in Taylorsville, Utah. Clayton has also served as an adjunct instructor of geography at Brigham Young University starting in 1989 and at the University of Utah  beginning in 2005. He has also written scientific articles and doctrinal books for the Mormon Church.

This gifted educator retired from his thirty-one-year career in the teaching profession in 2012.

Lisa Niver Rajna: The Chalkboard Champion Who Teaches Her Students That Science Isn’t Scary

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Lisa_Niver_Rajna[1]Lisa Niver Rajna, an elementary science teacher from Los Angeles, California, is an amazing chalkboard champion. Lisa was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1967, and earned her master’s degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to her career as a professional educator, she is also a sought-after motivational speaker, travel agent, and travel writer.

Lisa is well-known in science teacher circles for her instructional strategies that emphasize her students use technology and real world connections to explore their passions and to work towards solving today’s most complex issues. She has also developed a successful summer science camp for students and maintains a science-based web site entitled Science Isn’t Scary. In 2009, Lisa founded the Los Angeles Science Teachers Network (LASTN),  a professional development network that by May, 2012, involved over seventy teachers and forty schools. The effort has been praised by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Lisa Niver Rajna has published many articles in online and offline magazines, including National Geographic, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, and The Jewish Journal. She was a 2012 nominee for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching.

Here is a link to her educational web site: Science Isn’t Scary

Here is a link to her travel web site: We Said Go Travel

Science Made Thrilling by Educator Michael Stephen Lampert

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Science is a thrilling experience in the classroom of educator Michael Stephen Lampert, a teacher at West Salem High School in Salem, Oregon. This dedicated educator opens his classroom at least one afternoon each week for students to work on their science projects, which he mentors. He also coaches the school’s robotics team and academic teams, including Science Bowl, Ocean Bowl, and High Five. Twice Michael’s students have won the Toshiba ExploraVision competition for their work developing a prosthetic arm that can sense touch and using bio-sensing technology to treat attention deficit disorder. Also, his students advanced to the finals in the Lemelson-MIT Inventeam contest for their work on a device that evaluates the ripeness of watermelons.

This remarkable educator has quite a professional resume outside of the classroom as well. For example, he has launched weather balloons in Antarctica to study ozone depletion, and he has helped install an infrasound listening station in Africa that can be used to detect a nuclear explosion. When he is away from the classroom working on projects such as these, he shares his experiences with his students through online journals, demonstrations, and community presentations. In addition to his hands-on projects, Michael has helped write curriculum and design the web site for the new PBS show Wired Science. He has written numerous grants to fund innovative projects that explore topics such as airbag physics and sports physics. He has earned more than $250,000 in grants for his students. And he has conducted extensive outreach programs to elementary schools in his home town.

Michael has earned plenty of recognition for his efforts. He was one of forty-five winners of the 2005 Disney Teacher Award. In 2009, he was selected Oregon Teacher of the Year, and the same year he was named the winner of the Science Education Prize for High School Teachers by the American Association for the Advancement of Science Leadership. In 2010, he was one of ten winners of the PBS Teachers Innovation Awards. Additionally, the Society for Science and the Public has listed him as one of ten SSP Fellows.

Michael Lampert graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in physics, and then started work on his doctorate in atomic physics at Oregon State University before deciding to pursue a career in teaching. How greatly is the profession enriched by the contributions of this amazing chalkboard champion!

Braulio Alonso: A Genuine Chalkboard Hero

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0002910439-01-1_06-07-2010[1]When we think about chalkboard heroes, one name that immediately comes to mind is Braulio Alonso. This distinguished educator and World War II veteran can boast of numerous accomplishments during his lifetime.

Born in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, in 1916, the son of impoverished cigar makers, Braulio graduated as the valedictorian of his class from Hillsborough High School in 1935. He was also the valedictorian of his college class when he graduated from the University of Tampa in 1939.

Braulio began his teaching career as an instructor of physics and chemistry courses at Henry B. Plant High School in Tampa, but when World War II erupted, Braulio became part of the United States Army in 1941. He was immediately sent to officer candidate school, and later he became part of the 85th Infantry Division in North Africa. The teacher-soldier was promoted to Battery Commander for the 328th Artillery Battalion, taking an active part in the Italian campaign. He was among the first Allied soldiers to liberate Rome. By the time he was discharged from the service, Braulio had earned a Bronze Star with Cluster and a Purple Heart.

After the war, Braulio continued his career as an educator. He was named the director of Adult Education and headed an on-the-job training program for returning veterans. He also taught classes and served as a principal at several schools, including West Tampa Junior High, Jefferson High School, and C. Leon King High School.

Always intent upon improving the quality of education, Braulio became the president of his local teachers’ union, eventually becoming the president of the Florida Education Association, where he led the drive to integrate the organization. In 1967, he was elected the president of the National Education Association, the first Hispanic to hold that office. While NEA president, Braulio worked to persuade teacher organizations throughout Europe to join with NEA for an international conference to combat racism, anti-Semitism and apartheid, and served as its secretary. In 1966 he became an international figure when he was asked to mediate a dispute among teacher organizations and the Bolivian government. This was the first of many missions to mediate disputes, including efforts in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Brazil, the Ivory Coast, Kenya, and Ghana.

This remarkable chalkboard hero passed away of natural causes in 2010. He will be missed, but certainly not forgotten.