Ninety-nine elementary teachers were called into action July 27-28, 2005, at the Hands-on Science Boot Camp to explore new and creative science integration strategies for making science education come alive in their classrooms. Named Operation Just Do Science, the intensive two-day, hands-on science training targeted early childhood through third grade teachers who wanted to make science more fun and meaningful in this classrooms. Read the rest of this entry »

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Amgen, the world’s largest biotechnology company, has opened nominations for the 2005 Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence. Amgen realizes the critical role teachers play in motivating students to explore science and pursue science-related careers, as well as in helping create science-literate communities. Amgen will be rewarding two outstanding Colorado science teachers, grades K-12, who have taught three or more years of science-focused curriculum.

The Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence will result in the following benefits to the winning teachers and their schools:

• An unrestricted cash award of $5000 to the winning teacher
• A restricted $5000 cash grant to the recipient’s school for the expansion and/or enhancement of a school science program, science resources or teacher professional development
• Recognition at an awards banquet and within Amgen corporate materials
• Access to a forum for sharing best practices with other Amgen award-winners from around the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

For nomination criteria please visit www.amgen.com/teacherawards. Qualifying nominations must be postmarked by January 31, 2005.

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I recently interviewed an amazing elementary teacher in Colorado who claimed to be able to do the impossible… she teaches science every day! That’s right, in a day and age when reading, writing and math occupy an elementary teacher’s every waking second, this teachers actually uses science to teach other subjects. Pam Sanders is a 4th grade teacher at Superior Elementary in Louisville, Colorado and she’s amazing. I first met Pam when she attended the National Hands-on Science Institute in Denver in 1999. Pam is a teacher who truly gets it when it comes to teaching science. I’m so impressed with her ability to build real-world connections between science and math and to use her special brand of “gee-whiz” science to motivate kids to want to read, write and truly want to discover something new on their own. Among her many awards, Pam Sanders is the recipient of the Amgen Excellence in Science Teaching Award. The Amgen Corporation recognizes extraordinary teaching contributions and performance by educators in our communities through their excellence award.

Pam and her class joined me at 9NEWS KUSA-TV as a guest to share some of their latest science experiments. Watch the video

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