Pam Schmidt, an eighth grade science teacher at Thunder Ridge Middle School and
Carolyn Crapo, a physics teacher at Grandview High School, are recipients of the 2007 Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence. They will each receive an unrestricted cash award of $5,000 and a restricted grant of $5,000 for their school, to be used for the professional development of science teachers, the expansion or enhancement of science programs, or science resources.
Schmidt and Crapo are two of four award recipients from Colorado. They were selected by an independent panel of judges on the basis of creativity of teaching methods; effectiveness in the classroom; and plans for the use of grant money to improve science education resources in their schools. Both have demonstrated an outstanding ability to inspire their students and produce results in science education.
Schmidt, who was Colorado's 'Teacher of the Year' in 1997, gets her students excited about science and engaged in discovery from the moment they walk into her classroom, which resembles a rainforest and is home to live snakes who are part of Schmidt's popular "Slithers" program. Schmidt also sparks interest and inspires investigation through many hands-on activities and learning adventures that have taken students to the Wyoming badlands to collect fossils, to the Mojave Desert to radio-track sidewinders with a herpetologist, and even to Peru to study the rainforest!
Crapo goes to great lengths to help her students see and experience the real-life applications of the science they are studying. Her students have done innovative labs using blow guns to analyze projectile motion, Hot Wheels cars to study conservation of energy, and life-size cardboard and duct tape boats that they design, build and row across the swimming pool to study fluids. She also takes her students indoor skydiving to allow them to experience terminal velocity and to an amusement park so they can analyze the physics of the rides.
Amgen, an international biotechnology company with operations in Colorado, sponsors the Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence to recognize teachers in the K-12 grade levels in public and private schools whose dedication to their students' education has had a significant impact on the learning and interest of the future generation of scientists.