The MnSTA Science Teaching Award is presented each year to honor exemplary teachers at two levels: elementary and secondary. Each awardee receives a fund of $1000 for a project that benefits their students, plus free registration for the science conference. To demonstrate their qualifications for the award, the applicants must describe their teaching practices, list their professional activities, and provide a proposal for using the award funds. Recipients of the award are expected to share the results of their projects with other teachers. The judges for the award are members of the MnSTA board of directors.
The Science Teaching Award for a secondary teacher goes to Shawn Jansen. Shawn teaches Earth Science, Physical Science, Environmental Science, and Health at East Central School in Finlayson. Shawn values making material relevant, asking questions, spending time outdoors, building partnerships, and including citizen science. An example is her use of the Trout in the Classroom program, in which trout are raised in the classroom and released into a stream.
A recommendation letter noted that “Mrs. Jansen is not afraid to try new things in her classroom and continuously looks for ways to get students moving and outside whenever possible. Her goal is to make science applicable to students’ lives and create a generation of citizen scientists.”
Shawn will use the award funds to purchase equipment for sampling macroinvertebrates and for aquaponics activities.