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	Last updated 6.15.05

Innovation Grants: Summer 2003 Recipients

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AL CO FL MI NJ PA

ALABAMA

Brenda Simmons, Odenville
10th to 12th Grade Teacher
St. Clair County High School
Partner: Melissa Richardson
Ms. Simmons and Ms. Richardson guide their students through all the phases of writing and publishing novels that focus on growing up in Alabama from the 1940s through the 1970s. Students research these decades and conduct interviews with community members who were teenagers at the time. The students then write four novels, one for each decade, and host a book signing in a local bookstore.

COLORADO

Julia Somers, Ignacio
10th to 12th Grade Science Teacher
Ignacio High School
Partners: Zane Bilgrav, Gwynna Reinhardt
Ms. Somers, Ms. Bilgrav, and Ms. Reinhardt developed an inquiry-based marine biology curriculum that increases their students' environmental awareness and interest in science. Students from this isolated Rocky Mountain American Indian reservation conduct field research at local streams and lakes with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe Environmental Division, consult with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder and learn scuba diving to observe marine life up close at the University of Hawaii Marine Research Station.

FLORIDA

Patricia Thomas, St. Petersburg
10th to 12th Grade Teacher
Dixie Hollins High School
Partner: Kathy Zavidil
To engage their at-risk students in science and improve critical-thinking skills, Ms. Thomas and Ms. Zavidil have transformed their science class into a crime scene investigation adventure. Each week, students use DNA analysis and other advanced techniques to analyze simulated crime scenes.

MICHIGAN

Kate VerSchure, Inkster
10th to 12th Grade Teacher
Beacon Day Treatment
Partner: Braden Wachtel
In Ms. VerSchure's classroom, students become engineers who write computer programs that design, build, modify, and manipulate LEGO¨ robots. The programs enable robots to collect data, which students then analyze and present in class. Community professionals discuss engineering careers and evaluate the students' robotics projects.

NEW JERSEY

Robert Pohlman, Teterboro
9th to 12th Grade Teacher
Bergen County Technical High School
Partner: Ryan Kruger
To improve the technical writing skills of their pre-engineering and electronics students, Mr. Pohlman and Mr. Kruger require students to keep a notebook on their projects. The team hopes that helping their students write clear, accurate descriptions of technical designs, products, and operations—according to industry standards—will prepare them for careers in engineering.

PENNSYLVANIA

Mitchell Trembicki, Haverstown
11th to 12th Grade Science Teacher
Haverford High School
Partner: Susanne Stein
Using a local apple orchard as their laboratory, Haverford High School students observe the affects of integrated pest management on nonpoint source pollution and disease resistance in plants and insects. Students inspect pheromone traps and track degree days, photograph and draw indigenous insects, and analyze data to control pests and limit pesticide applications. At the conclusion of the project, students create a mural that illustrates how humankind affects the environment.