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Mario Alberto Godoy-Gonzalez Royal High School teacher Mario Godoy-Gonzalez has shared his renewed passion for science with his students since 1994 and has received state and national recognition for his work. As a language teacher, the offer to teach science was somewhat unexpected. But when the Royal School District asked Godoy-Gonzalez, originally from Chile, to develop a program to support the academic improvement of migrant and Hispanic students, he willingly returned to college to better prepare himself for his new teaching challenge. Today, Godoy-Gonzalez uses science across the curriculum to help students acquire or develop reading and writing skills as well as science knowledge and lab competence. This Golden Apple Award recipient takes pride in the increasing number of minority students he helps to graduate from Royal High School so they can pursue their American dream as college undergraduates. |
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Sheila Guard “I am driven every day to provide students with opportunities to do science,” says Sheila Guard, who has taught science for the past 15 years. One of her greatest accomplishments is her ability to connect with junior high students and inspire and train them to become better scientists. Guard is a 2003 Washington Initiative Award winner. She earned her National Board Certification in the fall of 2005, and takes pride in her efforts to share knowledge with her peers. Perhaps most important is what she has led her students to accomplish. During the past 12 years, she has helped hundreds of Canyon Park Junior High students win awards and team trophies in multiple state and national Science Olympiad and Science Decathlon championships. The students consistently demonstrate their ability to connect critical and creative thinking, along with math and writing skills, with the science methodologies Guard works so hard to teach them. |
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Misty Nikula Misty Nikula always dreamed of being a teacher. As a child, she “played school” for hours at her small toy desk. Her high school science teachers inspired her deep and enduring love for learning about how things work — a curiosity that prompts her to seek out programs such as Teachers and Researchers – Exploring and Collaborating, where she works in the field with real scientists and brings those experiences back to her school and community. She kindles the natural curiosity in her middle school students through engaging lessons and projects that let them become archaeologists, oceanographers, chemists and biologists in their classroom. By considering herself a scientist first, then a teacher, Nikula is a role model for students to see themselves as scientists, as well. In 2004, Nikula received Science Teacher of the Year awards from the Washington Science Teachers Association and the Washington Science and Engineering Fair Board. |
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Eleanor “Ellie” J. Peterson Ellie Peterson became passionate about science while in high school, working as a tutor for the younger students. These days, she finds herself in a classroom full of inquisitive sixth and seventh graders and up to her elbows in inquiry-based curriculum. Her class activities include building edible cell models, solving staged “crimes” with forensics and identifying mystery sand samples. She has participated in the University of Washington’s Physics Education Group Summer Institute three times and recently completed her MA with a focus on Science Curriculum and Instruction. She has given presentations at the American Association of Physics Teachers conference and has helped teach science workshops for elementary school teachers. |
