Winners CO 2006

Dr. Thomas H. Bindel
Pomona High School
Arvada, Colorado

Bindel holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Colorado and has published fourteen papers in the Journal of Chemical Education. Academic rigor and excitement infuse his eleventh- and twelfth-grade chemistry classes, for which he has developed a curriculum based solidly upon foundational concepts. Playful and creative methods inspire his students to learn subtle and abstract concepts like quantum numbers, thermodynamics and stoichiometry— and his alter ego, Captain Carbon, occasionally makes an appearance. “Good teaching strategies give students the necessary confidence to handle more challenging material,” says Bindel, who also teaches summer courses in chemistry at the University of Colorado.

 
 

Cynthia Jamison Gay
Steamboat Springs High School
Steamboat Springs, Colorado

“The essence of science is creative inquiry,” says Cynthia Jamison Gay, who has been teaching high school science biology and chemistry for 24 years. Gay’s students write in journals and receive daily take-home messages that describe learning goals for the next day. A peek into her classroom reveals an engaged, questioning group of learners sitting in a circle grappling with subtle abstract ideas. Gay shares her love of the outdoors with her students by doing lots of fieldwork. Recently her class raised and released endangered razorback suckers in conjunction with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. In 2002, Gay won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching.