Amanda Nothstine
7th and 8th grade science teacher at Springboro Junior High
What excites you most about teaching?
What excites me the most is when you see a student who struggles and then they have that “aha” moment. I also get great joy out of watching my students teach their peers about the content we are covering. Most of my class revolves around inquiry-based labs.
What was your “aha” moment when you realized the value of using agriculture as a vehicle to teach science?
When I was teaching my Genetics unit, I realized that many students come with misconceptions about agriculture. Many students think that we grow corn only for eating, not also for fuel and for animal feed. Also, we talk about GMOs and how they affect the environment and the ecology of the areas around them.
How do you help students make the industry or real-world connection to what they’re learning?
I try to make a point to bring up jobs that a student could have that pertain to a topic that we are covering, so my students hear almost daily about a career field. In a few of my labs, the students are broken into groups based on a real job role that they could have to cover that topic.
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