GrowNextGen teacher leader

Brian Badenhop

Physical science, physics, and biology at Northwestern High School

Brian knows a lot about: biology, physics, physical science

Mr. Badenhop is willing to be contacted by other teachers about the topics of technology, biofuels, genetics and biology. He is interested in collaborating with others about GMOs, bees, or soy’s impact on the environment.

What about teaching excites you most?

The ability to share my passion for science with students. I appreciate the opportunity to engage students in different areas of science and reverse misconceptions. Helping to show students that science is an exciting subject that connects almost everything is something that keeps me going!

What was your “aha” moment when you realized the value of using agriculture as a vehicle to teach science?

My “aha” moment came during GrowNextGen presentation at the SECO conference in 2013. This presentation helped me see that my understanding of agriculture (my family farms around 80 acres in northwest Ohio) could be applied to my science curriculum. I also learned that agriculture is not just about farming, but that it consists of many other careers that apply to agriculture that I could share with students and connect to their current lab programs. This really helped me to reach my students on another level. Since I’m in a school district that is composed of many rural students, applying agricultural into the curriculum helps me to connect ideas in science to situations that apply to their lives.