Fifth-graders at an Austin elementary school, with the help of their Texas Medical Association-honored science teacher Hannah Cotten, discovered three new species of microscopic animals on their school campus. The microscopes students used to make the discovery were purchased with a resource grant Ms. Cotten received as a winner in TMA’s Ernest and Sarah Butler Awards for Excellence in Science Teaching.
A report on the discovery, co-authored by Ms. Cotten, was published in The Texas Journal of Science. The article describes how the 10-year-olds at Hill Elementary, in collaboration with their teacher and a scientist, studied tardigrades, or water bears, found in lichen and moss on their school campus. Of the eight species the students observed, three had never been recorded in Texas, and two of those were previously unknown in North America.
“These discoveries could not have been made without the collaboration between the authors and the diligent field work of the students,” study authors wrote. “Through learning the scientific process, students developed new advanced skills and became scientists.”
Ms. Cotten’s work with her students embodies the spirit of TMA’s science teaching awards, which recognize and reward science teachers who share their energy and enthusiasm for science with their students.
“My kids love that they are interacting with real scientists and feel important because they are working on a project many adults don’t even understand,” she wrote in her TMA award application essay.
“Helping young people experience science positively will open their minds to opportunities far beyond what they may otherwise imagine,” Ernest C. Butler, MD, Austin, said. “Good teachers are the key.”
Each year, three science teachers – one at the elementary-, middle-, and high-school levels – receive a TMA distinguished award, plus a cash prize and a resource grant for their school. In addition, a grand prize award and a rookie award (for a teacher with less than seven years’ experience) are given, also with monetary prizes.
Ms. Cotten received the Rookie Award in 2018.
Nominations for the 2022-23 awards are now open. Full-time public and private school science teachers with a minimum of two years’ completed classroom experience in all areas of science are eligible.
If you know of an outstanding science teacher, nominate him or her for the TMA awards. TMA will follow up to encourage the teacher to complete the application. Teachers also can self-nominate.
If you have questions, email SciTeacherAward[at]texmed[dot]org or visit the award webpage.
The TMA Ernest and Sarah Butler Awards for Excellence in Science Teaching are made possible by a grant from the Texas Medical Association Foundation, which is supported through an endowment generously established at the TMA Foundation by Dr. and Mrs. Ernest C. Butler and gifts from physicians and their families.
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