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Dan Gruhlke teaches at the Eastview Education Center in Monticello, where he is the STEM specialist for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students. He is frequently involved in leading professional development and involvement with advisory committees, including Project Learning Tree, Code Savy, and Engineering is Elementary. Dan strives to make is instruction relevant to his young students and hence presented a lesson on how trees respond to winter. It was full of observations, wonderings and developing explanations. One strength of his application was his use of education research to justify his instructional practices. In his reflection on the lesson he notes “the students’ enthusiasm toward observation, discovery, discussion and sharing of ideas.” Congratulations Dan

Bonnie Laabs is a science specialist teacher at Hamline Elementary School in St. Paul where she teaches 22 classes of grades K-5. In her past she was a church youth director. She has produced several academic papers and presentations. Bonnie’s application presented a third grade lesson on observations and classification of rocks and minerals. She motivated them with a video about the work of geologists and had them wonder about the rocks they commonly see. Then she engaged the students in using geology techniques to investigate the properties of the rocks so they and see the difference between these kind of properties with those of the game Monopoly. “A quote that describes her approach: “I strive to connect student’s lives, background and past learning experiences by eliciting background knowledge, making relevant connections to their interests, and creating a variety of options to share experiences and viewpoints.” Congratulations Bonnie.

David McGill is a science specialist for grades 1 - 5 at Capitol Hill Gifted and Talented School in St. Paul. In a typical day he teaches five classes per day, one at each grade level, plus remedial reading. In his past he was tennis teaching pro. David presented a lesson on light and seeing. He sparks their curiosity by having put their heads in a blacked-out box where they are unable to see a vase of yellow flowers. They move to other observations and develop scientific models of who light and vision work. He states that his goal is to “create a safe sharing environment where students can share solution without being judges and are allowed to explore, defend, disagree, or offer other solutions with confidence.” Congratulations David.