This month, we recognize Abbey Dufoe, a May 2013 graduate of The Pennsylvania State University, earning her undergraduate major in Media Studies and minors in Environmental Inquiry and Civic & Community Engagement.  In her time as an undergraduate student, Abbey completed several research projects where she developed curricular materials and supporting resources now available on the PAESTA website, such as five iBooks on topics relating to the hydrosphere.  Abbey presented her PAESTA contributions at the 2012 Fall American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco a

This month, we recognize Cathy Bateman, Chairperson for The Fine Arts and School Technology Leader with the School District of Philadelphia.  In the words of her nominator: "Cathy has been teaching for many years, in both art and technology education, most recently at Frankford High School where she teaches art, ceramics and serves as the school technology leader and fine arts coordinator.

This month, we recognize Theresa Lewis-King, middle school science teacher at AMY Northwest in Philadelphia. Theresa's accomplishments are significant and wide-ranging, especially with regards to PAESTA. Theresa is the founder and chair of the PAESTA Teacher Advisory Committee, and she continues to work to improve PAESTA online resources and to mentor teachers as leaders in the organization.

This month, we recognize Katie Bateman, a 6th-grade science teacher and science curriculum coordinator at the Mariana Bracetti Academy Charter School in Philadelphia.  In the words of her nominator: "Katie is a leader, cheerleader, model, and all-around team player at every ESSP/PAESTA workshop or meeting I have attended over the last 18 months.  She listens to other teachers' concerns and always offers valuable feedback, resources, or ideas. I have heard her mention 'becoming' a university level science methods teacher/investigator, and I sometimes feel she is close to doing the job without having the title.  She has taken new ideas, such as Claims/Evidence/Reasoning, back to her home school and successfully shared it with colleagues.  She has been recognized by her school leadership, being made science coordinator.  I keep wondering when I will get to attend a workshop led by Katie."

This month, we recognize Kathy Tait, a science teacher at the Julia R. Masterman School in Philadelphia.  For the past several years, Kathy has engaged with several Earth Science teacher workshops and has moved into leading workshops and projects for other teachers.  In 2010, Kathy presented her pedagogical innovations at a regional Geological Society of America conference in Pittsburgh, PA.  Her talk, titled "Dispelling middle school student misconceptions of Grand Canyon formation through hands-on activities", led to her publishing this work in the The Earth Scientist in 2011.  Kathy has continued in teaching curricular innovations to others as the lead organizer of a teacher workshop at the Franklin Institute in Summer 2012.

This month, we recognize Megan Pickard, a graduate student in the Department of Geosciences at The Pennsylvania State University in State College.  Megan began working with middle and high school teachers as a graduate student fellow with the NSF-funded Transforming Earth System Science Education (TESSE) program for two years.

This month, we recognize Lauren Beal, a sixth grade general science teacher at AMY Northwest Middle School in Philadelphia.  Lauren recently presented her curricular innovations at the first annual PAESTA conference, one of only five K-12 teachers that submitted a conference proposal.  Lauren’s talk was titled “Claim, Evidence, Reasoning: Helping Students to Construct Scientific Explanations.”  Lauren presented student examples and shared strategies of how she has incorporated CER into her classroom.  Then, Lauren led a discussion on strategies for incorporating this pedago

This month, we recognize Meredith Hill Bembenic, a postdoctoral researcher with the Earth and Space Science Partnership project at The Pennsylvania State University in State College.  Meredith began working with middle and high school teachers in Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina as a graduate student fellow with the NSF-funded Transforming Earth System Science Education (TESSE) program for two years. With the ESSP project, Meredith has continued to develop and implement new curricular materials in several areas including energy and Earth sciences.

This month, we recognize Eilisha "Joy" Bryson, a sixth grade science teacher at Meredith School in Philadelphia.  In the past year alone, Joy has engaged with several projects at the leadership level, from serving as a co-instructor of a teacher workshop at the Franklin Institute to serving as a Teacher Leader at Penn State's Earth Space Science Partnership summer workshop in plate tectonics.  One example where Joy has make a valuable contribution to Earth science instruction is by taking a classic classroom exercise, "Discovering Plate Boundaries," then sharing her modifie

This month, we recognize Sara Neville, for all of her contributions to Earth and space science education while an undergraduate student at Penn State Brandywine in Media, PA.  Sara graduates this summer with a custom-designed bachelor's degree that explored the connections between middle school Earth science education and educational technology, while minoring in environmental inquiry and civic and community engagement.