Dr. Charles A. Bottinelli
Isaac Newton Middle School
Littleton, CO

Dr. Charles Bottinelli teaches science to his sixth graders by "doing" science. He uses hands-on laboratory experiments as a "hook" for students. These experiments generate curiosity and motivate students to visit the library or use the Internet to investigate a science concept further.

"Teaching hands-on, minds-on science necessitates relinquishing learning control to the learners. The science teacher in this kind of setting becomes a facilitator of learning, a catalyst, a guide, much in the same way that a road map facilitates one's arrival at a chosen destination. A most important element of successful classroom science teaching is that students have become the focus, as I believe they should be in all classrooms; teacher-centered lessons and lectures must become the exceptions rather than the rule."

Highlights:

• Taught students the fundamentals of gel electrophoresis, an analytical technique for comparing DNA. Students practiced the hands-on biotech application to criminal forensics to solve the crime "Who Stole Tocto Oxica's Jade Necklace?," a mystery of a fictional break-in at a Denver museum.

• Uses props such as a flying pterodactyl, a witch-on-a-broomstick, and other unique science toys to teach forms of energy and their conversions.

• Uses Power Point presentations, the Internet, and science demonstrations to enhance the learning process.

• Has brought a significant amount of grant money to Isaac Newton Middle School to develop innovative science programs, buy computer hardware and software, and install a solar cell array on the school's roof; Newton Middle School became the first Colorado school to use electricity made from the sun.

• Varies teaching styles and strategies to accommodate the needs of diverse learners.

• Instituted and taught 7:00 a.m. Friday morning mini-seminars to bolster and enrich teachers' backgrounds in science.