Featured Teacher: Benita Albert

by WIRED Science Education     Department: Featured Teacher

If you know a high school teacher who really knows how to motivate students to learn about science, email us why they should become our next Featured Teacher.

Benita Albert is a math teacher at Oak Ridge High School in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  Over her forty years of teaching she has taught across the secondary school math curriculum.  In 1983, she recognized that in her "science town" there was no serious high school student science research.  Subsequently, she designed and started a program that has grown from a single student to a dozen students, including the first place team at the Siemens Foundation science competition.

In My Own Words

I teach several different math classes including AP Calculus BC, Calculus 2 (post-AP, honors) and a research course: Math, Science Computer Science Thesis.  In this class students do the majority of their research over the summer, and thus, many have put in 40-60 hour work weeks all summer long to have their projects ready for the October 1st, Siemens deadline.  It doesn't stop there--many more opportunities for competitions, publications and extended research are available throughout this year.

Math Thesis (as it is more briefly named) gives my students an opportunity to do cutting-edge scientific research in their high school career.  Each student selects a project from a set of proposals offered by scientists at the Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL).  The projects chosen for this year's class (2008) include studies in Climatology, Carbon
Nanowebs, Engine Combustion and Alternative Fuels, Computer/Math Modeling of Surface Areas for Applications and Mass Spectrometry with Proteomics.  Students work as a team or individually, though teams are an extremely popular option given that students can specialize in a part of the project and contribute to a larger study.  Scientists at ORNL serve as advisors/mentors on the student projects.  Over the years numerous ORHS student research projects have been published and/or infused into the research studies pursued at ORNL including an information mining project designed by three students in the class of 2006 and adopted by the Department of Homeland Security.  An ORHS research team of three won the Siemens Science and Technology Competition first place team Prize for their work in the development of computer tools to make bioethanol fuel production more efficient.  Their work helped ORNL secure $800,000 additional monies to continue bioethanol research.  As the Thesis teacher, I am incredibly proud of the opportunities this program provides:

1.  "Team-work"as a model for the workplace.
2.  Cutting-edge science to thrill young minds and develop future scientists.
3.  Access to higher level problems than the traditional high school curriculum in math and science.
4.  Opportunities for technical writing and presentations at a scientifically "juried" level.
5.  An opportunity for this high school teacher to "dream" and to stretch my own classical training.

More about Benita Albert

Mrs. Albert has done extensive work with the College Board and consultant training for AP Calculus teachers, has been an AP exam reader and table leader and has published articles and a Calculator Lab Book for students of Calculus.  Mrs. Albert was recently selected to USA Today's 2007 All-USA Teacher Team.

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