Science teachers recognized for knowledge and excellence

Appreciating teachers for their success in advancing their students knowledge throughout the school year is crucial to the Peninsula community. Teacher Appreciation Week highlights each and every teacher on campus for mastery in his or her subjects of teaching. Some teachers go above and beyond to contribute to the school and its students by implementing new techniques of teaching. Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry teacher Peter Starodub and AP Environmental Science and Honors Biology teacher Ben Smith traveled to Nashville, Tennessee in April to partake in the National Science Teacher  Awards (NTSA) Banquet, an annual event that recognizes teachers for outstanding achievements in their areas of knowledge.There, the NTSA rewards the national and international leaders of science and science education.

Starodub and Smith both received a phone call in January saying that they had been selected and invited to attend. At the banquet, both received the 2016 Vernier Technology Award. This award recognizes the innovative or potential use of data collection technology using a computer or graphing calculator in the classroom.

“For me, teaching environmental science is truly a union, or a fusion, of my vocations and avocations,” Smith said. AP Environmental Science is a popular course that was introduced nationwide by Smith in 1996, when Mitzi Cress and
former principal Kelly Johnson accepted his request to unite the natural sciences with the social sciences.

“[This class] helps create a course that students can find immediately relevant and applicable to their lives,” Smith said.

Last year, Smith submitted a series of Environmental Science, Ecology Laboratory and Field Inquiry Investigations, which are materials that describe his approach to teaching environmental science and his philosophy and background about the course he teaches. His collection of lab and field experiments was selected from among thousands of other teachers who    submitted their own projects.

“I am grateful to be a teacher in the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District [and to represent] Peninsula High School, our school district, science teachers and specifically Environmental Science teachers,” Smith said. “It is a great honor to berecognized by NTSA.”

During the 28 years Starodub has been a teacher and the 13 years he has taught at Peninsula, he has educated his students by incorporating his vast knowledge of science with his lectures. Senior Rachel Oda, a former student of Starodub, values his lessons and believes it was one of the most memorable classes of her high school experience. Many walk out of his classroom with knowledge not only about chemistry, but also a greater understanding of the subject’s history.

“He has so much passion for teaching which makes us students enjoy the class even more,” Oda said. According to Oda, Starodub provides each of his classes with informative notes that he wrote specifically for his students. He does not use the science textbooks provided by the school. Instead, Starodub wrote his own version of the science textbook by integrating his own comprehension of it in a way that makes it easier for his students to understand.

“I got a glimpse [of] what a truly rigorous academic class is like,” Oda said. “It certainly helped me as I looked for and applied to colleges.”