Ohaus, a manufacturer of balances and scales, has awarded its 2009 Gustav Ohaus Award for Innovations in Science Teaching to David Jones, a teacher at Big Sky High School in Missoula, Montana.
The award recognises educational innovations with the potential to improve science teaching at all levels.
Jones's innovation involved implementing inquiry-based science education at Big Sky High School and the Missoula County Public Schools.
This project, entitled Transition to Inquiry, aims to reformat the entire required freshman and sophomore science classes to the inquiry-based delivery model.
Inquiry-based delivery involves using class time to emphasise relevancy, conduct lab work and incorporate hands-on activities.
While lectures may explain a specific procedure or establish terminology, Jones focuses on students revealing their knowledge and problem-solving skills through guided investigation that includes scientific measurement, data collection and inter-student discussion.
Jones said: 'I have collaborated with Professor Mark Cracolice in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Montana to develop a series of inquiry-based chemistry units.
'The approach of these units is a data-to-concept approach that emphasises constructivism where the teacher plays the role of learning facilitator by posing the topic to be studied through a question.'
