Prime Minister's Awards for teaching Excellence

Highlights from the repertoire

Every graduating class has a few students who barely got by in school but who will excel in life. How is it that some people show an amazing aptitude for learning on the job but not in the classroom? It's not that they can't learn, for they have proven otherwise. Sometimes it is the education system that fails, rather than the students.

Bolstered by research about how people learn, some teachers have concluded that they need a variety of different teaching methods to reach all students for the simple reason that not everyone learns the same way. These teachers make it their responsibility to get the information to students and then use a variety of approaches until they succeed.

In this section, five teachers each share just one of their repertoire of teaching approaches designed to reach students who learn in different ways. Yofi Sadaka helps students discover scientific truths for themselves by starting from basic concepts and problems. Richard Ford also encourages students to discover things for themselves but does so by having them work in groups. Bob Sanders' mobile computer carts bring high technology and flexibility to the science lab, allowing students to learn in a variety of ways. Pat Bell has created a series of pictograms that make it easier for her students to see the logic and meaning of Latin. Daniel Thorsley takes advantage of students' natural competitiveness by creating contests that extend the curriculum.