David Moffatt

Year: 2008 – Province: Ontario

Certificate of Excellence Recipients

School: Hillfield Strathallan College
299 Fennell Avenue West
Hamilton, Ontario
L9C 1G3

Principal: Tom Matthews
School Telephone: 905-389-1367
School Fax: 905-389-6266
School Email: matthews@hsc.on.ca
School Website: www.hsc.on.ca
Subjects and Grades Taught: Biology in Grades 11 and 12, Science Department Chair

Teaching Approach

• Expect high-level thinking and then foster confidence in students so they exceed what they think they can do
• Engage students by treating all of biology as solutions to problems, rather than mere facts
• Foster authentic discovery by requiring all Grade 11 students to complete a theme study that involves collective work, original research, following a protocol, scientific analysis and professional-level communication of results
• Use technology to support learning rather than just for the sake of introducing technology

Outstanding Achievements

• Developed a number of information and communications technology resources for the school, including a self-paced online unit on nutrition and digestion, online microscopy labs, an email conference tool for communicating with students and a high-level website for a Grade 11 university-preparation biology course
• Promotes excellence in the sciences. Students consistently achieve high marks during their high school years and afterwards at university, with many going on to do higher level research. Since 2004, 36 of Dr. Moffatt’s 41 Advance Placement (AP) students scored 4 or 5 (out of 5) on the AP exam. Similarly, in the University of Toronto National Biology Competition, school teams and many individual students have placed highly in most years.

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