Article by Jim Scanlan 2010

Nicci Hilton, an award-winning science

teacher, has won a Churchill Fellowship that

will take her to the United States to pursue

her vision of making classroom science  

more engaging for students.

Ms Hilton, who graduated as a science

teacher from the University of New England

in 2006, went on to be recognised in the

Australian Government Quality Schooling

Awards in 2008 for her achievements in

increasing students' participation in and

enthusiasm for science at Cowra High

School, her first appointment. She also won

the Minister for Education's Medal of

Distinction and UNE's Young Distinguished

Alumni Award for that year.

Now studying towards a Master of

Education degree at UNE, Ms Hilton is a

science teacher at PLC Armidale.

In March next year, under her Northern

Districts Education Centre Churchill

Fellowship, she will travel to science educa-

tion centres in California. Arizona, Georgia,

Florida, Washington DC and New York City

in her search for resources and programs

that can help students engage with science

by pursuing their own investigations. She

will visit the National Sciences Resource

Centre in Washington DC, and will speak to

coordinators of the annual International

Science and Engineering Fair, at which

young people from around the world

(including Australia) display their scientific

ingenuity and inventiveness.

''My aim is to develop a scaffolding of

concepts and resources that will help teach-

ers facilitate their students own scientific

investigations," she explained. She'll also be

looking at innovative teaching strategies

including new methods of explaining scien-

tific concepts.

-I'm immensely grateful to the National

Churchill Trust for this once-in-a-lifetime

opportunity,'" she said, "and I hope that

many more people are encouraged to apply

for a Churchill Fellowship so that they too

may share their passion."

In 2008 Ms Hilton was a member of the

advisory group that produced a framework

for a new national science curriculum a

framework now reflected in the Stage 1

Syllabus in some pilot schools. "We

believed the syllabus needed to be holistic.

because no strand of science can be taught

in isolation,- she said. "It also includes a big

emphasis on inquiry-based learning:"

Her guiding principle in the classroom is

that -students remember memorable

things". -If an activity is engaging, they will

understand and remember the process," she

said.