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WVHS Teacher Recipient of Award: Eric Greshoff Named Teacher of the Year By Aerospace Education Foundation

Posted on: Thursday, 22 June 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Kandis Carper, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Jun. 22--Eric Greshoff, a science teacher at West Valley High School has been selected by the Aerospace Education Foundation as the recipient of its Teacher of the Year award for Washington state.

Greshoff received $250 for his innovative approach in teaching physics, technology and engineering to middle and high school students.

"We have Felts Field in our backyard, so I try to use aircraft as something to make science relevant to kids. If it's not interesting and relevant to them they don't learn anything," said Greshoff.

For his Physics of Flight teaching unit Greshoff uses paper airplanes, bottle rockets, his Air Force training and passion for aircraft to make topics like drag, lift and pressure more interesting.

In December 2003, while teaching at Centennial Middle School, Greshoff was able to engage students by working with the Experimental Aircraft Association and the Washington Pilot Association to arrange for a fly-by of 40 vintage aircrafts.

The fly-by celebrated the centennial of the Wright Brothers' first flight.

Greshoff hooked up an aircraft radio so that students could ask one of the pilots questions as he flew above them.

"There's lots of math involved. For some of our kids, if you don't hook it to something like a plane, they hear math and they shut down," said Greshoff.

Next year, Greshoff said, he would like to once again work with Felts Field and the Experimental Aircraft Association. He hopes to offer an after-school program where kids could go on flights and tie it back into the curriculum.

As a state Teacher of the Year recipient, Greshoff will be considered for the Christa McAuliffe Memorial Award, a national award that honors one K-12 classroom teacher for using innovative curriculum to further the concepts of aerospace technology. The award will be announced in July.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Spokesman-Review

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