2016 Medal Winners | francais

The 2016 CAP Award for Excellence in Teaching High School/CEGEP Physics (British Columbia and Yukon)

is awarded to

Favian Yee

"I would like to thank all the individuals involved in choosing me as the recipient of this prestigious award for the BC/Yukon Region. I would also like to thank all the affiliated sponsors for providing the means to offer this award. It is such an honour to be selected among the many other nominations submitted. I am thankful to be working with such a fabulous faculty and an amazing student body." winner citation

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) is pleased to announce that the 2016 CAP Award for Excellence in Teaching High School/CEGEP Physics (British Columbia and Yukon) is awarded to Favian Yee, North Delta Secondary School, in recognition of for his excellence in teaching and his leadership in both the organization of Science Fairs and his encouragement of student participation in the Kwantlen Science Challenge. announcement

Favian Yee has been teaching senior physics in the Delta School District for over fifteen years. He has been an active member on the executive committee of the BC Science Teachers’ Association. The BCScTA has strong professional ties with the BC Association of Physics Teachers in professionally developing and mentoring physics teachers. Favian also sits as the Chair of the South Fraser Regional Science Fair Organizing Committee; he is a delegate to the Canada Wide Science Fair chaperoning finalists from the South Fraser Regional Science Fair.

Favian’s passion for physics and physics education has led to some unique approaches to teaching and assessing concepts in physics. One example is an inquiry challenge where students are given a Nerf gun. Their challenge was to determine the firing solution so the projectile hits a target at a given distance on the first attempt; they were not allowed to perform trial and error. Students had to find innovative approaches to determine both the muzzle velocity and firing angles of their specific gun. Another example of inquiry-based learning is where his students research, develop and build a balloon race-car using principals in dynamics. This challenge has been given as an alternative to the typical physics unit test.

Favian’s students have also participated in numerous physics and science challenges such as The UBC Physics Olympics or the Kwantlen Science Challenge. As a result of making physics learning more engaging, the number of students enrolled in physics courses at North Delta Secondary School have increased since he took on the physics classes.

Favian relishes mentoring and supporting physics teachers. He has presented to colleagues on numerous topics related to physics education and student engagement. Several topics include: Physics Through Inquiry; Socrative: An Interactive Approach for Student Engagement in Physics; and Science Performance Standards and Tasks. Physics and science teachers alike at both the Catalyst Science Conference and the Mitchell Odyssey Symposium have attended his presentations. nominator citation

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