2019 Medal Winners | francais

The 2019 CAP Award for Excellence in Teaching High School/CEGEP Physics (Ontario)

is awarded to

Sarah Torrie

"It is a real honour to be recognized by CAP for doing something that I love. I'm grateful to be a part of such an innovative and supportive community and appreciate all of the engaged students, generous mentors, and inspiring educators I've had the privilege to work with." winner citation

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) is pleased to announce that the 2019 CAP Award for Excellence in Teaching High School/CEGEP Physics (Ontario) is awarded to Sarah Torrie, Victoria Park CI, in recognition of for her outstanding efforts in raising the bar for student participation in physics contests, her track record for student participation in physics activities outside of the classroom, and her demonstrable results in increasing participation of female students in physics. announcement

Sarah Torrie is the kind of physics teacher that everyone should have. She inspires her students at Victoria Park CI to explore the joys and challenges of physics during her classes, at lunch and after school. Drop into her classroom and you will see a room full of students actively and enthusiastically engaged in learning. This usually involves lots of discussion and lots of hands-on problem solving. They are not memorizing science facts; they are learning to act like scientists and figure things out.
Her room is always busy at lunch and after school. This is when Sarah helps her students prepare for the many out-of-school projects and contests that they compete in. The biggest draw is the Science Olympics. Sarah fielded her first team in 2007 and it has grown each year! It now includes several other teachers and about a hundred students competing in many teams at several different locations. The older students help train the younger ones and each year they bring back numerous awards and have lots of fun.
The senior students get involved in other activities that are a little less raucous but just as engaging. Her students create award winning physics photos and they prepare for and write several different physics contests each year. They go on field trips to different universities and research centers around Ontario and one year, a group went to the CLS synchrotron in Saskatoon to run an experiment that the students had designed. Sarah also runs a Physics Club where students present topics outside the curriculum, screen physics movies and eat lots of pizza.
Sarah has created an environment where science rules and physics is cool. She is nurturing and inspiring the young scientists that the world needs. nominator citation

- 30 -