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2010 High School / CEGEP Teaching Award Winners

The CAP and its award partners - TRIUMF, Merlan Scientific, Perimeter Institute, BC Innovation Council (for BC region), Nelson Education, Vernier, and the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC - are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2010 CAP High School/CEGEP Teaching Award Winners. Recipients will be presented with their awards at either their school or the CAP Congress, as coordinated with the recipient and school.
HS-BC-YK view medal information back to top

The 2010 CAP Award for Excellence in Teaching High School/CEGEP Physics (British Columbia and Yukon) is awarded to

Mr. Philip Freeman, Richmond Secondary School (Richmond, BC), in recognition of for his efforts over the course of his twenty years as a high school physics teacher. Mr Freeman has taught a wide variety of physics math and philosophy courses and inspired thousands of students with his curiosity about the natural world and his passion for the paradigms of physics. His students have excelled in contests, in post-secondary studies and in their careers and many recognize Mr Freeman as a teacher that sowed seeds of curiosity and cultivated habits of inquiry that ultimately contributed significantly to their development as thinkers, professionals and citizens. A long-time member of the BC Association of Physics Teachers, Mr Freeman is as committed to communicating the beauty of physics to his peers as he is to his students. He is a frequent workshop presentater, a writer/editor with the TRIUMF Outreach video series and has been a mentor for many new teachers over the course of his career. The CAP would like to acknowledge his significant contributions to physics education in British Columbia by presenting Mr Freeman with the first ever CAP High school Physics Teacher Award for the BC region.

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HS-Prairies-NWT view medal information back to top

The 2010 CAP Award for Excellence in Teaching High School/CEGEP Physics (Prairies and Northwest Territories) is awarded to

Mr. Barry Edgar, Strathcona High School (Edmonton, AB), in recognition of for his passionate, childlike excitement about communicating physics to students and his breadth of knowledge about the relevance of physics and its impact on society. His many accomplishments include the development of the Physics curriculum in the Advanced Placement program, producing distance education modules, appearing on educational television to teach science, writer of science textbooks, his leadership in the Fluid Power Challenge and Edmonton Science Olympics, his invited presentations at the Alberta Teacher's Association conferences, his mentoring of beginning physics teachers, and his ability to mesmerize students about physics. He is able to coordinate several different classroom learning styles simultaneously, letting as many as 120 students per day choose their own personal style of learning and then ensuring that they accomplish the goals within their chosen style. That so many students return to his school to let him know how he inspired them is a fitting testimony to one of Canada's outstanding physics teachers.

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HS-ON view medal information back to top

The 2010 CAP Award for Excellence in Teaching High School/CEGEP Physics (Ontario) is awarded to

Ms. Roberta Tevlin, Danforth Collegiate & Technical Institute (Toronto, ON), in recognition of for her work as a pioneer in innovative teaching methods in physics that have influenced not only the students she interacts with year after year, but also many physics teachers in the Ontario region and beyond. For students she will provide "hands-on" learning experiences in physics that include devising ways of getting an LP record to move down a corridor at maximal speed and modelling a quantum eraser. For teachers she has given numerous presentations at workshops that have encouraged them to move from a passive teacher-centred approach to an active student-centred one. She has shown outstanding leadership in organizing science fairs, mentoring teachers, running physics camps, speaking at teacher workshops, and writing journal articles about physics teaching. Her tireless energy and innovative pedagogical approach to physics teaching make her a worthy recipient of the CAP High School/CEGEP Physics Teacher Award.

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HS-Atlantic view medal information back to top

The 2010 CAP Award for Excellence in Teaching High School/CEGEP Physics (Atlantic) is awarded to

Ms. Robyn McKenzie, Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School (Yarmouth, NS), in recognition of for her ongoing excellence in teaching physics. A disproportionate number of physics graduate students, at places like MIT and Oxford, come from Yarmouth, NS. Those students identify a caring, passionate and effective high school physics teacher, Ms. Robyn McKenzie, as playing a pivotal role in their academic careers. As one former student wrote "She is nothing less than amazing". Colleagues mention her spirit and quiet leadership, and her constant quest to help others. Her principal wrote "She demands the best from her students, but she gives the best in return." Robyn has given countless weekend and night time hours to mentoring the school's award winning robotics teams. Even the Nova Scotia legislature cited her for "inspiring her students". It is certainly fitting that Robyn McKenzie is the first recipient of the CAP Award for Excellence in Teaching High School/CEGEP Physics from the Atlantic Region.

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HS-QC-NU view medal information back to top

The 2010 CAP Award for Excellence in Teaching High School/CEGEP Physics (Quebec and Nunavut) is awarded to

Dr. Nathaniel Lasry, John Abbott College (Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC), in recognition of who for many years has been actively using and promoting innovative pedagogical tools in teaching physics in Québec and even beyond. Few professors can boast about being compared favourably to Richard Feynman for the ease and ability to present difficult concepts clearly. That is nevertheless the case with Nathaniel Lasry who obviously loves his profession and who communicates his passion through his presentations, his teaching and his interactions with teachers and students. Being exceptionally competent both in physics and in education, his accomplishments are remarkably varied, ranging from the creation of banks of problem situations to demonstrations of magic, in addition to research and the promotion of learning through peers. It is with pleasure that the Canadian Association of Physicists makes Mr. Nathaniel Lasry the first Québec recipient of the Award for Excellence in Teaching High School/CEGEP Physics..


"It feels great! I strongly recommend it! It gives me courage to take on future endeavours which just keep on getting more interesting with time."

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