Bradley Jacobson Des Moines, IA | 7-12, Science, 2019

Bradley Jacobson Portrait Photo

The official biography below was current at the time of the award.

Bradley “Brad” Jacobson has taught physics, grades 8–12, for the last four years at Central Academy in the Des Moines Public School District. He spent the previous 12 years teaching physics and chemistry at Johnston High School. Brad currently teaches Conceptual Physics, Advanced Placement Physics 1, AP Physics 2, and AP Physics C: Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism. Brad brings modeling methods into his classroom and asks his students to be scientists. He encourages students to make observations, ask questions, gather data, draw conclusions, reach consensus as a community, build mental models, and learn from their setbacks. Brad is actively growing professionally and is enthusiastic about helping others grow. He is a member of the American Modeling Teachers Association. In the summer of 2019, he attended the computational modeling in physics with bootstrap workshop at Arizona State University where he developed the skills to help students incorporate computational modeling in a physics-first environment. The workshop was funded through a National Science Foundation grant and sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers. Brad has co-facilitated multiple modeling mechanics workshops and presented numerous professional development sessions. He currently serves on the Central Academy school leadership team and is a member of the Des Moines Public School standards referenced grading task force. Brad earned a B.A. in physics and a M.A.T. from Drake University. He is certified to teach physics, chemistry, physical science, and mathematics.

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