The Presidential Award recognizes excellence in science education and validates the years of risks that I have taken to improve student engagement and motivation in science. It offers the opportunity to deeply reflect on my practice and continue my quest to always learn and improve with each lesson that I teach. This award celebrates both the teachers receiving it and the students who have challenged them.

Jill Christman Oro Valley, AZ | 7-12, Science, 2021

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

Jill Christman has taught chemistry at Canyon Del Oro High School for 23 years. She teaches Chemistry, Honors Chemistry, Advanced Placement Chemistry, and International Baccalaureate Higher Level and Standard Level Chemistry to students in grades 10-11. Jill works to challenge her students by incorporating new educational research and innovated teaching strategies into her classroom. She incorporates three-dimensional learning into lessons so that students make connections between the natural world and the curriculum. She utilizes strategies such as guided inquiry, inquiry, and the flipped classroom to make chemistry more accessible. Jill is a mentor for the school’s American Chemical Society (ACS) Chemistry Club, where she meets with students before and after school to explore areas of chemistry beyond the curriculum. In the club, students participate in hands-on experiments and research. Students also compete and present their own research in the Science Fair and Chemistry Olympiad. Jill has attended the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) national conference in 2016, 2018, and 2021 (virtually) and presented a workshop at the NSTA Western Region Conference, titled "Flipped Teaching in AP Chemistry" in March of 2012. She regularly attends the Arizona Science Teachers Association (ASTA) conference. She currently is an assistant examiner for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, grading Paper 2 and Paper 3 exams from around the world. In 2019, Jill was awarded Arizona High School Science Teacher of the Year by ASTA. Jill earned a B.A. in chemistry from the University of Arizona. She is a certified secondary education teacher and is certified in chemistry.

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