The Presidential Award represents the importance of science and mathematics, especially for our youngest learners. I am humbled and honored to be recognized as a leader and look forward to continuing to advocate for science education in the early grades. I want to show the world that our youngest, most curious minds have enormous potential for engaging in science learning. I hope to inspire other elementary teachers to be bold and strive to make science a priority.

Kaia Tomokiyo Anderson Renton, WA | K-6, Science, 2022

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

Kaia Anderson has been engaged in equitable science education reform for over 12 years. She has been teaching and designing STEM education for culturally-rich classroom communities since 2011. Kaia has been a kindergarten teacher for more than 10 years, and the most recent six years have been at Sartori Elementary. Previously, she taught kindergarten, first, and second grade at Southern Heights Elementary. As part of her passion for learning, Kaia has been participating in an ongoing researcher-teacher partnership since 2014 through the Ambitious Teaching research group at the University of Washington. Through this partnership, she has grown her capacity to implement justice-oriented science for primary grade children. This partnership has been instrumental in expanding her love of teaching science and has enabled her to share her expertise with elementary teachers across the nation. She is also a professional development leader, advocating for equitable science education for teachers and children. Kaia has shared her experiences at educational conferences through the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) and the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Her teaching has been featured on the Teaching Channel and used in many teacher education courses. Kaia continues to develop and pilot new science units based on the latest equitable instructional design research. She has also been a panelist and guest speaker for the National Academies of Sciences (NAS), Engineering (NAE), and Medicine (NAM). Kaia earned a B.A. in anthropology from the University of Washington and an M.A. in teaching from City University. She is certified in kindergarten through eighth grade elementary education and is a National Board Certified Early Childhood Generalist.

Know a great teacher like Kaia Tomokiyo Anderson? Nominate them for PAEMST!