Biography

“The explorer” is how some students identify Megan O. McCall. Her passion for teaching secondary science for 18 years is about encouraging students to “do science.” From studying climate change in the Arctic Ocean to tagging humpback whales and icefish in Antarctica, she works to ignite the spark for science education. In 2019, Megan was part of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research team which captured the first-ever video footage of a giant squid in U.S. waters. Her quest for knowledge in science education even led her on a Fulbright Distinguished Teacher experience to New Zealand. For the past five years, Megan has been the STEM Coordinator at Bayside Academy helping students in all grade levels increase their problem-solving skills. She began an annual “canstruction” event in which students use canned goods collected from a food drive to build structures. Collaboration, mathematics skills, engineering, design, and community needs are all major components of the event. She also connects colleagues with opportunities for students, for instance, Weather Blur which offers students in coastal communities to collaborate in real world, citizen science projects, and the Adopt-A-Float Program in which students named a float in the Southern Ocean and used real time data for research lessons. Megan has a B.S. in environmental science from Auburn University; an M.S.Ed. in secondary science education; and a Ph.D. in Instructional Design and Development from the University of South Alabama. Her dissertation was, “The effects of individual versus cooperative testing in a flipped classroom on the academic achievement, motivation toward science, and study time for 9th grade biology students.” Megan is Nationally Board Certified and was the 2009 PAEMST winner for Alabama.