Megin Rice | Si Noyce | SIU

Name: Megin Rice

School: Marion High School

Degree: MS in Biology

Years Teaching: 25

Grade levels you teach: 10th-12th

What is your teaching style and philosophy?

I once read a quotation which I have used to guide my teaching in recent years. The quotation, though I cannot find the author, is “The importance of science is not that it answers questions, but that it continually finds new questions to ask.” In my classes, I want to spark an interest in science for the students and encourage them to continually question the world around them, instead of just answering questions for them. I feel my job is to help guide their questions and discoveries, but not to force feed information and expect them to regurgitate it later on a test. None of us can ever hope to know everything there is to know about science, so our best hope as teachers is to give them the skills and desire to continually push their knowledge base further by asking the right questions in the right way.

How do you see the SIUC Noyce Master Teaching Fellowship in Environmental Sustainability influencing you as an educator, your classroom and your community?

I see the SIUC Noyce Master Teaching Fellowship program as very multi-faceted for me. As an educator, I want to ensure I am giving students a global perspective of environmental issues as well as local perspective. I want to ensure my students are aware of environmental issues they can expect to face in the future and have the skills to at least make informed voting decisions, if not proactively help develop solutions. The SIUC Noyce program will give me the tools to ensure my students grow their knowledge and perspective when it comes to global environmental issues. As far as my classroom, I believe the Noyce program will provide me with new ideas and techniques to get my students actively involved in authentic research. Students actively engaged in meaningful research in their own communities are more likely to continue to be involved as adults. Those students will then hopefully become active members of their community and can work together for the betterment of that community