Aletha Halcomb, science teacher at North Community High School in Minneapolis, uses contextual teaching to help students relate what they learn in the classroom to their own life experiences. Using a questionnaire to collect data on students' lives and activities, Mrs. Halcomb builds units around the most common elements. For example, since all of her students live within six blocks of a body of water, she developed a unit on potential and kinetic energy that included water measurement field trips to the local Minnehaha Creek. Mrs. Halcomb has delivered presentations on contextual teaching at both state and national conferences, and received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Math Teaching.
1976 University of Minnesota, B.A.
