Congratulations to Michal Walter, a physics teacher at AMIT Atidim High School in Or Akiva, who was who has received the Trump Foundation’s Master Teacher Award and a prize of 10,000 shekels. This award is given by the Trump Foundation in order to recognize and encourage excellent teaching in mathematics and the sciences in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented Ms. Walter and two other teachers with the award at an official Trump Foundation ceremony held recently.
Michal Walter, 47, has been teaching for 16 years, has a master’s degree in Science Education and is currently pursuing her doctorate in Physics Education at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Walter received the prize for the teaching method she developed and practices in her classes. She had observed that one of the main obstacles teachers have in the classroom is that they do not know how proficient their students are in the subject matter before they start teaching a given lesson. Thus, many teachers use a lectures style, which may not address students’ current levels of knowledge and generally fails to interest and arouse the curiosity of students.
Michal Walter devised a system that gives her information about students’ levels, understanding and knowledge before they come to class, so that she has time to prepare lessons that specifically target students’ learning needs. This system entails sending her students short physics experiments to do at home. These assignments are not graded, which results in students feeling more comfortable about experimenting and even making mistakes. Students are encouraged to respond using the diverse technology tools available to them, such as video or computer imaging. When Walters reviews the results of students’ experiments, she know exactly what students know and don’t know and how to tailor her lessons for maximum learning benefit. An added bonus is that the experiments pique students’ curiosity and they come to class primed to learn and discover!
