The 2015 HHS Redskin Rocketeers were selected as an alternate for the 2015 National Finals of TARC, and they won the 2015 WV Rocketry Association Contest on May 30, 2015.
This is a group of Adam's Physics II students after their research at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, WV. They gave a presentation on their experiment to a group of scientists at the Canaan Valley Institute in Davis, WV. This was a part of the Youth Science Discovery Experience.
Students measured the width, depth, and speed of the Little Kanawha River to calculate the volume of water moving through the river in 2010.
The 2015 HHS Redskin Rocketeers were selected as an alternate for the 2015 National Finals of TARC, and they won the 2015 WV Rocketry Association Contest on May 30, 2015.
Classroom
Adam’s classroom is alive with activity. During lectures for the traditional classroom or online videos in the flipped classroom, students learn through a “First I Do, Then We Do, Finally You Do” method where Adam guides students through problem solving procedures using teacher modeling and small group assignments that end with each student demonstrating their mastery of the subject. Science knowledge without application is pointless, so Adam also incorporates many laboratory activities and project based learning units. His classes have studied the health of the Little Kanawha River, engineered a device to protect pumpkins from an 11-story drop, designed rockets and qualified for the National Finals of the Team America Rocketry Challenge, constructed a weather balloon that went into near space, and conducted pulsar research at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, WV.
Achievements
Because of his use of technology in the classroom and his use of project based learning, Adam has presented at numerous conferences and professional developments for teachers. He presented at the 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014 West Virginia Science Teachers Association's conferences. He is a featured teacher on the Who Took My Chalk? professional development from the EdVenture Group that facilitates the transition from traditional to 21st century teaching methods, and he presented at the 2011 and 2013 ISTE Conferences on how he implemented the use of iPads into his classroom and develped a technology rich STEM program using model rockets. In addition, he was voted Teacher of the Year three times (2011, 2012, & 2013) at Gilmer County High School. He also recieved the 2012 Golden Apple Achiever Award from the Arch Coal Foundation.
About
Adam graduated from Marshall University in 2003 with a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry with an emphasis in Biochemistry. He then attended West Virginia University’s School of Medicine for two years only to find his heart was in teaching, and through the Transition to Teaching program - a non-traditional pathway, he was able to become a teacher of anatomy, chemistry, and physics at Gilmer County High School in Glenville, West Virginia. He started working at Gilmer County High School in 2006 first as a substitute, then as a tutor with the Fairmont State GEARUP grant, and finally as a full time teacher starting in the spring of 2008. Adam was also an adjunct professor for Fairmont State University teaching college preparatory skills during the Fall of 2007. In the summer of 2014, Adam moved to Hurricane High School in Hurricane, West Virginia where he currently teaches chemistry and physical science.
Adam McKinley Osborne
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Copyright 2016 Adam McKinley Osborne
