Ryan Henry
February 1, 2007
Ryan Henry, a 2004 graduate of the University of Arkansas, recently won a national award for teaching children earth science the way he thinks they learn best – by experiencing the subject out in the field.
During the 2005-06 school year, Henry took students at Street School in Tulsa, Okla., on trips to visit oil fields, rock quarries and a local nature preserve to learn about geology and earth science during a six-week curriculum program. Henry, who earned a bachelor’s degree in earth science and a master of arts in teaching degree in secondary education from the University of Arkansas, initially won teacher of the year honors from the Tulsa Geological Society, which submitted his nomination for the national contest.
Henry will accept the award for earth science teacher of the year for 2007 from the American Association for Petroleum Geologists at a conference in April in Long Beach, Calif. As much as he’s looking forward to that, however, he is as excited to be invited to take a five-day field trip for geology professionals in which they will travel from Mount Whitney in Sequoia National Park in California across Nevada and to the Colorado plateau. He’ll spend his spring break on the trip that takes place the week before the national conference.
Henry now teaches earth science to seventh-graders at Graland Country Day School in Denver, and he and his wife, Katie, have an infant son, Leif.
The national honor was based on lesson plans Henry submitted from the course at Street School, which is an alternative high school for at-risk youth. He believes he won the award because of the course’s focus on learning by experiencing.
“The students examined rock formations and saw oil being pulled from the ground,” Henry said. “I had two classes a day and we loaded into a 15-passenger van and spent 2½ hours exploring. At least 45 percent of the class time was in the field.”
Henry won $5,000 along with the honor, half of which went to him and half that he gave to Street School. He had also started a wilderness adventure program at the school that included both day trips and three- to four-day camping trips, and the money will help fund that program.
Even now that he lives at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, Henry considers Arkansas his favorite state because of its natural beauty. He didn’t plan to be a teacher because he had always wanted to work outside. He came to the Fayetteville campus from Tulsa and was impressed with the beauty of Arkansas.
“I took a geology class by chance and fell in love with that subject,” Henry said. “I learned from Dr. (Walter) Manger and Dr. (Doy) Zachry that reading about the subject is not the best way to learn it. Dr. Manger says you learn by the soles of your shoes, not the seat of your pants.”
Manger and Zachry are professors in the UA geosciences department.
“Someone suggested I become a teacher, so I took an education class and it was awesome,” Henry said. “The MAT is excellent. I did my student teaching in Springdale and after that first year I felt like a veteran.”
Henry credited Michael Wavering, associate professor of secondary education in the College of Education and Health Professions, for guiding him through the MAT program, and he also considers Floyd Watson, a Springdale School District teacher, an important mentor, as well. Watson was the guiding force behind development of the Lake Fayetteville Environmental Study Center, which was part of Henry’s rotation during the MAT.
“They were huge in helping me find a career in my love for the outdoors,” Henry said.
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Contact:
Heidi Stambuck, director of communications
College of Education and Health Professions
(479) 575-3138, stambuck@uark.edu
