February 27, 2008 > Teachers win science in action award Teachers win science in action award Submitted By Rick LaPlante Alvarado Middle School science teachers Vicki Baker, Dawn Estrella and Jennifer Nemecek will receive $4,225 as winners in the National Semiconductor Science in Action Awards program. This program was developed to provide funding and recognition to teachers with ideas for integrating inquiry-based science into the classroom. The AMS teachers' winning project, "Power to Change," helps sixth-grade students appreciate how electricity is made and often wasted, giving them power to make changes in their own lives. The grant money will be used for materials to create small generators that use water from the faucet to create electricity; for small "Kill-o-watts," electrical meters that students can check out and take home to experiment with ways to decrease their home energy use; and for materials that enable students to go on a virtual field trip to California ecosystems, so they can study natural resources that can be used for generating electricity. "We are very excited to be able to teach our science standards in a creative and very engaging way," Baker reported, "to involve families in this unit and to help turn our students into future informed citizens who understand that they can make small changes in their own lives that will benefit future generations."