McKeen Is Honored By White House
Pine Grove Native Wins Presidential Teaching Award
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Pine Grove native Angela McKeen believes children are "naturally curious," and good science teachers find ways to keep them interested and learning about the world around them.
McKeen is a teacher of physics and environmental earth science at Notre Dame High School in Clarksburg, as well as an instructor at Fairmont State University.
She has received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching from the Office of the White House and National Science Foundation, and she was among educators honored recently during recognition events happening May 24-26 in Washington, D.C.
Established in 1983, PAEMST is the highest award mathematics and science teachers can receive from the U.S. government, according to information provided by the Office of the White House.
Winners get to attend a series of recognition events, participate in professional development opportunities, and receive a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation.
McKeen's award came in 2019, but honorees since 2019 had not had their in-person recognition ceremony due to COVID. At least two teachers from each state -- but no more than 108 -- are honored each year by The White House and the NSF.
She believes students learn science when teachers get them interested in the scientific wonders that happen around them.
"Kids are naturally curious," McKeen said. "If you can zero in on curiosity, that is what keeps them interested. So many times we lose them.... So many times, we feel we must (instead) teach the math and reading needed for standardized tests.
"But so many times you can teach science by just keeping them there (engaged in the classroom). The bigger the net, the bigger the number of kids you catch."
McKeen grew up in Pine Grove, and is a 1995 graduate of Valley High School.
She earned her undergraduate degree in secondary education at Fairmont State, and her masters degree in science education at West Virginia University. She also holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from WVU.
McKeen is certified in chemistry, earth and space science and general science.
"An award like this only happens with the inspiration provided by the amazing science teachers, and teachers in general, I've had in my own life at Short Line and at Valley High School and everywhere else along the way," she said. "I appreciate their support as much as anything else with this award."
McKeen began hosting yearly science camps while working with disadvantaged youth in rural West Virginia. She later was awarded a grant from West Virginia Science and Research, a division of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission (WVHEPC), to offer an environmental camp.
Several of her earth science lessons have been published, and her dissertation explored teaching science using aspects of the arts in rural Appalachian classrooms, according to the White House Information.
McKeen has presented to the Maryland Higher Education Consortium at Johns Hopkins University with a colleague on using trade books to teach science content at the university level. Recently, she was asked to present at a statewide diocesan conference on teaching rigorous science in Catholic schools.
At Fairmont State, her emphasis is on teaching other teachers how to teach science.
McKeen implements art and creative elements into her science curriculum - turning traditional science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM education, into "STEAM."
During her physics classics, she asks students to design a toy, or to do a painting representing science.
"One girl did an oil painting of a ferris wheel," McKeen said. "The spokes on the wheel were equations for relative weight or one's actual weight based on where they were seated on the ferris wheel. It was amazing.
"I try to reach a lot of students."
Education and science is "in her blood," according to McKeen.
McKeen said her father, David Beckett, was a history teacher. She would tag along with him when he went hunting, and he taught her all about streams and the woods.
Her mother, Jane Beckett, meanwhile was a science teacher and a biologist.
McKeen said the award is especially valuable to educators in that it gives them the opportunity to meet with federal lawmakers and "have a voice" about education policies coming before Congress.
"We are really in a crisis right now in education," she said. "While there is not one perfect solution, it seems we almost have to deconstruct how we visualize our schools...."
School effectiveness is being measured by one single metric - the standardized test, she said.
"Still, teachers are being asked to meet the needs of individual students," she said. "But as a country, we aren't meeting the needs of teachers."