A local Galway teacher has become the first in Ireland to be awarded the prestigious Teacher of Primary Science Award 2010 for her dedication and passion for educating her students.There is a chant which regularly brings Jane McLoughlin's senior infants class at Scoil Chaitriona, in Renmore, to life.
It goes: "Mercury is hot and Mercury is small. Mercury has no atmosphere, it's just a rocky ball." She may not consider it astro physics, but the chant is just one example of the creative approach to learning which has resulted in Ms McLoughlin being recognised for her work.
“I was so humbled to think that I was being awarded and recognised for the job that I love doing. They are also awarding physicists researching quantum photonics and density functional theory. I’m not a physicist. I teach senior-infants. I don’t think I am raising the profile of physics internationally but I am certainly starting at a local and junior level,” said Ms McLoughlin who is from Cross Street.
Ms McLoughlin was recognised by the Institute of Physics for her outstanding involvement in the Discover Primary Science Programme, her popular Continuous Professional Development teacher training courses, and her continued contribution to the Galway Science and Technology Festival. She is the only person to win this year's award in Ireland or Britain and is the first Irish teacher to win such an award.
For this modest teacher, learning is more of an adventure than a chore and the nature enthusiast and mother of five believes that teaching science to such an inquisitive young audience encourages students to continue to third level in an arena where jobs are plentiful and rewards are guaranteed.
“If you start them when they are asking questions and they are getting answers, then it is so much easier. If you wait until they are too embarrassed to be asking questions of any kind in class, they get your opinions, not their own. It’s one area that can only keep improving. You can’t go backwards in science,” she explains.
Ms McLoughlin who has taught in the colourful Renmore classroom for nine years reveals that her teaching is not all focused on inanimate objects and copybooks. A container of friendly caterpillars and their cocoons have found a new home there after one of her many bug hunts, a field sport which is also integrated into the teacher training courses which she delivers through Galway Education Centre.
“Jane is not only an inspirational, dedicated, role model for pupils in her school in the areas of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics ), Jane has enthused, supported and shared with teachers her vast knowledge and experience for many years,” said Bernard Kirk, director of Galway Education Centre (GEC ).
It is not just the students of Scoil Chaitriona who benefit from Ms McLoughlin’s passion for science. This year, she will once again demonstrate a series of experiments in school halls and classrooms all around the county as part of the Galway Science and Technology Festival which runs from November 7 to 21.
Further information on Ms McLoughlin’s classroom sessions and the Galway Science and Technology Festival is available at www.galwayscience.ie
