Dear Parent or Guardian,
If you're reading this... thank you!
I consider this work my calling and its my honor and privilege to partner with you in your child's education. I'd love for you to read on and get a better sense of what I do and why.
-Mr. Hansen
I recognize that my high school students are (very) young adults who are growing up in a very different world from when I was their age.
Therefore, I hold high expectations for their conduct while extending grace and understanding for their moments of childlike behavior.
My students are unique individuals. They learn at different paces. They learn in different ways. They may be learning English in addition to science. They bring different strengths, skills, interests, and life experience with them.
Therefore, I seek to know students as unique individuals, adapting instruction to their abilities and interests.
I recognize that young adults are at different points in their journey to maturity.
Therefore, I communicate gladly with parents and guardians as frequently as is necessary to support their children's journey to maturity.
My students come from unique families with different backgrounds, beliefs, languages, history, and values.
Therefore, I acknowledge those differences as vital to their identity and as instrumental assets in their education.
Science is a tool in the hands of our civilization to understand the causes and condition of human life, non-human life, energy, and inanimate matter. The applications of this tool (peace, war, exploration, exploitation, help, harm, etc.) are the responsibility of those who wield it.
Therefore, my responsibility is to train young minds in the use of this tool. They will apply it uniquely, as individuals.
Many students have come to value knowledge of facts over true understanding. Those who take this approach often become good memorizers, but all memorized knowledge depreciates rapidly unless it is consistently used or practiced. And in the age of limitless access to information, why should we assess for knowledge within reach of a Google search? It is far better to explore the relationships and connections between the phenomenon we observe. When students achieve mastery at the conceptual level, understanding and application are the natural result.
Therefore, assignments and assessments in my courses reward mastery of concepts above memorization of facts.
STEAM is learning through authentic problem solving. Many issues of the present day are complex problems requiring the integrated application of many disciplines. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. In the recent pandemic, these disciplines all came to bear: science to identify and track the virus and its effects, technology to test for the pathogen, engineering to build and adapt systems for vaccine production, linguistic and visual arts to communicate the state of the pandemic through geopolitical barriers, and mathematics to provide statistical analysis for stakeholders. STEAM provides a wholistic approach to learning that makes teamwork necessary as students apply scientific content knowledge in relevant ways--just as they would in the "real" world.
Therefore, because the issues of the present and future require teamwork and diverse skills, my science courses integrate authentic multidisciplinary project-based problem solving within the regular curriculum standards.