Jennifer Hoffman Email & Phone Number

Gilbertsville, Pa

Devon, Pa

Rosemont, Pa

As Chair of the Science Department, I initiated the effort to better engage female students with problem-based learning in the globally-connected, STEM-focused 21st century through alignment of our K-12 curriculum with the goals of the Next Generation Science Standards. I hired seven innovative teachers to increase inquiry learning with an emphasis on engineering principles and practice, introduced Engineering is Elementary (Boston Museum of Science), created a Middle School Science Symposium for students, supported the development of two new Computer Science (Python) and Engineering courses, and expanded the Independent Science Research Program to include additional mentors at Penn, Drexel and Ursinus with an in-house journal to give the students experience with writing in the style of a peer-reviewed publication. The result of these initiatives was a sharp increase in enrollment in science courses and the Independent Science Research Program.As Teacher of Earth Science and AP Environmental Science, I piloted the interactive use of a Smartboard in my classroom with a focus on object manipulation as a method to engage the visual and kinesthetic learner, incorporated the social bookmarking app Diigo as a content management tool for student research, created innovative long-term web-based research projects on demographics, plate tectonics, sustainable communities, renewable energy and climate change. I collaborated on a partnership between AIS, Penn and a STEM focused high school for girls in Gashora, Rwanda, and participated for three years in Teaching Earth Systems Science program through Penn State, becoming a founding teacher advisor to the Pennsylvania Earth Science Teachers Association (PAESTA). I conceived and curated an annual Tech Crawl professional development program to foster sharing of technical project-based learning amongst faculty and also created and facilitated three novel, week-long programs on organic farming and alternative medicine.

Philadelphia, Pa

As Environmental Educator (2002-2004), developed and led informal science programs for thousands of schoolchildren, scouts and others visiting the Center for day and overnight experiences on scores of topics relating to ecology and sustainable development.As Director of Education (2004-2007), I led a team of educators on a five-year initiative to to design and deliver a standards-based science program to over 100 K-8 students at the onsite Green Woods Charter School, all in the context of and with primarily the resources of the natural environment at the Center. As a result of our efforts, Green Woods was named “Exemplary School” in 2006 by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, received the 2007 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence, and was a 2008 finalist for the Philadelphia Sustainability Award. In addition, I wrote and and managed numerous grants to support The Center’s work to develop on-site and outreach programming to provide environmental education for thousands of K-12 schoolchildren in the Philadelphia area, hired and trained numerous part-time educators. Through a partnership with Arcadia University, I developed a series of graduate-level courses taught at The Center for teachers seeking K-12 certification in Environmental Education and designed and taught Strategies for Environmental Education to engage teachers with best practices for teaching in the context of the outdoor environment.

Haverford, Pa

Conceptual Physics (9th grade), Grade-level Biology (11th grade) and AP Biology (11th grade)

Master Of Science (Ms), Cell Biology

Bachelor Of Science (Bs), Botany/Plant Genetics