Tonya Vowels

Vowels' program, "Physics is Phun", opens the door to understanding for students by allowing them to design their own scientific investigations. Physics I is a requirement for the more than 300 ninth-grade students at North Hardin High School. In an effort to increase their interest in science, the program requires students to design customized experiments, test their ideas and draw conclusions about the particular topic of study. The goal of the program is to help break the cycle of poverty among students by better preparing them to enter post-secondary educational programs and be more competitive with their peers from other schools. By requiring students to take more ownership in the learning process, Vowels believes that more vital information is retained over a longer period of time. Both formal and informal assessments will be used to track student progress as each topic of study is completed. The effectiveness of the program will be determined by comparing the difference between pre- and post-assessment results in order to ensure that students have mastered the objectives for each unit of study. Vowels resides in Vine Grove.