When given the freedom of time and very light guidance, without the threat of grades, how can high school students internalize science literacy and drive their own independent scientific thinking?

Megan Noel has been obsessed with science from a very young age. At age 6 she was determined to be a paleontologist when she grew up, but decided at age 12 to pursue marine biology instead, as whales needed help immediately while dinosaurs, other than birds, were pretty dead. To this end she took as many science classes at Crockett High School in Austin, TX as possible, while also being a rabid band nerd and nearly making the State Band on her bass clarinet her senior year. She graduated 6th out of a class of nearly 600 students and went on to the University of Texas at Austin to work on a Bachelors of Science in Biology (received 2004) and eventually a Masters of Science in Marine Science (received 2006). These degrees allowed her to work with experts on stress physiology and reproductive disruptions in sparrows, stingrays, and fish, and lead to Ms. Noel landing a prestigious lab manager position with Dr. Andrea Gore in the Department of Pharmacy and Toxicology at the University of Texas. However, three years into it she realized her passion was less about chopping the heads off of rats and more about inspiring young people to love science, so in 2009 she went through an alternative certification program, became a high school science teacher, and has never been so happy and satisfied with her work as she is now: inspiring students who never before enjoyed science to appreciate the natural world around them, encouraging students to become life-long learners, and helping kids who never thought they would never love science achieve their dreams.

Science is a beautiful way to examine the universe and your place in it-- how you affect everything around you while being affected, whether you know it or not. I cannot help but share what fascinates me with others, and I hope, if nothing else, students take that curiosity and wonder with them throughout their lives. -Megan Noel

Currently Megan is directing the Wildwood Institute for STEM Research and Development in Los Angeles, as well as teaching classes such as Human Biology, Environmental Science, and Healthy Living as an Adjunct professor for Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey, California.

Megan lives in Venice, California with two cats, a dog, lots of plants, and countless books. She is a certified naturalist and urban gardener, has been a lab manager for a major endocrinology and toxicology lab and an assistant girls soccer coach, plays the bass clarinet (very well), tenor saxophone (passingly) and acoustic guitar (very badly), and can’t decide if she wants to get a PhD in Paleontology someday or write a magical realism novel about invisible people who can manipulate dark matter.