Chemistry is a fundamental class in any high school curriculum. It requires focus, a lot of hard work, and an effective teacher. This school year, PTHS is thrilled to welcome a new chemistry teacher, Mrs. Lewandowski.
Lewandowski comes to Peters with a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Penn State University. Upon graduation, she enrolled in a doctoral program at Pitt, where she fell in love with teaching after being a teaching assistant. This moved her to switch programs, and start working towards a Master’s degree in Education.
“I enjoy working with students in a subject they see as difficult and helping them have success in it,” Mrs Lewandowski explained.
Before coming to PTHS, she taught a variety of subjects besides chemistry, including biology, anatomy, and physiology. Additionally, she has taught at three different community colleges as well as the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
Of course, chemistry involves a lot of laboratory work, and Lewandowski has had a lot of experience and created fascinating labs.
“We were doing a unit on arson, so the students built to scale models of a house and considered how they wanted to ignite the fire, made predictions about how the burn would go- then we took them outside- with a fire pit, hose, fire extinguisher and let them test their hypothesis,” she said.
Unfortunately, not all labs fare well, and Mrs. Lewandowski has had her share of labs-gone-wrong in the past.
“Sometimes students do not read directions as well as you would like- we were making our own root-beer to demonstrate cellular respiration/fermentation- a group of students added way too much and overnight it exploded in the refrigerator covering EVERYTHING with very sticky syrup,” she said.
At any rate, Mrs. Lewandowski is optimistic about her future teaching at Peters, hoping to make a lasting contribution to the science department.
“I believe my diverse background in both biology and chemistry, along with my experience teaching a variety of subjects, will allow me to bring a unique, interdisciplinary perspective to the science department at PTHS. Currently, my goal is to get a good handle on the course I am teaching and begin to make it more of my own while maintaining the high standards of PTHS.”