REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio—On a hot summer morning at Baldwin Road Junior High in Reynoldsburg, science teacher Rob Niedermeyer is putting in some overtime in his outdoor sanctuary.
- Recently named Ohio Regional Teacher of the Year
- One of 11 teachers from across the state competing for the 2020 Ohio Teacher of the Year award
- Finds innovative ways to engage his students
Today he's testing out this computer-controlled farm bot.
It's something some of his 7th grade robotics students created using computer programming, in an effort to alleviate the summertime problem of caring for this lab when everyone is gone.
"It is a CNC...computer-controlled farming robot that sits on top of a raised garden bed and it has the capability to weed, water, test your soil moisture,” said Niedermeyer. “It has the capability to pick up seeds and plant them exactly where you want them. Using an onboard camera, it can scan your entire bed for weeds. And using the weeding head it can pull out those weeds."
It's projects like these that inspire Niedermeyer to keep planting seeds that spark new student ideas.
"I take their input now to see what they're interested in and really try to find ways to incorporate that on a daily basis," said Niedermeyer.
And that's how they've come up with other things like an aquaponics system in a storage unit-turned interactive lab.
"Aquaponics is raising plants without any soil."
He says finding those problem-based situations fuels his teaching, and that prompts students to engage more as they're given the reigns to lead the way on different projects like raising chickens and fish farming.
"A lot of kids, they didn't want to get dirty, but now they see what we're doing,” said Niedermeyer. “They see the chickens come in. They see the fish come in. They see the farm bot... and, so when they see the food come in, they're ready to do some testing and eventually try some of the stuff that we're doing."
While Niedermeyer is doing amazing things in the classroom, his student driven, innovative teaching is causing others outside of the classroom to take notice.
He was recently named an Ohio Regional Teacher of the Year.
"I was shocked. I was honored,” said Niedermeyer. "I didn't think I would be in that realm of those good, amazing teachers."
Becoming one of those teachers is due in part to his students.
He says what he's learned from them, especially through projects like the farm bot, has challenged him and made him better.
"I want the students to know that I'm also learning as well,” said Niedermeyer. “So that's beneficial that I'm learning and I don't have all the answers. I guess that's something that I want to emphasize in my class every day."
And he'll get plenty of more chances to do that as now he'll have four to five classes instead of one in the fall.
But for now, Niedermeyer tinkers away, taking what he's learned and putting it to use until students bring him the next big idea.
"Niedermeyer is now a one of about 10 teachers from across the state selected as a District Teacher of the Year.
We should know sometime in the fall who the next teacher of the year will be for the state of Ohio.
Educators, parents, and students got the chance to nominate teachers for the award.
Whoever wins the Ohio teacher of the year will represent the state with a chance to become National Teacher of the Year next spring.
