Dan Menelly
National Science Foundation
Office of Cyberinfrastructure
New York – Grades 6-8, General Science
Daniel Menelly teaches science at the United Nations International School in New York and serves as a science education advisor to several other programs, schools and ventures. He began teaching science in 1994 at Dodd Middle School in Cheshire, CT, where he later served as mentor and cooperating supervisor to beginning and student teachers and was elected Teacher of the Year in 1998. In Cheshire, Dan developed science enrichment programs to explore various models of science instruction and wrote about his experience in a series of articles for different magazines and peer- reviewed journals of science and gifted education. Dan’s annual ‘How-To’ articles on science instruction led to a cover story about his teaching methods in Teaching K-8 magazine. His writing on science education was anthologized in a collection of best articles on science and learning in 2005.
Dan’s primary interest in science teaching lies in developing and adapting hands-on science experiments and specialized teaching tools for k-12 science classrooms. Through his research affiliation with the Center for Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dan devised teaching models involving laboratory processes and technology, including the science of organic light emitting diodes, atomic force microscopy and cryogenics. Independently, Dan was awarded U.S. patents for teaching tools and science toys that he developed in his science classrooms in CT, New York and Paris, France, where he lived and taught science between 2002 and 2005. He considers himself to be a tactical science teacher whose interest lies in making hands-on science safe and accessible to every teacher and student. Dan also specializes in teacher assessment and school accreditation and he has helped develop several tools that are used in the assessment and certification of public school science teachers through the Connecticut Department of Education and the Educational Testing Service.
In recent years, Dan has adapted his science teaching to suit different settings by working with students at risk of failure in math and/or science at the Harlem Day Charter School, where he also served as science advisor. In 2005, Dan took a professional service leave from the U.N. School to serve as dean of science at the Seacrest Country Day School in Naples, Florida. In Naples, he taught standard and honors level high school biology and chemistry courses and wrote curricula. He continues to serve Seacrest as a science consultant and enrichment specialist and he particularly enjoys working with younger science students and their teachers there.
Outside of the classroom, Dan develops science content in media, including network programming, science related advertising concepts and industrial film projects both in the US and in Europe. He has co-produced and appears in over 70 short films featuring science experiments and science teaching strategies for teachers and science students in an online experiment called ‘Videoscience: A Virtual Toolkit’. His material is presently broadcast in over 50 countries via the internet, iPhone, iTouch and iPad platforms. His science book and film reviews appear both online and in the magazine Science Books & Film. Dan has also presented keynote lectures and several workshops at science and education conferences internationally. In his spare time, Dan lectures on natural history and science to live audiences in Europe, the West Indies and in the Arctic Circle.
Dan looks at science education with great optimism and considers teaching science to be one of the most exciting and rewarding careers possible.