Michelle Spigner, an AP biology teacher at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina is the Grand Prize winner of the Astrobrights’® 2015 Colorize™ Your Classroom Challenge. Representatives from Astrobrights recently presented Spigner with an award of $5,000 to help transform her classroom into the ideal learning environment for her students.
Astrobrights’ Colorize Your Classroom Challenge is an annual program that challenges teachers to show how they use color to overcome common issues in the classroom. Spigner’s winning entry used color to help her students understand and retain complex biology processes.
“I learned a long time ago, through my own experience, that of my students and reading the research, that using color during instruction and activities can enhance memory of students while learning challenging concepts,” said Michelle. “Color helps my students understand complex processes such as biomolecule structure, synthesis of polymers, DNA replication, transcription and translation DNA technology, photosynthesis and cellular respiration.”
Colorize Your Classroom produces a go-to source for inspiration and ideas when teachers need it most, as the return to the classroom for a new year. Spigner’s project was selected from more than 1,700 photos of 650 projects.
“Michelle’s project is an excellent example of how teachers continue to inspire our brand and their students with their creative teaching amidst limited resources,” said Jeremy Frank, consumer brand senior manager for Neenah Paper. “Studies show that color can increase memory by up to 50 percent and help students remain engaged. Michelle’s use of color in her instruction is a valuable and creative demonstration of how to leverage the power of color to facilitate learning.”