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Ben is a graduate of the University of Illinois and the 2005-2006 academic year marks his nineteenth year of teaching. He has taught in public schools for fifteen years, a private school for three years and spent one year teaching in Yosemite National Park with Yosemite Institute. Ben has been involved in the Advanced Placement Environmental Science program since 1996. In July of that year, Ben participated in the Dartmouth Environmental Science "Train-the-Trainers" workshop, where approximately twenty-five high school instructors from across the country gathered with a number of college faculty members to discuss potential laboratory and field investigations, as well as other course content and projects. In September of 1996, he piloted the course at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in Rolling Hills, California, with 128 students in four sections. Ben has been a College Board consultant/workshop presenter for nine years, leading approximately 25 one-day workshops and 17 week-long summer institutes. In September of 2005, he traveled to China to lead a two-day Environmental Science AP* workshop for the College Board. Ben has served as a Resource Reviewer for AP* Central and is the author of the AP* Central article entitled, "Teaching AP* Environmental Science to Large Classes". He also authored part of the Teacher's Guide for AP* Environmental Science published by Thomson. He served as a Table Leader for the 1998 and 1999 Environmental Science Exam Readings and as a Question Leader for the 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 Exam Readings. Ben served as one of the four readers of the Alternate Exam for the 2004, 2005, and 2006 Readings. He served as a member of the AP* Environmental Science Development Committee from June 1998-June 2002. In November of 2001, Ben received the Siemens Foundation Award for Advanced Placement Teaching. In November of 2005, Ben received the educator of the year honor for the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District. Ben has participated in two Earthwatch Institute field research projects (The Moose and Wolves of Isle Royale in 1997 and the Snow Leopard project in the Annapurna region of the Himalayas in October of 2000; he received a fellowship for the latter field study in the Manang region of Nepal). He has also worked as a backcountry ranger with the National Park Service. Ben has taught 42 sections of AP* Environmental Science and approximately 1,350 students in this course. The 2005-2006 school year marks his eleventh year at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School.© 2001-2009 Southern California AP* Institute | contact
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