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Respectfully submitted by Dr. Jim Kelly, Dr. Jody Stone and D. Louis Finsand 

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Laboratory School science education possesses a distinction few other United States schools can match: three Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching, the nation’s highest honor. 

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Brief Early History 

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The first science teacher who can be identified is Mae Creswell. She is listed in the 1916 Courant as the Critic in Science. The title suggests she served as both a science teacher and as a mentor of future teachers as they participated within the classroom at the (then) Iowa State Teachers College (ISTC).

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A further list of early Laboratory School science teachers is given in the timeline at the end of this history. Of special note is the fact that two Laboratory School Directors were science teachers before moving into administration, bringing a strong science foundation to the Laboratory School in the 1940s and after. Dr. Guy Wagner, Head of the ISTC’s Department of Teaching and Director of the Lab School from 1941-1945 and again from 1960-1962, first taught earth science in the Iowa public schools. Dr. Dwight Curtis, who followed Wagner as Head of the Department of Teaching and Director of the Lab School from 1945 until his sudden death in 1960, taught fifth grade students to understand conservation and soil erosion. He published his research and recommendations on these topics in national educational journals. 

You can read more about some of the wonderful faculty in the science department over the years by clicking on the names here:

Albert Potter & His Colleagues
 
Walter Gohman (1951)

Ruth Mahon (1956)

D. Louis Finsand (1964)

Harold Wengert (1967)

James Kelly (1969)

Carl David Christensen (1974)

Timothy Cooney (1977)

Jody Hines Stone (1978)

Carl Bollwinkel (1981)

 

Karen Couch (1985)

Lyn Countryman (1990)

Aaron Spurr (1998)


 

A look at the faculty that taught so many 

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The following is a limited time-line version of the science faculty at the Laboratory School, later named the Malcolm Price Laboratory School in honor of the fourth president of the university, Malcolm Prior Price. It is limited because not all of the information for the earlier years could be found. The yearbooks were the primary source for the earliest information. Once past the second world war, the yearbooks were current. 

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1916 – Mae Creswell – (Critic of Science)
1923 – Junetta Heinonen – (Critic of Science) 
1940 – M. Watts – (Science)
1942 – John Bliesse – (Science)
1948 – Kenneth Anderson, C.L. Jackson, George Mallinson, Albert Potter 
1950 – Robert Gifford, James Farrell, Albert Potter, William Walsh
1952 – Albert Potter, William Walsh, Robert Gifford, Walter Gohman
1953 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, William Walsh, James Winkelman
1954 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, James Winkelman, Pricilla Jacobs, Robert Orr
1955 – Albert Potter, William Walsh, Walter Gohman, James Winkelman
1956 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, William Walsh, James Winkelman
1958 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, Ruth Mahon, Robert Douglas
1959 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, Ruth Mahon, Robert Douglas
1960 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, Ruth Mahon, Robert Douglas
1961 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, Louis Barrilleaux, Ruth Mahon
1962 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, Louis Barrilleaux, Ruth Mahon 
1963 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, Louis Barrilleaux, Ruth Mahon
1964 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, Louis Barrilleaux, Ruth Mahon
1965 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, Ruth Mahon, Lou Finsand
1966 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, Ruth Mahon, Lou Finsand, M. Otten
1967 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, Ruth Mahon, Lou Finsand, Ed Bos
1968 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, Lou Finsand, Ed Bos, Harold Wengert
1969 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, Lou Finsand, Harold Wengert, Jim Kelly 
1970 – 1977 – Albert Potter, Walter Gohman, Lou Finsand, Harold Wengert, Jim Kelly
1978 – Albert Potter, Harold Wengert, Lou Finsand, Jim Kelly, Tim Cooney
1979 – Tim Cooney Chair of Science Dept., Lou Finsand (Metric Project), Steve DeSerano,
             Bob Stevenson, Jody Hines, Paul Gibson, (Kelly at U. of Nebraska)
1980 – Tim Cooney, Lou Finsand, Bob Stevenson, Jody Hines, Jim Kelly, Paul Gibson,
            Steve Olerud
1981 – Tim Cooney, Lou Finsand (Bio-Med Project), Jody Hines, Jim Kelly, Rita Voltmer,
            Carl Bollwinkel
1982 – Tim Cooney, Lou Finsand (Bio-Med Project), Jody Hines, Jim Kelly, Rita Voltmer,
            Carl Bollwinkel (Hines/Stone at Southern Illinois University)
1983 – Tim Cooney, Lou Finsand, Jim Kelly, Rita Voltmer, Carl Bollwinkel, Carolyn Gregory
1984 – Tim Cooney, Lou Finsand, Jim Kelly, Carl Bollwinkel, Jody Hines, Rita Voltmer
1985 – Tim Cooney, Lou Finsand, Jim Kelly, Carl Bollwinkel, Jody Hines, Carol Anderson,
            Sue Smith, Karen Couch
1986 – Tim Cooney, Lou Finsand, Jim Kelly, Jody Hines, Carl Bollwinkel, Karen Couch
1987 – Tim Cooney, Lou Finsand, Jim Kelly, Jody Hines, Carl Bollwinkel, Karen Couch,
            David Messerli
1988 – Tim Cooney, Lou Finsand, Jim Kelly, Jody Stone, Carl Bollwinkel, Karen Couch
1989 – Tim Cooney, Lou Finsand, Jim Kelly, Jody Stone, Carl Bollwinkel, Karen Couch
1990 – Tim Cooney, Lou Finsand, Jim Kelly (Interim H.S. Principal), Jody Stone,
            Carl Bollwinkel, Karen Couch, Paul Verdon
1991 – Jody Stone, Lou Finsand, Carl Bollwinkel, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman,
            Dave Fagel
1992 – Jody Stone, Lou Finsand, Carl Bollwinkel, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman,
            Dave Fagel
1993 – Jody Stone, Lou Finsand, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman, Lisa Brasch
1994 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman, Lisa Brasch
1995 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Doug Nichols, Linda Graber
1996 – Jody Stone, Lou Finsand, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman, Lisa Brasch
1997 – Jody Stone, Lou Finsand, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman, Lisa Brasch
1998 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman, Linda Graber, Vicki Olson
1999 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman, Linda Graber, Vicki Olson
2000 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman, Aaron Spurr
2001 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman, Aaron Spurr 
2002 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman, Aaron Spurr
2003 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman, Aaron Spurr
2004 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lynn Countryman, Aaron Spurr
2005 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lynn Countryman, Aaron Spurr
2006 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lynn Countryman, Aaron Spurr
2007 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lynn Countryman, Aaron Spurr
2008 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman, Aaron Spurr, Alison Beharka
2009 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman, Aaron Spurr, Alison Beharka
2010 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman, Aaron Spurr, Alison Beharka
2011 – Jody Stone, Karen Couch, Lyn Countryman, Aaron Spurr, Alison Beharka 

June 2012 – Laboratory School closed – faculty were reassigned elsewhere within the university and the building was demolished.

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