Desert Hot Springs educator honored as teacher of the year for science education

A Desert Hot Springs teacher has been honored as a 2022 Teacher of the Year by the California Association of Science Educators.

Claudia Razo of Cabot Yerxa Elementary was named one of two upper elementary teachers in the state to win the award for her work as a fourth-grade teacher.

This year, she's a dedicated science teacher, working with kids from transitional kindergarten through fifth grade. 

Palm Springs Unified has prioritized adding 15 STEAM teachers in its annual budget, so students at every elementary school can receive weekly applied lessons in science, technology, education, arts and math. 

Razo teaches problem-solving through computer programming with software called SAM Labs, and she also leads hands-on activities like building and engineering.

The irony is that Razo never envisioned herself as a science teacher. She had wanted to become an animator, and later realized a teaching career would still allow for some creative outlet.

"Teaching is definitely a balance between function and fun," she said upon accepting her award.

She says her favorite moments as an educator occur when kids are so joyful they don't even realize they're learning.

Razo's been teaching for more than 10 years. She's been at Cabot Yerxa since 2014. 

But she's still modest about her accomplishments.

When asked what advice she would give to other teachers trying to up their game in science education, Razo said there are probably hundreds of teachers out there that are "way beyond" what she's doing in the classroom.

But she and other STEAM teachers are doing quite a bit.

One of her favorite experiments involves earthquake simulators.

Upper elementary students construct model buildings in ways to try to get them to withstand the force of an earthquake simulated by the forces of motors, which students program to move back and forth using computers.

"It's almost like everything in one," Razo said, referring to the variety of engineering skills on display.

The earthquake experiment is the culmination of lessons about weights, isolators and tuned mass dampers. Hearing Razo describe the technicalities, it's easy to forget that she's talking about a fourth-grade science project.

Right now, her students are learning about opaque, transparent and translucent lights, and Razo has developed unique lesson plans for every grade level. Second graders learn about lights and shadows whereas fifth graders mix different substances to see how they react.

No matter the lesson, Razo says the crux of science teaching is about building kids' resilience.

"There are no mistakes if you'll learn from your failures," Razo said. "Science is just not doing it right the first time ... and that's awesome."

Jonathan Horwitz covers education for The Desert Sun. Reach him at jonathan.horwitz@desertsun.com or @Writes_Jonathan.