Larry Scheckel

Larry Scheckel grew up on a family farm in the hill country of southwestern Wisconsin, one of nine children. He attended eight years of a one room country school, four years of high school, off to the military for a spell, trained in electronics as a TV broadcast engineer, married, college, and started a teaching career. That career stretched over thirty eight years teaching physics and aerospace science to over four thousand high school students at Tomah, Wisconsin.

Larry Scheckel has been named Tomah Teacher of the Year three times, and Presidential Awardee at the state level for six years. He is the recipient of the Tandy Award, Kohl Award, Wisconsin Physics Teacher Award, Health Physics Society Award, Ron Gibbs Award, and Excellence in Science Teaching  Award.

Larry Scheckel has authored articles for The Science Teacher magazine and The Physics Teacher magazine. He has been a Science Olympiad coach, robotics mentor, organized field trip and star gazing sessions, and gave orientation flights to students.

Larry has shared his expertise with teachers at National Science Teacher Association conventions, Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers, and summer workshops. He has given presentations to thousands of adults and students in such venues as Children’s Museums, Boys and Girls Clubs, Rotary, and conventions.

Larry likes to bicycle in the Driftless area of south central Wisconsin, jog on the back roads, fly a Cessna 150 over the verdant countryside, work crossword puzzles, read newspapers, play guitar, read history books and trade magazines, and fly radio controlled planes.

Curriculum Vitae   

Larry Scheckel

1113 Parkview Dr.

Tomah, Wi 54660

Ph (608) 372-3362

Cell (608) 797-3362

lscheckel@charter.net

About Larry Scheckel

 

 

                        EDUCATION

1961 Coyne Electrical School Chicago

1960-62 Military Service Army

1971 UW-La Crosse, BS Physics/Math

1976 UW-Superior, Master of Science

1978 UW-La Crosse, Masters Ed Media

1996 UW-Madison, Masters Science Education

 

CONTINUING EDUCATION

• Health Physics for High School/Middle School Teachers, Oct 2007
• Stevens Point sharing group for Physics teachers, 2002-2010
• Engineering Workshop UW-Madison, November 2006
• Computers in the Science Classroom, CESA 4, summer 2006
• Nuclear Physics in the Science Curriculum, UW-Madison, Dec 2001 and Nov 2006
• Nuclear Physics in the Science Curriculum, UW-Madison, Nov 2000
• Wisconsin Lab Safety Seminar Eau Claire, WI, Oct 1999
• Microsoft Word in the Classroom, Viterbo College, Educ 786 , fall 1997
• Conceptual Physics U of Dallas, Texas  Phy 5369, summer 1997
• Advanced Placement session summer of 1996, Tucson Arizona
• Comprehensive Conceptual Curriculum for Physics, U. of Dallas, 1996 and 1997
• Nuclear Energy Workshop, Silver Lake College, summer 1995
• Health Effects of Ionizing Radiation, UW-Madison, 1994
• Numerous education classes at UW-Madison, 1988-1993
• 80 credits Enrolled in PhD program in Science Ed. since 1988, Prelims 1995
• Space Shuttle Educators Update, New Orleans, 1987
• Educators Workshop, Seattle 1987
• Physics Demonstrations, Virginia Military Institute, 1985
• Digital Electronics, Bemidji State, 1980

 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

• Physics Tomah High School, Tomah, WI from 1972-2010
• Aerospace Tomah High School, Instituted course in 1973
• Instituted semester course of Advanced Physics
• Taught Aerospace Workshops at UW-Platteville and UW-La Crosse
• Taught numerous summer classes for Gifted and Talented
• Science workshops in Lena, Shawano, Coleman, and 10 locations in WI
• Summer science workshop classes at Cray Academy, 13 yrs.

 

PUBLICATIONS

Periodicals

“Big Fun at a Small Show,” Farm Collector, Apr., 2016, Vol. 18, Issue 9, 18.

“Treasures of a Wisconsin Farm,” Farm Collector, Nov. 2015, Vol. 18, Issue 4, 30.

“Boredom Leads to Boy’s Painful Piercing,” The Country Today, June 24, 2015, 1B.

“Picking Apples,” Good Old Days, Mar./Apr., 2015, Vol. 52, No. 2, 16.

“Do Horses Sleep Standing Up?” The Country Today, Mar. 30, 2016, 1B.

“Grain Binder,” Small Farmer’s Journal, Winter 2015, 28.

“The 1952 Presidential Election,” Good Old Days, Sept./Oct. 2015, Vol. 52, No. 5, 30.

“Cat Was Gopher-Catching Moneymaker,” The Country Today, Aug 12, 2015, 1B.

“Ram an Entertaining Farm Companion,” The Country Today, April 22, 2015, 1B.

“Lessons Learned in the One-Room Country School,” Midwest Prairie Review, Mar. 2015, Vol. 3, 13.

“Horses to Tractors,” Farm Collector, Mar. 2015, Vol. 17, Issue 8, 26.

“The Perfect Storm for Sledding,” The Country Today, Dec. 31, 2014, 1B.

“The Substitute Bus Driver,” Creative Wisconsin, Aug. 2014.

“Threshing Grain,” Farm Collector, July 2014, Vol. 16, Issue 12, 22.

“Rooster’s Antics Made Dinner Even Tastier,” The Country Today, July 30, 2014, 1B.

“Coon Hunt Adventure a Precious Memory Coon Hunt Adventure a Precious Memory,” The Country Today, Jan. 20, 2014, 1B.

“Memories of a Wisconsin Basket Social,” CSAA (Country School Association of America) Archives, Dec. 2013.

“Top Ten Reasons to Write Newspaper Column,” The Science Teacher, Nov. 1995, Vol 8, 27.

“How to Make Density Float,” The Science Teacher, Nov./Dec. 1993, Vol. 31 No. 3, 21.

“Lasers,” The Physics Teacher, Dec. 1984, Volume 22, No. 9, 626.

Books

Seneca Seasons: A Farm Boy Remembers, CreateSpace, Sept., 2014

Ask A Science Teacher, Experiment Publishing (Workman), Dec., 2013

Ask Your Science Teacher, CreateSpace, August 2011.

Columnist
“Ask Your Science Teacher,” column appears every Thursday in Tomah Journal, 730 weekly columns over a 20-year period and every Monday in the Monroe County Herald

 

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

COMMITTEES                    MEMBERSHIPS

• Science Club advisor for 15 years  · NSTA (Science)
• Scholarship Committee 4 years  · WSST (former VP)
• Student Activities Comm 3 years · AAPT and WAPT
• Steering Committee 4 years · TEA, WEA, NEA
• Diploma Study Comm 2 years
• Junior Class and Prom Advisor 17 years
• Technology Committee 1992 -2010
• Restructuring the School Committee 1992 -2010
• Carl Perkins Committee – Education for Employment 1992-2010
• Science Department Chairperson 1989-2010
• Named Key Leader, NSTA Building a Presence in Science 2001

 

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

• WSST presentations on physics demonstration for past 13 years
• Science presentations at 8 NSTA conventions.
• Science Olympiad Coach for 15years.
• Solar eclipse expedition to Canada 1979.
• Set up science demonstrations in the hallway on continuing basis.
• Sent equipment home with students to use—telescopes, spectrometers
• Help establish competitions in science among elementary students.
• Presented programs to 3000 people on the space shuttle.
• Gave talks to graduating seniors on goal setting and career choices.
• Created contests—bridge building, mousetrap-powered cars, Archimedes, mobiles.
• Provide orientation flights for students
• Started the area’s first teacher group CAST Coulee Area Science Teachers
• Taught in-service classes at Tomah Senior High—science and aerospace.
• Organized trips to Discovery World, Exploratorium, Nuclear Power Plant,

Science Museum of Minnesota, Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.

• Introduced Robotics and microcomputer-based learning labs in physics.

 

AWARDS

• Tomah Teacher of the Year 1979
• WSST Professional Development Grant 1983 UW-Parkside
• Robert Showers Award for Excellence in Teaching, Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers  1985
• Tomah Teacher of the Year 1985
• Virginia Military Institute Honors Program selection 1985
• Teacher In Space finalist (1 of 2 in WI) 1985
• Carl Guell Aerospace Education Award Oshkosh 1986
• Tomah Teacher of the Year 1989
• Regional recipient CESA #4 Excellence in Science Teaching Award April 1989
• Presidential Awardee at State Level 1992 (1 of 3)
• Tandy Award Honorable Mention Award Winner 1994 Anaheim
• Tandy Award Honorable Mention Award Winner 1995 Philadelphia
• Presidential Awardee at State Level 1995 (1 of 3)
• Presidential Awardee at State Level 1996 (1 of 3)
• Presidential Awardee at State Level 1997 (1 of 3)
• Tandy Award Honorable Mention Award Winner 1997 New Orleans
• Kohl Award 1998
• Wisconsin Physics Teacher of the Year 1998, Marquette University
• Presidential Awardee at State Level 1999 (1 of 3)
• Tandy Award Honorable Mention Award Winner 1999 Boston
• Tandy Award Winner 2000 Orlando and Chicago
• Presidential Awardee at State Level 2001 (1 of 3)
• Recipient of Health Physics Society, High School Teacher of the Year 2008
• Ron Gibbs Award (Wisconsin Society of Science) Teachers 2009

 

COMMUNITY

• Write weekly article “Ask Your Science Teacher” for Tomah Journal
• Board member of Tomah Area Historical Society and Museum
• Board member Deke Slayton Memorial Space and Bicycle Museum
• Knights of Columbus, Fourth Degree Captain
• Active in church lay ministries program.
• Give science presentations to school groups, 20 per year
• Present book talks/signings on farming and one-room schools of the 1940-1950s
• Play guitar/sing at 5 community assisted living communities
• Active in MCAREA (retired teachers)
• Board member of the Crawford County Historical Society
• Treasurer of the Tomah Flyers, Inc.
• Trustee, Knights of Columbus Scholarship Fund

 

HOBBIES

• Fly Cessna 150, part of local flying club also radio-controlled flying
• Bicycling
• Jogging
• Reading