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= Eugenia Etkina = Eugenia Etkina is a distinguished professor at Rutgers University's Graduate School of Education. Her background is in physics education and she has focused on enhancing the process of learning throughout her career. Etkina has collaborated on various physics textbooks that apply her approach to learning and teaching, Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE). Most recently, she has begun providing training to teachers to guide them in incorporating this method of teaching and learning in their classrooms.

Early Life
Etkina was brought up in the Soviet Union, and completed her education and started her early career there. As a senior in high school, Etkina was unsure of her intended career path and aspirations for the future. Her mom was a math teacher and her dad a physics professor, and they both had encouraged her to pursue teaching. However, Etkina was not interested in becoming a teacher and had plans to become a ballerina. When her older sister Anna passed away due to heart issues at the age of 21, Etkina, 15 at the time, decided to follow in her sister's footsteps to fulfill her unfinished dream. Anna was determined to become a math teacher and had already secured a job by her senior year of college. The day of her sister's death, Etkina promised to become a teacher out of her love for her sister.

Etkina did not want become a math teacher, and considered the fields she could go into. After ruling out different humanities and sciences for various reasons, physics was the only subject remaining. Though her father was thrilled by this decision, Etkina was fearful of what an education concentrated in physics would entail.

Education
Etkina obtained a B.S. and M. Sc. degree in Physics Education in 1982 from Moscow State Pedagogical University, with distinction. She became certified as a teacher of physics and astronomy that same year. This is comparable to a 5-year Master's program that is offered by many universities in the United States. At the end of these four years, Etkina's perspective regarding physics had changed. Her astrophysics professor, who taught evolution of stars and cosmology, presented the subject of physics in an interesting way. Though he was not well-versed in teaching methods, he led very engaging discussions and presented his own research to his students in class, which encouraged Etkina to appreciate physics. She returned to Moscow State Pedagogical University to earn her Ph.D. in Physics Education in 1997.

Career
Etkina started off as a high school physics teacher. Seven years later, an interaction with one of her former students allowed Etkina to realize that her students were not absorbing as much of the material or takeaways she had worked hard at presenting in an captivating way. This student, who she considered to be her best student, could not recall one of the labs demonstrated in class despite it being relevant to their career, and only remembered their own presentation. This caused Etkina to begin observing how students learn. In addition to being a teacher, she took initiative to focus on the process of teaching and learning. In 1988, she created a system that structures the process of learning based on scientific practices. This was enhanced by the formation of ISLE upon her collaboration with A. Van Heuvelen in 2000. This method emphasizes practice and application of physics concepts for students' learning. Students are encouraged to observe experiments and analyze data to form their own connections and discover patterns.

Etkina moved to the US mainly due to her involvement in a pen-pal project she was working on with Lynn Glass, a professor of science education in Iowa. This program formed a connection between high school science students in Iowa and Moscow with shared interests, and they had to collaborate on a project.

She has created and now conducts a preparatory course for physics teachers. This is a comprehensive training program for teachers to understand the method and material, and learn how to apply it. The teachers are taught physics using the principles of ISLE and track their progress through their learning, and eventually the progress of their students' with this updated teaching style. This is paired with the textbook “College Physics: Explore and Apply” by Etkina, Planinsic and Van Heuvelen, that is also centered around ISLE. It is used to teach accelerated physics courses in high school, such as AP Physics, and universities. These methods are even being applied internationally today.

Ever since ISLE started getting global recognition in 2000, Dr. Etkina has conducted over 120 workshops to guide physics instructors worldwide in adopting her discovered methods. She continues to be actively be involved with research and have been invited as a guest speaker to over 170 events and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles.

Honors and Awards

 * Largest number of physics teachers compared to all other universities in the US produced by the Rutgers Physics Teacher Preparation program, 2016, 2017
 * Most Promising Textbook Award for College Physics (by Etkina, Gentile, and Van Heuvelen), 2016
 * Rutgers GSE Awarded for Outstanding Physics Teacher Preparation Program, 2015
 * Named Fellow of American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), 2014
 * Recipient of Millikan Medal, 2014
 * NJ Teacher Educator of the Year, 2012
 * AAPT Distinguished Service Citation Award, 2012
 * GSE Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award, 2011
 * American Physical Society Outstanding Referees, 2010
 * Science Prize in Online Research for Education (AAAS SPORE), 2010
 * Rutgers University Warren I. Susman Award for excellence in teaching, 2010
 * 9th Annual G. Arfken Scholar in Residence, 2009
 * GSE Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Research Award, 2007