Natalie Clark, who teaches first grade at Iron Springs Elementary School in Cedar City, has just been named Elementary Science Teacher of the Year for Region 7 - which includes Iron, Kane, Washington, Beaver and Garfield counties - by the Utah Science Teachers Association.

Clark said she was inspired to love science by her father, Gary Pfaffenberger, an entomologist who taught at Eastern New Mexico University. She said that whenever she went on camping trips with her father, she would collect insects. In fact, she said, when she learned that she was receiving the award, she called her father. "He's the reason I do all this," Clark said.

She has a hands-on approach to teaching her students about biology and has a cabinet with drawers full of preserved insects that she uses to teach her students to identify and know the individual characteristics and behaviors of the insects on display. The students also take field trips to places such as a privately owned wildlife museum in New Harmony.

She also said the students do a lot of non-fiction writing assignments, and she plans to take members of an after-school science club, along with their parents, on a camping trip sometime in May.

First-graders Tanner and Justin Dodds, who are twins, are in agreement about Clark.

Tanner Dodds said, "I love her; she's too nice."

Justin Dodds said, "I think she's awesome."

Tanner said he likes learning about matter, insects and thermometers.

First-grader Kyler Callister said he also enjoys learning about thermometers.

There is a human skeleton in the classroom that Clark says is re-named Mr. Bones by her first grade classes every year, and the students use it to learn the bones of the body as well as why they should wear bike helmets.

Iron Springs Principal Jane Twitchell said Clark's enthusiasm for science has led to the school hosting an annual science fair that usually takes place in March. She said all elementary schools in the Iron County School District are invited to participate in the fair.

Several years ago, Twitchell said, Clark started getting families together to participate in scientific activities. That evolved into the science fair, which has become so large that it must be divided into two days for upper and lower grades.

"Natalie has such a strong passion for science and sharing it with kids and families that it's just hard for her to be able to harness that passion," Twitchell said.

Clark said she has been teaching for 19 years with 17 of those being for first-graders. She has been teaching at Iron Springs since it opened, which, Twitchell said, is six years.

Clark said the most important goal she has for her students is for them to love learning and to ask questions.

"I want them to find the answers to things themselves," she said. "I want them to become independent learners and think for themselves."