Phrases such as “project-based learning” or “hands-on instruction” aren’t just buzzwords for Culver School STEAM teacher Helen Lazaris. They describe her everyday approach to teaching.
Lazaris, a 16-year veteran at Culver who has taught in the STEAM program since it was introduced more than 10 years ago, recently was rewarded for her determined approach. She has been named a 2025-26 Outstanding PLTW Teacher by Project Lead The Way (PLTW), a national program that creates and disseminates curricula and professional development for elementary and high school teachers.
Lazaris praised the PLTW framework. “It’s all inquiry-based, all problem-solving,” she said. From grade to grade, the curriculum continually builds upon what has been taught before, she noted.
She finds the curriculum exceptional in offering ways to link learning to the world students live in. For example, second graders are charged with figuring out how to keep an ice pop frozen for an hour outside the refrigerator, which also teaches them about properties of matter (solids, liquids and gases). Or they learn about making a cast to set a broken bone, using basic engineering principles while learning more about how the human body works.
“Helen is really deeply committed to this work, said Culver Principal Erica Smolinski. “She loves Bill Nye (known on television as ‘The Science Guy’). She’s always bringing science alive for kids, and taking things apart to let her students see how they work.”
Smolinski’s favorite example is a kindergarten exercise on structure and function, which Lazaris calls “engineering through fairy tales.” Playing off the story of the “Three Little Pigs,” students have to put up a structure to withstand the Big Bad Wolf’s efforts to blow it down. In this case, Lazaris uses a small leaf blower and a wolf puppet to test the students’ work.
Alan Hirsch, a technology instructor/coach and veteran of more than two decades at Culver, is the person who nominated Lazaris for the recognition. “She’s pretty awesome,” he said. “She goes above and beyond for her students and her colleagues. She fits this. This is her. I thought our school should get recognized as having a great instructor.”
The Indianapolis-based organization’s announcement said, “This award is given to PLTW teachers for their commitment to providing transformational learning experiences through PLTW programs.” Smolinski endorses that assessment, both of the program and Lazaris.
“Having a PLTW expert in the building, we get the benefit of the high level of training, the high caliber of instruction supported by research. It’s a very rich experience for students,” she said. “Students are thinking about how things are built, how things work. It helps the whole school because they get creative and solve problems.”
“As they go through life, students need principles that cut across academic disciplines to apply to real world scenarios,” Lazaris said. “The learning standard here is to encourage real-world, creative problem solvers. It’s pretty amazing to see what kids can come up with. I probably have the best job in the school.”