Brian Beaver

Brian Beaver

Park science department head Brian Beaver has announced his decision to leave Park at the end of the 2022–23 school year after 28 years of service. While he doesn’t fully consider this “retirement,” he looks forward to discovering new adventures beyond the classroom.

Brian began his career teaching 5–8 science at The Hill School in Virginia, followed by five years teaching Middle School science as well as senior electives at Newark Academy in New Jersey while also completing graduate studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. He joined the Park faculty in 1994, teaching grades 6 and 8 under science department head Prabha Papali-Nambiar. When Prabha stepped down as department head, Brian shared the department head role over time with colleague Karen Manning, who led the department during Brian’s sabbatical and stayed in the role until her own sabbatical, when Brian stepped back in. Reflecting on his time at Park, Brian is grateful for the strong partnerships he has enjoyed with fellow members of the science department who have been essential thought partners—team teaching, bouncing ideas off each other, checking understanding, and investigating new ideas.

Across just under three decades at The Park School, Brian and his colleagues have led a thoughtful evolution of the science curriculum, working with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to enrich the understanding of what good science teaching is really about. The department deepened its emphasis on hands-on learning and discovery in the traditional core subjects of Earth Science, Physical Science, and Life Science, and introduced elements of engineering and design thinking.

Brian takes pride in having helped build a program that truly encourages students as science learners. He is impressed by the ability of Park’s students to work independently in a lab setting, gaining the resilience to try, fail, and try again, to work in collaboration with others, and build the confidence to rely less on authority and more on observation. As a teacher, Brian loves doing experiments, collecting data, and making observations, and most enjoys helping his students gain the skills to do this work.

With some much needed free time ahead, Brian looks forward to doing a good deal of hiking, and for opportunities to appreciate the outdoors and nature. We are grateful to Brian for his leadership, his dedication to students, and his partnership, and wish him all the best.