Biography

Ulla Sørensen obtained a Master's Degree in Chemistry and Physics from Aarhus University. Ms. Sørensen has impalement her knowledge and passion for teaching and has been a teacher since 1985 teaching Physics and Chemistry. Ulla has a strong scientific background and also has a strong interest in the human interaction and philosophical side that is gained from a scientific education. She enjoys how teaching youth both benefits the students and provides enjoyable challenges for the teacher. Currently, Ulla runs her own company called Mind Opener; she holds courses for teachers that allow them to consider the student who have experiences with global awareness, social complexity and immersion in the online world. In this context, it is important for teachers to consider the students' physiological experience before working to achieve pedagogical goals. Social media provides students with the opportunity to be in charge of their surroundings and gives them positive feedback that produces that dopamine that makes social media so compelling. Ulla's teaching approach is meant to integrate this kind of experience into teaching. The result is less pressure on the teacher who can concentrate more on planning the lesson creating a better classroom experience for students and teacher. Ulla has taught her method nationally to individual teachers and to groups at the school sites. Her plan is to expand Mind Opener and to make more teachers aware of her methods. She hopes to have a representative in each county to assist entire school systems. She has sacrificed for this expected expansion by forgoing pay from her company. Ulla attributes her success to her experiences in the school of life where she goes through all experiences without trying to avoid any unpleasant experiences. Her greatest accomplishment is to create joy in the classroom and to see students learning physics, even if it's something they didn't choose. She has found particular satisfaction from seeing students with poor grades grow and achieve high grades. She looks to see the "Christmas candles" burning in students' eyes.