Student Spotlight: Johnny Hansen

Johnny Hansen works with Dr. Goodridge in the Physics Education department. Johnny wants to pursue a career as a teacher. He researches new ways to teach spatial awareness to high school students. Spatial awareness is the measurement of one’s ability to solve relationships in three-dimensional space.  

One of the goals of the research is to increase spatial awareness in younger students so that they feel more able to pursue STEM careers. “The more people understand math and physics, the more natural it is for them to join STEM careers,” Johnny said.  

Johnny started on the concrete canoe team. Dr. Goodridge came and talked to his class about his research and Johnny decided to talk to him and get involved with the project. “I’m part of a team where everything I’m doing is relevant to what they’re doing, and everything they’re doing is relevant to what I’m doing,” he said.  

Johnny said he likes that everything he’s learning in his research he will be able to apply in the future when he starts teaching. “The research I’m doing is something I can apply for myself,” he said. “The biggest reason behind the research I do is for me to enable myself to do as much good as I can for those students in the future.”