Garrett Dubofsky won a $1,000 scholarship for a public service announcement he put together in a science class. It is about the dangers of distracted driving, geared specifically to teens. Island students win scholarships all the time. But this one caught our eye. The public service announcement came from a class and a teacher and a real life lesson in how the laws of physics can change a life in a nanosecond.

Islander physics teacher Brian Hampsch, a 14-year veteran teaching at Mercer Island schools, knows his students. Most of are new drivers, he said. In his Physics 2 Honors classes, students study forces and motion, he explained, and “we incorporate a theme of driving safety.”

Whether it is the amount of stopping distance, the force generated by air bags when they deploy or the how seat belts stop forward motion, the students become schooled in the kind of power they are piloting when behind the wheel. Combining those effects with the variables of reaction times and the force and motion of-oncoming vehicles, students learn how quickly things can go awry in a moving vehicle.

Most of all, they begin to understand what could happen when perhaps, they look away for just a second. The random element is the distraction, whether it is tuning a radio station or picking up a cell phone. Students in Mr. Hampsch’s class learn how a simple act can turn to tragedy. The teacher moves the lesson one step further—encouraging students to spread the word.

So here we have it. Education in action. Teachers who think outside the box to engage students. Students use analytical (quantitative) thinking to address and understand behavior and its connection to the real world. Using various media tools, such information can be effectively communicated to the world.