Name: Lisa Daly
Age: 39
Position: Teacher, Haiku School
Education: University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Pastimes: Gardening, surfing

Her students make models of volcanoes to study geology and prepare a revised recipe of a musubi or rice ball to learn about the Earth's crust.

"We made rice balls, and I couldn't find umes (salted plums) to put in the center, so I got them ling hing mui cherries," said Daly, a third-grade teacher at Haiku School on Maui.

Principal Fern Markgraf says Daly uses a hands-on approach to education with excellent results.

"She turns children on to science," Markgraf said.

Daly, 39, approaches her science class as an adventure in creative thinking.

By making paper mache volcanoes, students learn about plate tectonics and the formation of continents and mountain ranges.

They also create imitation lava flows by mixing red dye, baking soda and vinegar. The concoction has the theatrical effect of bubbling over.

Daly said her students remember concepts better when they use their hands and apply what they know to make things.

Before Daly began teaching on Maui in 1989, she sailed as a crew member on a 40-foot boat from Thailand across the Pacific to Honolulu.

She decided to become a teacher because she liked working with children as a certified swimming instructor. "Every day it's different. Kids change. The curriculum changes."