Fizzing substances burning through things and loud explosions are not uncommon in Tania Lineham's classes.

"I've singed the odd curtain, put a few holes in the floor," she says.

"Kids have managed to set fire to their hair and eyebrows."

The Southland teacher has won one of New Zealand's top science awards, the Prime Minister's Science Teacher Prize, despite some near-misses.

Back in the 1990s, two students experimenting with a Bunsen burner narrowly avoided disaster, when one boy burned off the other's fringe.

Such is the way things sometimes go in Lineham's classroom at Invercargill's James Hargest College. But her steady demeanour can be critical when things go south.

"I'm very calm if the sink's on fire."

Lineham's dedication to students - she's been teaching for 27 years, 25 of those at James Hargest - have been rewarded in a big way, with the 2015 Prime Minister's Science Teacher Prize.

"I was very excited," she says of hearing she won the prize.

"I think we've got strong science here in Southland. We're a very supportive community."

The prize is worth $150,000. Of that, Lineham will get $50,000.

"I'm planning on going to the Galapagos Islands next year," Lineham says, referring to the chain of islands off the coast of South America famous for their giant tortoises and association with Charles Darwin.

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First, though, Lineham had to attend a banquet at Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington on Wednesday evening where she was given her award by Prime Minister John Key.

As for the other $100,000, Lineham and James Hargest principal Andy Wood say it will be used to buy science equipment, give science teachers time out from their classrooms, and set up a hardship fund for students.

"I love offering opportunities to students," says Lineham.

"We work hard to make sure students are challenged."

Lineham was nominated for the science prize by James Hargest deputy principal Jenny Elder. She then had to put together a two-page CV, and travelled to Wellington in September, where she was grilled by a five-person panel for more than an hour.

"There were a lot of questions."

And perhaps even harder for Lineham: not being allowed to tell anyone she had won when she found out in October.

"I couldn't believe it," she says.

"Not being able to talk about it wasn't easy."

But now that she can tell the world - becoming the first James Hargest teacher to snag the Prime Minister's Science Teacher Prize in the process - Lineham claims the fame won't change her approach to teaching.

"It's important to make things relevant and engaging," she says.

"We're more and more dependent on science. It worries me how we're so dependent on science but many people don't understand it. There is so much misinformation out there. Students need to be able to distinguish between opinions and facts."

Lineham's award was one of five science prizes handed out by the Prime Minister on Wednesday evening. She's also not the first person from James Hargest to be awarded - in 2010, former student Bailey Lovett won the Prime Minister's Future Scientist Prize for research into water quality in the Riverton and Aparima area.

Near the far end of the small classroom, Lineham combines hydrogen peroxide, detergent, potassium iodide and blue food colouring. The mixture creates a fizzing noise, then explodes out of the narrow beaker like a volcano.

"Science also needs to be fun," Lineham laughs.

"I'm a chemistry teacher. I like blowing things up."

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Ben Mack: @benaroundearth