Every once in a while, Southridge High School physics teacher Bradford Hill strays off topic during a lesson.

He tells his students they can check out for a couple of minutes if they want while he tells a story, but instead, all heads turn toward him.

His tangents are interesting. The students don't realize it, but the stories serve an educational purpose. It gives the freshmen a mental break during the long 90-minute class and it helps seal the lesson in their minds because the tangents have a physics connection.

The students, all freshmen, walked away last week knowing that dolphins are speedy because of tiny hairs on their bodies that sense inefficient water movement and form goose bumps that make them more hydrodynamic. Hill worked on a project in college that would allow submarines to use a similar strategy to improve their hydrodynamics.

Hill, 37, loves physics and he especially loves teaching it. His work has made Beaverton a model for other districts in the state.

Hill can't recall any Newtonian moment from his childhood in Minnesota that sparked the physics bug.

"Apparently, I was a curious kid and I was always asking how things work," he said. "I find it compelling to understand the world and to try to make the world a better place. You can harness your efforts better by knowing how things work."

He imparts that knowledge to his students, but in a much different way than he did earlier in his career.

"Before, I was teaching the facts of science instead of teaching the practice of science," he said.

Now, he teaches students to use inductive reasoning to pursue their answers. In other words, the students take data, find patterns (inverse, quadratic or linear), talk with others to support their conclusions and make an informed prediction about what will happen.

But first he gets them thinking.

Why would a speedy eight-year-old today be able to run the 100-yard dash fast enough to win a bronze medal at the Athens Olympics in 1896? He doesn't call on raised hands. Hill carries a stack of cards with names and calls on students who might not be expecting it.

The answer? Better nutrition has made people stronger and faster, tracks are rubberized, not dirt, adding to speed. If the youngster were a U.S. Olympic runner, he would live in a dome that helped his body increase red blood cells to better absorb oxygen. The Greeks didn't have that.

Then, Hill gets them started on a project to determine the speed of a Frisbee thrown from a moving bus. It's a lesson that requires them to hone their data processing skills with Excel as well as ensure they have a grasp on basic algebra. They're going to need the skills to bungee-jump Barbie dolls in a few months.

The freshmen say they like Hill, "He's cool" and respect his knowledge of physics. They also appreciate his willingness to walk the room and make sure they understand the lesson. He follows a teaching routine of I do it, we do it and you do it.

Freshman Bailey Cook said Hill "is very understanding of what we need. I like when teachers come around. Mainly, I'm too shy to ask questions during class."

"We call him Hill Nye the science guy," said freshman Abbi Wilbur. "He's way too smart to be teaching us. He should be teaching college."

Those in college, however, are thankful they had Hill in high school.

"He really encourages students to get right in, doing experiments and recording data and looking for patterns," said Lacey Jacoby, who graduated as valedictorian in 2013. "He encouraged us to find our own conclusions, which is more satisfying. You're making your own discoveries instead of doing labs that have already been done."

Jacoby, who took a two-year International Baccalaureate physics class from Hill, is on the pre-med path at Lewis & Clark College, double majoring in biology and anthropology.

She said she has discovered that the skills she learned in Hill's class have placed her among a select few in her college science classes who have done original research. It has made school a little easier for her and those lessons of learning how to look at data and making your own hypothesis easily transfer to the medical field she said.

During his nine years at Southridge, Hill has won a slew of awards and titles, including the 2014 Paul Zitzewitz Excellence in Pre-College Physic Teaching

Award from the American Association of Physics Teachers. In 2013, he was named Outstanding Classroom Science Teacher by the Oregon Science Teachers Association.

Then, there are the grants and fellowships. From 2012-14, he performed original physics research at Portland State University funded by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. From 2003-08, he was a Knowles Science Teaching Mentor. This school year, he is president of the Oregon Science Teachers Association.

Hill isn't keeping it to himself; in fact, he's a master teacher who teaches other educators in the district.

Hill was the leading force behind the district's science sequence swap two years ago. Freshmen take physics first instead of waiting until their junior year. Previously, most students started with biology as freshmen.

"Bradford was a bright spot," said Susan Holveck, district science specialist for secondary schools. Hill and teaching partner David Holtz had already been teaching a 12-week freshman physics course.

Hill took what he learned during his Knowles Fellowship and further developed the freshman curriculum, expanding it beyond the 12 weeks, working with Beaverton teachers along the way, Holveck said.

"We couldn't do it without him," she said. "His ideas are a blend of all of the best of what's happening out there."

Since then, Beaverton has become a model for other school districts. Forest Grove and Gresham-Barlow have adopted the physics approach. Others have visited the district to get ideas, Holveck said.

As for Hill, he wants to make physics fun.

"One of the biggest goals is for the students to have a positive relationship with science," he said.

Hill is a legend at Southridge, Jacoby said, referring to her former teacher's traditional flannel attire.

Students dress up like him at Halloween, said Southridge Principal Todd Corsetti, describing the look as like a lumberjack. Flannel shirts, short sleeved in the summer, and boots.

Hill laughed and said he wasn't really trying for the lumberjack look, saying simply, "I do like flannel."

-- Wendy Owen