When the National Association of Biology Teachers scoured Texas for the best biology teacher they could find, they chose Wichita Falls High School teacher Dan Patrick.

Patrick was named the 2012 recipient of the Outstanding Biology Teacher Award for Texas, an honor that is bestowed by the National Association on one top biology teacher in every state.

"It's actually a committee of biology teachers that chooses the winner," Patrick said.

That made the honor a vote of confidence from his peers, he said.

Patrick said his increased involvement in teacher training throughout the state had caused him to become acquainted with a large following of biology teachers in the state and elsewhere.

This is Patrick's 30th year of teaching biology, all of them at WFHS.

"We teach a lot different now on DNA and those kinds of topics. We teach a lot more depth than at the beginning because we know so much more," he said. "I love biology. I've worked to keep abreast of what's going on in the field so I can teach the kids some new stuff."

When he trains teachers as he does increasingly these days he stresses that they must become experts in their subject.

"In education classes they learn so much about technique. They sometimes forget they have to be an expert. I stress that you've got to like your subject enough to really continue to learn it."

Such expertise will be required as the state ramps up the rigor in science and other core subjects.

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WFHS teacher named state's top in biology