Hi, Everyone.
On November 23, 2009, President Obama made a speech from the White House which applauded the efforts of the New York–based initiative called National Lab Day, which is a coalition of educators, science and engineering associations, philanthropies, and other organizations designed to reinvigorate science and math education in the nation’s schools and after-school programs and lead to increased U.S. competitiveness. The Day is being celebrated on Wednesday, May 12.
Volunteers, university students, scientists, engineers, other STEM professionals, and members of the extended community are working together with educators and students to bring discovery-based science experiences/programs to students in grades K-12. More than 200 organizations representing 6.5 million professionals and educators have already pledged support for Lab Day. Some of these programs are being selected for posting on the event’s national website (www.nationallabday.org). The site will automatically match volunteers to requests from educators to participate on the basis of geography and interests. The website also provides resources and ideas for hands-on learning experiments and invites the public to suggest new materials. I invite you to join in a collaborative effort to offer programs designed to stimulate student interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines.
Robert McGahern, the DoD NDEP-PEP Director (and our boss) has asked CASE and its NDEP affiliates to commit to this important celebration. In order to give everyone ample opportunity to participate, Bob has asked that we use the week prior, May 3-7, to organize STEM activities in support of National Lab Day. CASE is working together with all the DoD NDEP state-designated Points of Contact to provide a concentrated approach that would showcase the NDEP-PEP program, the DoD labs and the STEM learning modules—MWM and DimensionM.
In honor of Lab Day, we have asked the DoD labs to send their scientists and engineers (S&Es) into the classrooms of schools in their locales. We are already hearing back that many of them are making plans to do so. I recommend that CASE-trained teachers and S&Es call their state POCs to see if this is occurring in their areas and join the effort.
If this plan is well received, we could have a significant impact on students in one week across the nation! This would be a great story. It would not only help promote the NDEP-PEP program, but it could also create more enthusiasm for the partnerships between the labs and the schools.
Department of Defense STEM professionals are a great asset and resource. The S&Es provide face-to-face, “real-life” content knowledge and process skills to the teachers and students. There are so many great projects occurring at the labs that any number of them would provide great activities during the week. I am certain that teacher and S&E collaboration will produce exciting experiences for the students. I suggest the activities be hands-on, permitting the students to explore and, at a minimum, challenge their observation and prediction skills.
Many of the CASE team members are finally returning from a month of on-site programs. Nancy and I continue to be elated with the reception we receive during these programs. Each session, as with those that proceeded, allowed us to meet teachers, engineers and scientists who are exceptional. Their commitment to the students, desire to expand their skills and willingness to share their talents are key to making these partnerships successful. Even though it is part of our charge, we at CASE are thankful for the privilege of being a catalyst for many of these collaborative arrangements between educators and S&Es.
While in Boston delivering a Natick laboratory-sponsored program, two additional exciting meetings occurred. First, Stu and Barb Shultz (CASE trainers – Michigan), Bill Schmitt (CASE trainer - Arizona), Chris Deckard (SPAWAR engineer - California), and Bob Drake (engineer - Rhode Island) met for two rigorous days to review and improve the summer middle and high school acoustics module curriculum. In addition, they created the framework and suggested activities for an “underwater” acoustics module. Ed Linsenmeyer, Florida POC, is also an active member of this development team. In fact, Stu and Bill met with Ed in March to gather his input. The team is working on the final draft of the three summer acoustics modules. Being part of the sessions and follow-up activities is making me believe that the summer acoustics trainees are in for a treat. The new program definitely should expand their inquiry and design teaching skills.
Nancy and I were hosted by Peter Wong and a number of program administrators from the Museum of Science, Boston. We explored its engineering and mathematics programs to be considered as CASE offerings within the NDEP umbrella. You can review some of these materials on the Museum’s website (www.mos.org/NCTL/). I am sure you will be glad you did.
As Nancy and I travel throughout the country, we see many outstanding programs, but a great deal needs to be considered before we can bring these programs to you. An agreement must be finalized that allows two entities to formally collaborate. In addition, I must obtain NDEP’s official approval and commitment of support to include the new materials among the training components of CASE.
It appears that the CASE team will be conducting significant on-site training over the next two months leading up to the four-week 2010 Summer Institutes in July. May training will occur in New Jersey (four MWM modules) and Pennsylvania (DimensionM). Nancy and I will be attending the next NDEP Coordinator’s Meeting in Ohio. We also will be attending a meeting in South Carolina with DoD laboratory officials and a regional school system desiring to explore the development of an MWM curriculum for its middle school. June finds the CASE team providing two separate weeks of MWM and DimensionM training for the Huntsville, AL, laboratory and a single training session for the Natick, MA, laboratory.
We then have the entire month of July to provide the Summer Institutes. In addition to instruction on the standard Materials World Modules training, we are offering training on two new MWM modules taught by faculty members of Northwestern University where MWM was developed by Dr. Robert Chang. Dr. Matthew Hsu will teach Environmental Catalysis during Week 2 (July11-16). Dr. Sarah Dugan will teach Manipulation of Light in a Nano World during Week 3 (July 18-23). I appreciate Dr. Chang’s willingness to support the Institutes and CASE by making these outstanding modules and faculty available to us. Depending on our assessment of the outcomes of these modules during the summer training, I may recommend these to become part of CASE’s regular on-site training.
Many of you know about the acoustics module development undertaken over a year ago. This intensive effort produced two modules; one for middle school and another for high school. With the continued assistance and direction of DoD scientists and engineers, a third module-- underwater acoustics--is being offered for training during Week 4 of the Institutes.
During Week 4, a special program is being offered for mathematics teachers. Mathematics Activities will focus on the math associated with robotics. The participants will explore and apply the various mathematics that are part of robotic design and function. In addition to the hands-on exercises, a series of Java applets will be introduced and an emphasis will be placed on I&D teaching skills.
Based on the response and request of last summer’s attendees, a series of hands-on mathematics activities will also be part of the week’s program. These activities are meant to make mathematics relevant to the students’ real-world experiences. They are meant to respond to the questions--when and where will I ever use this (math) “stuff”?
As with all CASE training, the objectives in these sessions are: (1) to provide experience using a student-centered teaching approach, and (2) to provide opportunities to create teacher, engineer and scientist collaboratives to improve student STEM competencies and stimulate student interest in STEM careers.
Once again, I look forward to many of you joining the efforts of National Lab Day. And for those who are eligible, I hope you will decide to register for our Summer Institutes. It will be my pleasure to see you there.
Regards,
Steve
