The students at ASK Academy don’t just learn about robotics, they live it year-round.
The city’s first charter school opened in the fall of 2010 with a promise to focus on math, science technology and engineering by using hands-on experience and project-based lesson plans. The robotics program at the school is one of the ways they are trying to achieve that goal, and this year they have an award-winning teacher to help them do it.
Today, Ashley Ivins’ robotics students will take part in their first competition of the year, heading down to Las Cruces for the B.E.S.T. (Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology) robotics competition. It’s the first of four the group will compete in this year. The team is made up of students enrolled in the robotics class, who are also enrolled in the accompanying after-school club.
The Society for Science & the Public named Ivins a Science Fellow in 2010. The organization has been giving the award for three years and chooses only 10 science teachers from around the country each year. That makes Ivins one of only 30 recipients in the United States. Coworker Ray Nance received the award in 2009. As winners, they received training and attended society workshops.
Ivins said students have spent the past six weeks preparing for the robotics competition. Unlike others, where students use Legos to build their robots, the B.E.S.T competition requires students build a complex machine from scratch.
Sophomore Austin Reed, 15, has been the main programmer for this particular robot. He said he didn’t know much about programming when he started, but has learned along the way.
“It’s been a lot of trial and error,” he said. “Designing the robot was hard, too.”
Much of the design work was done by fellow sophomore Geoff Lawrence. Lawrence has worked with robots in the past and even has a robot kit at home. But he said building a robot for competition was much more challenging.
“We have had to manufacture all of our parts – wheels and all,” he said. “But I have learned a lot.”
And learn a lot, they do. Ivins said the class is about building robots, but students are using many other academic skills.
“They get to apply what they are learning in engineering,” she said. “They also use math and do tons of writing – against their will, of course, but I think it’s important.”
A huge part of today’s competition will be the presentation of the team’s engineering notebook, which outlines their procedure and process for building and testing their robot. They must also come up with a marketing plan and website.
To pay for the competitions, Ivins and Nance are holding monthly robotics workshops for non-academy fourth- through ninth-grade students in the community. The four-week workshop costs a $100 and the November session is already full.
The ASK robotics students will compete in three more robotics competitions throughout the year and travel to Hawaii this summer for a robotics workshop.
Ivins told her students she would give herself a purple Mohawk hairdo if they win, but for the students, the fun factor of the class is motivation enough.
“I love this class,” Reed said. “We are not constrained to seats watching PowerPoint presentations. We get to do fun stuff all the time.”
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
ASK robotics team ready to compete
Posted: Sunday, October 9, 2011 12:00 am | Updated: 4:45 pm, Fri Oct 7, 2011.
BY GLEN ROSALES
Observer staff writer | 0 comments
With a wooden platform, some improvised wheels and a tangled web of wires, the contraption at the ASK Academy hardly looks like the stereotypical robot.
But, explains junior Blayne Beglue - who is in charge of the academy's strategy for the upcoming BEST 2011 competition that will be held in Las Cruces Oct. 22 - the current version is just a prototype used to determine what's needed for the final version.
BEST stands for Boosting Engineering, Science & Technology.
"It's still evolving," he said of the work. "We're still putting things together to see how it all will work."
This is the first time the ASK Academy team has entered the BEST competition, but the group is no stranger to robotics competitions.
Because of the nature of the competition, however, the ASK Academy team needed to form a pseudo company to deal with some of the logistics involved, said sophomore Samantha Kellogg-Howell.
That included creating a website askandroids.weebly.com, as well as a marketing plan.
Under the competition rules, the teams are vying for a government contract to track down genetically engineered bugs that had escaped their containment fields.
The enhanced flies, cockroaches and termites pose a threat to the community, and if the escape is not contained quickly, it could doom the research project, according to the competition prospectus.
To help preserve the research, the bugs need to be captured alive, segregated in separate containment fields and then fed to keep them healthy and content.
What's more, all of this needs to be done in three minutes, with a spotter helping a remote-control operator steer the robot on its mission.
The containment fields are progressively more difficult to reach, with the final one littered with mounds of construction debris.
That might require the addition of an extendable arm that can reach over the debris field to drop the bugs into the containment area, Beglue said.
The class has to design the motherboard and install the power strip to make the operation possible, said sophomore Austin Reed.
It's all "pretty challenging," said Reed, who plans to study engineering when he reaches college.
"I took a class in robotics and it was really fun, so when I saw this, I decided to join," he said.
Not everybody on the team was quite so enthused about it, said freshman Natalie Paulk.
"My dad made me join," she said. "But I'm enjoying it now. It looks good on a college application."
Sophomore Valeria Valencia succumbed to peer pressure in joining the group.
"I was advised by my peers to get involved," she said. "They kept insisting that I join, so I did. We're pretty much a family here. We have our differences but in the end, we all come through."
Ashley Ivins, who teaches robotics and biomedical science at the school, is the team's sponsor and said it's a positive experience for the school to be involved in the competitions.
"They have to work together to do all of this," she said. "It makes them use a lot of different things that they learn here."
In addition to showing their mettle in the competition on the field, the teams must also wow judges with their marketing and business plans.
"It's definitely a fun project," Kellogg-Howell said. "This is something that helps us get ready for everything after college."
Share
BY GLEN ROSALES
Observer staff writer | 0 comments
With a wooden platform, some improvised wheels and a tangled web of wires, the contraption at the ASK Academy hardly looks like the stereotypical robot.
But, explains junior Blayne Beglue - who is in charge of the academy's strategy for the upcoming BEST 2011 competition that will be held in Las Cruces Oct. 22 - the current version is just a prototype used to determine what's needed for the final version.
BEST stands for Boosting Engineering, Science & Technology.
"It's still evolving," he said of the work. "We're still putting things together to see how it all will work."
This is the first time the ASK Academy team has entered the BEST competition, but the group is no stranger to robotics competitions.
Because of the nature of the competition, however, the ASK Academy team needed to form a pseudo company to deal with some of the logistics involved, said sophomore Samantha Kellogg-Howell.
That included creating a website askandroids.weebly.com, as well as a marketing plan.
Under the competition rules, the teams are vying for a government contract to track down genetically engineered bugs that had escaped their containment fields.
The enhanced flies, cockroaches and termites pose a threat to the community, and if the escape is not contained quickly, it could doom the research project, according to the competition prospectus.
To help preserve the research, the bugs need to be captured alive, segregated in separate containment fields and then fed to keep them healthy and content.
What's more, all of this needs to be done in three minutes, with a spotter helping a remote-control operator steer the robot on its mission.
The containment fields are progressively more difficult to reach, with the final one littered with mounds of construction debris.
That might require the addition of an extendable arm that can reach over the debris field to drop the bugs into the containment area, Beglue said.
The class has to design the motherboard and install the power strip to make the operation possible, said sophomore Austin Reed.
It's all "pretty challenging," said Reed, who plans to study engineering when he reaches college.
"I took a class in robotics and it was really fun, so when I saw this, I decided to join," he said.
Not everybody on the team was quite so enthused about it, said freshman Natalie Paulk.
"My dad made me join," she said. "But I'm enjoying it now. It looks good on a college application."
Sophomore Valeria Valencia succumbed to peer pressure in joining the group.
"I was advised by my peers to get involved," she said. "They kept insisting that I join, so I did. We're pretty much a family here. We have our differences but in the end, we all come through."
Ashley Ivins, who teaches robotics and biomedical science at the school, is the team's sponsor and said it's a positive experience for the school to be involved in the competitions.
"They have to work together to do all of this," she said. "It makes them use a lot of different things that they learn here."
In addition to showing their mettle in the competition on the field, the teams must also wow judges with their marketing and business plans.
"It's definitely a fun project," Kellogg-Howell said. "This is something that helps us get ready for everything after college."
Share
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
APS Fellowship programs
Education
Forty-six Science Teacher Fellows From Across the Nation Participate in APS Fellowship Programs
This spring 46 teachers from across the nation are participating in the 2011 Frontiers in Physiology Professional Development Fellowship Programs sponsored by the APS (http://www.frontiersinphys.org). Seventeen teachers were selected as the 2011 Research Teacher (RT) Fellows and 29 teachers were awarded as the 2011 Online Teacher Fellows (OTFs). Frontiers in Physiology was recognized as a “Model for Excellence in Science Education” by the Center for Excellence in Education in 2010, and is sponsored by the APS, a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
One component of the traditional Research Teacher fellowship that the APS has offered over the last two decades is a local partnership between the science teacher and an APS member, who jointly applied to the program and committed to contributing a portion of the teacher’s fellowship payments. APS members serve as hosts and mentors to the teachers by providing each teacher fellow with a physiology-based laboratory research experience for seven to eight weeks this summer. Through this opportunity, the RTs learn first-hand how the research process works, allowing them to enhance their own science teaching with their students in the classroom. The RTs will also be attending the “APS Science Teaching Forum,” an intensive workshop week focused on student-centered teaching methods at the Airlie Center in Warrenton, VA. Along with an invited APS member physiologist, the 2011 K-12 Outreach Fellows, past teacher fellows who serve as teacher mentor/instructors, and APS Education Office staff, the RTs will use APS curriculum units that explore inquiry-based teaching strategies, how to integrate technology into their classroom, and equity and diversity issues in science education. As part of the fellowship in the fall, the RTs will develop and refine their own inquiry-based, student-centered lab activity for the science classroom. Finally, the RTs conclude their fellowship year by experiencing a scientific meeting at Experimental Biology 2012 in San Diego, CA.
The Online Teacher Fellow program was made possible with a supplemental grant awarded to the APS last fall as part of the existing SEPA teacher professional development program. The award allows the APS to replicate the pilot Frontiers Online Teacher Program established 2010. The online program delivered on a course management system is an adaption of the more traditional comprehensive RT program, which includes not only the online program, but a summer research experience, a summer workshop week, and travel to EB 2012 for participation and an awards ceremony.
The lessons, assignments, discussions, and activities in both fellowship programs are structured in the APS Six Star Science framework for promoting excellence in science education. The Six Star Science principles address student-centered learning, equity and diversity, technology in the classroom, authentic assessment on content and pedagogy, updated content, and intentional reflection. As part of the both fellowship programs, the RTs and OTFs will develop and refine their own inquiry-based, student-centered lab activity for the science classroom.
The following are the 2011 APS Online Teacher Fellows, listed alphabetically by the teacher’s last name:
Katie Anderson, Dakota Middle School, Rapid City, SD; Myra Arnone, Redmond High School, Redmond, WA; Daniel Bartsch, Billings Senior High, Billings, MT; Sarah Berlinger, Littleton High School, Littleton, MA; Rebecca Block, Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences, Tulsa, OK; Wanda Bryant, Detroit Public Schools, Detroit, MI; Regina Cowan, Detroit Public Schools, Detroit, MI; Greg Dierson, Great Plains Lutheran High School, Watertown, SD; Mary Eldredge-Sandbo, Des Lacs-Burlington High School, Des Lacs, ND; Myriaha Felker, Cabell Midland High, Ona, WV; Charles Galarza, Nolan Richardson Middle School, El Paso, TX; Ellen Gant, Dakota Valley High School, North Souix City, SD; Denise Gipson, Jefferson High School, Shenandoah Junction, WV; Jennifer Gonzales, Tafolla Middle School, San Antonio, TX; Mary Haus, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA; Kelly Hennessey, A.C. Davis High School, Yakima, WA; Cora James, Haskell High School, Haskell, OK; Cathy Johnson, Drayton Public School, Drayton, ND; Nancy Keller, Heritage High School, Vancouver, WA; Tami Kepshire, Portage High School, Portage, IN; Carla McFadden, Okanogan School District, Okanogan, WA; Jannette Moehlman, Dakota Middle School, Rapid City, SD; Melanie Shaver, West McDowell Jr. High, Marion, NC; Tara Veazey, Riverside High School, Charleston, WV; Darrell Walker, Elizabeth City Middle School, Elizabeth City, NC; Pete Whipple, Bowdish Middle School, Spokane Valley, WA; William Wilson, Clover Park High School, Lakewood, WA; Debora Wines, Central Catholic High School, Billings, MT; and Daniel Zielaski, Phelps ACE SHS, DC Public Schools, Washington, DC.
The following are the 2011 APS Research Teacher/Host Partnerships, listed alphabetically by the teacher’s last name:
Sandra Bickerstaff, South Carolina State Univ., Orangeburg, SC; Sweitzer M. Sarah, and L. Britt Wilson, Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia, SC; Laura Carlino, Upper St. Clair High School, Upper St. Clair, PA; Bill Yates, Univ. of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; Elizabeth Charleston, York Country Day School, York, PA; Leonard S. Jefferson, Penn State Univ., Hershey, PA; Nelia Delos Reyes, Hartman Middle School, Houston, TX; Rolando E. Rumbaut, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX; Laura (L.B.) Fogt, Olathe North High School, Overland Park, KS; Shrikant Anant, Kansas Univ., Kansas City, KS; Elizabeth Hunt Esco, Olathe High School, Olathe, KS; Norberto C. Gonzalez, Kansas Univ., Kansas City, KS; Ashley Ivins, Mescalero Apache High School, Mescalero, NM; Nancy Kanagy, Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM; Julia Lawrence, DeSoto Independent School District, Glenn Heights, TX; Tony G. Babb, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas/UT Southwestern Medical Center; Fredrica Nash, Hillside New Tech High School, Durham, NC; Amy M. Pastva, and Jo Rae Wright, Duke Univ., Durham, NC; Jane Raabis, North High School, Worcester, MA; Stephen Doxsey, Univ. of Massachusetts, Worcester, MA; Devalyn Rogers, Pershing Middle School, Houston, TX; Patrick M. Dougherty, Univ. of Texas, Houston, TX; Pauline Schork, Clinton High School, Clinton, WI; Kathryn M.S. Johnson, Beloit College, Beloit, WI; Stacy Schurtz, Pike Township School District, Indianapolis, IN; C. Subah Packer, Indiana Univ., Indianapolis, IN; Sue Speirs, Grosse Pointe Public Schools, Grosse Pointe Woods, MI; Patrick Joseph Mueller, Wayne State Univ., Detroit, MI; Christopher Stotts, Lincoln Memorial Univ., Harrogate, TN; Stan C. Kunigelis, DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine, Harrogate, TN; Lucina Velasquez-Lopez, Flowing Wells High School, Tucson, AZ; Thomas L. Pannabecker, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ; and Leslie Worton, Edison High School, Fresno, CA; Henry A. Lester, California Inst. of Technology, Pasadena, CA.
Forty-six Science Teacher Fellows From Across the Nation Participate in APS Fellowship Programs
This spring 46 teachers from across the nation are participating in the 2011 Frontiers in Physiology Professional Development Fellowship Programs sponsored by the APS (http://www.frontiersinphys.org). Seventeen teachers were selected as the 2011 Research Teacher (RT) Fellows and 29 teachers were awarded as the 2011 Online Teacher Fellows (OTFs). Frontiers in Physiology was recognized as a “Model for Excellence in Science Education” by the Center for Excellence in Education in 2010, and is sponsored by the APS, a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
One component of the traditional Research Teacher fellowship that the APS has offered over the last two decades is a local partnership between the science teacher and an APS member, who jointly applied to the program and committed to contributing a portion of the teacher’s fellowship payments. APS members serve as hosts and mentors to the teachers by providing each teacher fellow with a physiology-based laboratory research experience for seven to eight weeks this summer. Through this opportunity, the RTs learn first-hand how the research process works, allowing them to enhance their own science teaching with their students in the classroom. The RTs will also be attending the “APS Science Teaching Forum,” an intensive workshop week focused on student-centered teaching methods at the Airlie Center in Warrenton, VA. Along with an invited APS member physiologist, the 2011 K-12 Outreach Fellows, past teacher fellows who serve as teacher mentor/instructors, and APS Education Office staff, the RTs will use APS curriculum units that explore inquiry-based teaching strategies, how to integrate technology into their classroom, and equity and diversity issues in science education. As part of the fellowship in the fall, the RTs will develop and refine their own inquiry-based, student-centered lab activity for the science classroom. Finally, the RTs conclude their fellowship year by experiencing a scientific meeting at Experimental Biology 2012 in San Diego, CA.
The Online Teacher Fellow program was made possible with a supplemental grant awarded to the APS last fall as part of the existing SEPA teacher professional development program. The award allows the APS to replicate the pilot Frontiers Online Teacher Program established 2010. The online program delivered on a course management system is an adaption of the more traditional comprehensive RT program, which includes not only the online program, but a summer research experience, a summer workshop week, and travel to EB 2012 for participation and an awards ceremony.
The lessons, assignments, discussions, and activities in both fellowship programs are structured in the APS Six Star Science framework for promoting excellence in science education. The Six Star Science principles address student-centered learning, equity and diversity, technology in the classroom, authentic assessment on content and pedagogy, updated content, and intentional reflection. As part of the both fellowship programs, the RTs and OTFs will develop and refine their own inquiry-based, student-centered lab activity for the science classroom.
The following are the 2011 APS Online Teacher Fellows, listed alphabetically by the teacher’s last name:
Katie Anderson, Dakota Middle School, Rapid City, SD; Myra Arnone, Redmond High School, Redmond, WA; Daniel Bartsch, Billings Senior High, Billings, MT; Sarah Berlinger, Littleton High School, Littleton, MA; Rebecca Block, Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences, Tulsa, OK; Wanda Bryant, Detroit Public Schools, Detroit, MI; Regina Cowan, Detroit Public Schools, Detroit, MI; Greg Dierson, Great Plains Lutheran High School, Watertown, SD; Mary Eldredge-Sandbo, Des Lacs-Burlington High School, Des Lacs, ND; Myriaha Felker, Cabell Midland High, Ona, WV; Charles Galarza, Nolan Richardson Middle School, El Paso, TX; Ellen Gant, Dakota Valley High School, North Souix City, SD; Denise Gipson, Jefferson High School, Shenandoah Junction, WV; Jennifer Gonzales, Tafolla Middle School, San Antonio, TX; Mary Haus, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA; Kelly Hennessey, A.C. Davis High School, Yakima, WA; Cora James, Haskell High School, Haskell, OK; Cathy Johnson, Drayton Public School, Drayton, ND; Nancy Keller, Heritage High School, Vancouver, WA; Tami Kepshire, Portage High School, Portage, IN; Carla McFadden, Okanogan School District, Okanogan, WA; Jannette Moehlman, Dakota Middle School, Rapid City, SD; Melanie Shaver, West McDowell Jr. High, Marion, NC; Tara Veazey, Riverside High School, Charleston, WV; Darrell Walker, Elizabeth City Middle School, Elizabeth City, NC; Pete Whipple, Bowdish Middle School, Spokane Valley, WA; William Wilson, Clover Park High School, Lakewood, WA; Debora Wines, Central Catholic High School, Billings, MT; and Daniel Zielaski, Phelps ACE SHS, DC Public Schools, Washington, DC.
The following are the 2011 APS Research Teacher/Host Partnerships, listed alphabetically by the teacher’s last name:
Sandra Bickerstaff, South Carolina State Univ., Orangeburg, SC; Sweitzer M. Sarah, and L. Britt Wilson, Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia, SC; Laura Carlino, Upper St. Clair High School, Upper St. Clair, PA; Bill Yates, Univ. of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; Elizabeth Charleston, York Country Day School, York, PA; Leonard S. Jefferson, Penn State Univ., Hershey, PA; Nelia Delos Reyes, Hartman Middle School, Houston, TX; Rolando E. Rumbaut, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX; Laura (L.B.) Fogt, Olathe North High School, Overland Park, KS; Shrikant Anant, Kansas Univ., Kansas City, KS; Elizabeth Hunt Esco, Olathe High School, Olathe, KS; Norberto C. Gonzalez, Kansas Univ., Kansas City, KS; Ashley Ivins, Mescalero Apache High School, Mescalero, NM; Nancy Kanagy, Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM; Julia Lawrence, DeSoto Independent School District, Glenn Heights, TX; Tony G. Babb, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas/UT Southwestern Medical Center; Fredrica Nash, Hillside New Tech High School, Durham, NC; Amy M. Pastva, and Jo Rae Wright, Duke Univ., Durham, NC; Jane Raabis, North High School, Worcester, MA; Stephen Doxsey, Univ. of Massachusetts, Worcester, MA; Devalyn Rogers, Pershing Middle School, Houston, TX; Patrick M. Dougherty, Univ. of Texas, Houston, TX; Pauline Schork, Clinton High School, Clinton, WI; Kathryn M.S. Johnson, Beloit College, Beloit, WI; Stacy Schurtz, Pike Township School District, Indianapolis, IN; C. Subah Packer, Indiana Univ., Indianapolis, IN; Sue Speirs, Grosse Pointe Public Schools, Grosse Pointe Woods, MI; Patrick Joseph Mueller, Wayne State Univ., Detroit, MI; Christopher Stotts, Lincoln Memorial Univ., Harrogate, TN; Stan C. Kunigelis, DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine, Harrogate, TN; Lucina Velasquez-Lopez, Flowing Wells High School, Tucson, AZ; Thomas L. Pannabecker, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ; and Leslie Worton, Edison High School, Fresno, CA; Henry A. Lester, California Inst. of Technology, Pasadena, CA.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Beyond The Book
Beyond the book
By Andrea Schoellkopf / Journal Staff Writer on Mon, Jun 20, 2011
They jump out of helicopters. Battle large mosquitoes in what’s known as the Polar Bear Capital of the World. Scout the Sandias for scat and other signs of wildlife.
They are science teachers, and they aren’t hanging out at home this summer.
“If I really want to know what’s happening in science,” said Gary Bodman of Madison Middle School, “it’s best to be out there talking with scientists studying the stuff and getting current information for the students.”
Center of activity
Jimmy Carter eighth-graders and other students will be part of a citywide environmental impact study of the 128-acre Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, which provides 4 1/2 hours of ecology field experiences to between 10,000 and 19,000 fifth-graders in central New Mexico.
The center, operated by APS and the Natural History Museum, is branching out to climate change field monitoring by older students, and teachers at the center this summer will write curriculum for the monitoring.
Bodman this summer will spend 11 days on a trip to Manitoba, Canada, where he and 11 other teachers will work with a University of Alberta researcher collecting data on climate change as part of an Earth Watch fellowship.
“It’s probably going to mean slogging through the mud,” Bodman said. The group will study tree rings, using a method called dendrochronology, in the small fishing village of Churchill on Hudson Bay, which is inaccessible by road and best known for its polar bears.
Bodman studied dendrochronology in the Sandias earlier this summer with a team of Madison teachers. He also attended a program on wireless and radio communication.
Still on his “to do” list are studying geology and geothermal activity of the Valles Caldera, attending a teacher institute through Kirtland Air Force Base research laboratory and attending an environmental education conference in Santa Fe.
During the past two years, he traveled to a Virginia resort community to learn about science, technology, engineering and math lesson plans.
“I think when you have experiences like this, you can bring back stories,” said the five-year teacher, who previously was a manager for an architectural millwork company. “It’s one thing to bring the data and show how the scientists really work. It’s another to engage the students with a real story you can come back to the classroom with. … I’m sure if I make an impact on a few students, maybe they’ll be up there doing the same thing.”
An Internet search of summer science opportunities for teachers turned up trips to Israel and Costa Rica, in addition to NASA programs, grant opportunities and classes around the country.
“It’s almost like fishing,” said Bodman, who spends his “down time” working on upcoming lesson plans and writing thank-you notes to his sponsors. “You have to look for it.”
One Rio Rancho teacher said the travel experiences offered for science teachers changed the way she teaches.
“I feel like if I can go and do those things and bring them back to give kids an authentic experience and widen their horizons, I sort of have an obligation to do that,” Ashley Ivins said.
Later this month, she’s going to Washington, D.C., to study the origins of life by looking at data from Mars as part of a program through the Santa Fe Institute and George Mason University. That’s after she finishes an eight-week fellowship at the University of New Mexico, where she is helping to simulate sleep apnea in rats.
She admits when she first started teaching, she clung to the traditional experience: relying on textbooks to help organize instruction for the variety of topics she had to teach like biology, physics and chemistry. Then she started applying for grants and fellowships and classes, mainly to help bring resources to her New Mexico classrooms.
“And now I believe very much in project-based learning, teaching students through inquiry and real-life experiences,” said Ivins, who recently moved to Rio Rancho’s ASK Academy charter school from the Mescalero Apache High School and will be “dragging” her 6-year-old daughter on many of the trips she takes this summer.
Tony Hillerman Middle School teacher Chelsea Henrie is sewing her wedding dress; training for triathlons; and is headed to space camp.
Henrie, who teaches about space flight as part of her sixth-grade science curriculum at Tony Hillerman, wrote a 500-word essay to help her win a trip to the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy in Hunstville, Ala.
She will get 45 hours of classroom and field training, with many of the same simulations given to astronauts training for space travel. That will include getting dropped into water by a helicopter and “rescued” by another helicopter.
“It’s giving me lots of resources I can use in my classroom to really make space exploration real to my students,” said Henrie, who has also started a school science club with the help of a grant. And she wants to help share the career possibilities of space for her students.
Teachers also find real-life science opportunities close to home.
A group of Jimmy Carter Middle School science and math teachers spent the first days of summer looking for signs of wildlife in the Sandias through scatology, or the study of feces. Other teams will monitor air quality, water and tree rings with help from area scientists.
“The teachers walked in, and they all looked tired. They just finished the school year,” said Vince Case, full time resource teacher at Albuquerque Public Schools’ Sandia Mountain Natural History Center. By the second day with scientists, “the energy level just skyrocketed.”
Photo Credit – MORGAN PETROSKI/JOURNAL
Cutline – From left, Kristen Bandy, Sondra Lawson and Shannon Struck-Martinez, all Jimmy Carter Middle School science teachers, examine bones and scat at the Sandia Mountain Natural History Cente
By Andrea Schoellkopf / Journal Staff Writer on Mon, Jun 20, 2011
They jump out of helicopters. Battle large mosquitoes in what’s known as the Polar Bear Capital of the World. Scout the Sandias for scat and other signs of wildlife.
They are science teachers, and they aren’t hanging out at home this summer.
“If I really want to know what’s happening in science,” said Gary Bodman of Madison Middle School, “it’s best to be out there talking with scientists studying the stuff and getting current information for the students.”
Center of activity
Jimmy Carter eighth-graders and other students will be part of a citywide environmental impact study of the 128-acre Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, which provides 4 1/2 hours of ecology field experiences to between 10,000 and 19,000 fifth-graders in central New Mexico.
The center, operated by APS and the Natural History Museum, is branching out to climate change field monitoring by older students, and teachers at the center this summer will write curriculum for the monitoring.
Bodman this summer will spend 11 days on a trip to Manitoba, Canada, where he and 11 other teachers will work with a University of Alberta researcher collecting data on climate change as part of an Earth Watch fellowship.
“It’s probably going to mean slogging through the mud,” Bodman said. The group will study tree rings, using a method called dendrochronology, in the small fishing village of Churchill on Hudson Bay, which is inaccessible by road and best known for its polar bears.
Bodman studied dendrochronology in the Sandias earlier this summer with a team of Madison teachers. He also attended a program on wireless and radio communication.
Still on his “to do” list are studying geology and geothermal activity of the Valles Caldera, attending a teacher institute through Kirtland Air Force Base research laboratory and attending an environmental education conference in Santa Fe.
During the past two years, he traveled to a Virginia resort community to learn about science, technology, engineering and math lesson plans.
“I think when you have experiences like this, you can bring back stories,” said the five-year teacher, who previously was a manager for an architectural millwork company. “It’s one thing to bring the data and show how the scientists really work. It’s another to engage the students with a real story you can come back to the classroom with. … I’m sure if I make an impact on a few students, maybe they’ll be up there doing the same thing.”
An Internet search of summer science opportunities for teachers turned up trips to Israel and Costa Rica, in addition to NASA programs, grant opportunities and classes around the country.
“It’s almost like fishing,” said Bodman, who spends his “down time” working on upcoming lesson plans and writing thank-you notes to his sponsors. “You have to look for it.”
One Rio Rancho teacher said the travel experiences offered for science teachers changed the way she teaches.
“I feel like if I can go and do those things and bring them back to give kids an authentic experience and widen their horizons, I sort of have an obligation to do that,” Ashley Ivins said.
Later this month, she’s going to Washington, D.C., to study the origins of life by looking at data from Mars as part of a program through the Santa Fe Institute and George Mason University. That’s after she finishes an eight-week fellowship at the University of New Mexico, where she is helping to simulate sleep apnea in rats.
She admits when she first started teaching, she clung to the traditional experience: relying on textbooks to help organize instruction for the variety of topics she had to teach like biology, physics and chemistry. Then she started applying for grants and fellowships and classes, mainly to help bring resources to her New Mexico classrooms.
“And now I believe very much in project-based learning, teaching students through inquiry and real-life experiences,” said Ivins, who recently moved to Rio Rancho’s ASK Academy charter school from the Mescalero Apache High School and will be “dragging” her 6-year-old daughter on many of the trips she takes this summer.
Tony Hillerman Middle School teacher Chelsea Henrie is sewing her wedding dress; training for triathlons; and is headed to space camp.
Henrie, who teaches about space flight as part of her sixth-grade science curriculum at Tony Hillerman, wrote a 500-word essay to help her win a trip to the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy in Hunstville, Ala.
She will get 45 hours of classroom and field training, with many of the same simulations given to astronauts training for space travel. That will include getting dropped into water by a helicopter and “rescued” by another helicopter.
“It’s giving me lots of resources I can use in my classroom to really make space exploration real to my students,” said Henrie, who has also started a school science club with the help of a grant. And she wants to help share the career possibilities of space for her students.
Teachers also find real-life science opportunities close to home.
A group of Jimmy Carter Middle School science and math teachers spent the first days of summer looking for signs of wildlife in the Sandias through scatology, or the study of feces. Other teams will monitor air quality, water and tree rings with help from area scientists.
“The teachers walked in, and they all looked tired. They just finished the school year,” said Vince Case, full time resource teacher at Albuquerque Public Schools’ Sandia Mountain Natural History Center. By the second day with scientists, “the energy level just skyrocketed.”
Photo Credit – MORGAN PETROSKI/JOURNAL
Cutline – From left, Kristen Bandy, Sondra Lawson and Shannon Struck-Martinez, all Jimmy Carter Middle School science teachers, examine bones and scat at the Sandia Mountain Natural History Cente
Thursday, April 28, 2011
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