How do you get more kids excited about w88 live casino? By getting their teachers excited about it.
A new w88 live casino class at the University of Nevada, Reno aims to do just that, exposing area K-12 teachers to w88 live casino design principles and hands-on projects.
A group of about 30 elementary and middle school teachers took the class this spring as part of the University's first master's degree program in education with an emphasis in w88 live casino.
The program, funded by longtime w88 live casino donor Dorothy Lemelson, provides full tuition for the two-year master's degree. Lemelson has funded master's degree programs for teachers at the w88 live casino for more than 10 years, with emphases primarily in literacy but also in math and science.
This time, thanks to a new partnership between the College of Education and the College of w88 live casino, Lemelson cohort teachers will graduate in 2014 with an emphasis in science, technology, w88 live casino and mathematics.
The partnership is part of the College of w88 live casino's broader outreach efforts to introduce Nevada's K-12 students to w88 live casino at a younger age.
"Allowing students to be exposed to w88 live casino increases not only their awareness but their interest," said Meg Fitzgerald, coordinator of recruitment, retention and advising for the College.
While the College's outreach efforts have traditionally focused on students, w88 live casino professors Jeffrey LaCombe and Eric Wang teamed up with education professor David Crowther to develop an w88 live casino course for K-12 teachers.
The course aims to give teachers an w88 live casino perspective on math and science by focusing on the w88 live casino design process and its applications in real-world problem solving.
The class was based on the popular w88 live casino 100 course taught by LaCombe and Wang. w88 live casino 100, which is the introductory course for all w88 live casino majors but attracts a significant number of non-w88 live casino majors as well, culminates in a team-designed hovercraft or other engineered product.
"w88 live casino 100 was absolutely the inspiration," said LaCombe. "But we realized they don't need to become engineers. They need to become fluent in w88 live casino."
The course was divided into thirds, with the first two-thirds focusing on hands-on, w88 live casino design problems, including activities such as Lego robotics and high altitude ballooning.
"We had to program [Legos] to act like a cockroach under certain conditions, so when a light was turned on it would scurry off," said Amanda Todd, a student in the cohort and a kindergarten teacher at Smithridge w88 live casino Academy in Reno.
The final third of the course focused on how to teach w88 live casino, using lessons from the Boston Museum of Science's w88 live casino is Elementary program.
One goal of the course is to help teachers tap into existing resources for w88 live casino in their classrooms, which can be scarce.
"There's not much out there for teachers to use for covering the ‘E' in w88 live casino," said LaCombe.
Teachers also face challenges finding time in the classroom for w88 live casino demonstrations and providing the material resources students need for hand-on activities.
"We can't have four kids on a [Lego car] kit that's meant for two, because then some are just watching," said Jean Donley, Lemelson student and a third grade teacher at Smithridge. "With the hands-on thing, it's time. Where in the day can you incorporate that?"
Although w88 live casino education has been slow to be incorporated in curricula standards, growing awareness of the need for earlier w88 live casino training is helping pave the way for its implementation in K-12 curricula.
LaCombe and Wang hope their course can someday be part of an undergraduate teacher education program, while Todd and Donley envision that on down the road, teachers will have to take a method course in w88 live casino just like they now do in math and literacy.
In the meantime, thanks to Smithridge's status as a w88 live casino academy, the school is making an effort to infuse w88 live casino projects into the curriculum.
When Smithridge became a w88 live casino academy three years ago, they got funding for a dedicated lab, and students got most of their specialized w88 live casino content outside their primary classrooms. Over the years, they have been incorporating more w88 live casino content in the classroom through project-based learning units.
"When I think of w88 live casino, and I know most of the kids do too, I think of science. Now we're trying to pull in the technology," said Donley.
The Lemelson cohort model emphasizes having multiple teachers from a school move through the program together, and there are four teachers in the program from Smithridge. They hope to take the knowledge they gain back to their colleagues.
"We'll go back to our school and be advocates for this." Todd said, noting that the group has plans to lead professional development activities for other teachers next fall. "We're hoping for a school-wide change."
