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Archived News
2008
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Dakota State Hosts Math and
Science Workshop for Area Teachers Dakota State University hosted a summer workshop for area math and science teachers, designed to give them tools to help their students in both the classroom and the lab. Funding for the workshop was provided through a grant DSU received as part of the No Child Left Behind initiative. This is the second year Dakota State has hosted a workshop for Math and Science teachers on the middle and high school level. “After the first year,” says DSU Associate Professor Dr. Richard Avery, “we recognized that there is very little use of technology in high school Math and Science classrooms.” This workshop gave teachers opportunities to use inquiry based Science and Mathematics labs. Inquiry based labs use hands on equipment such as motion detectors and temperature sensors that allow the users to analyze a specific problem or create a specific experiment. Teachers from South Dakota towns including Madison, Bridgewater, Flandreau Indian School, Mitchell, Oldham-Ramona and Sanborn Central attended the three day workshop, which was staffed by DSU Math, Science and Education faculty members. Each participants school district received a lab package with equipment and lab books valued at over $1,000. High School Math teacher Linda Byington was pleased to be bringing the lab supplies back to her students. “Bridgewater is a small school and we could not afford this type of equipment. Getting the equipment and the instruction on how to use it was fantastic.” Her co-worker Sue Rinhart hopes the inquiry based lab will motivate students to have a higher interest in Math and Science. “Students get excited when they can actually see and touch things rather than listen to a teacher lecture.” Rinhart and Byington got first hand experience using the new equipment. At one point they took turns standing on tables and dropping items such as a golf ball to graph velocity and force with a motion detector. Dr. Avery says another of the goals of the workshop was to forge stronger relationships between the university and the high schools. “During the school year DSU faculty will visit each school that sent a group of teachers to the workshop to follow up and discuss issues concerning inquiry based math and science labs. We also plan to help the high schools establish cross disciplinary lessons that are team taught by math and science teachers in the same school.” Participants will also be encouraged to contact each other for collaboration between schools.
Sue Rinehart readies to realese a golf ball during a graphing experiment with her college Linda Byington. Both are Math and Science teachers in Bridgewater. Rinhart and Byington were participants in a summer workshop at Dakota State University.
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