Month: February 2016

Science, Engineering Challenges for Middle School Girls at Get WISE Workshop

WISE
WISE

More than 250 middle school students from across the western Upper Peninsula will spend the day exploring the excitement of science and engineering fields during the annual Get WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) event on Tuesday, February 23, 2016, at the Wood Gym in Michigan Tech’s Student Development Complex. For more than 25 years, this event has brought seventh and eighth graders from 15 schools to campus for a day of hands-on activities, scientific challenges, talks with female role models and more.

“By having these girls spend the day solving science challenges in a fun atmosphere, we build their confidence and perhaps spark their interest,” said Liz Fujita, a coordinator at Michigan Tech’s Center for Pre-College Outreach (CPCO). “The girls are so creative in their solutions. We hope they will look at STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] with new eyes.”

One of this year’s activities will challenge them to build a simple water filter out of household materials. Another will have them creating a model heart valve to let marbles through one way, but not back the other way. “What’s fun about it is that there is more than one correct answer,” said Fujita. “That’s one thing we’re trying to show the students—that there’s rarely one ‘right’ solution to an engineering problem. It’s all about trying ideas out and improving on your previous attempts.”

The girls will also have opportunities to meet female role models enrolled in graduate and undergraduate programs at Michigan Tech, as well as staff members from widely varying campus departments. The students will be able to hear stories about what shaped their career paths, and ask questions of these successful STEM women.

“Get WISE teaches my female middle school students to problem-solve, work as a team to accomplish challenges, and not be hesitant to share their thoughts and ideas,” says L’Anse science teacher Jen Martin. “Throughout the day I see them gain more and more confidence, and they bring that confidence back to school. Get WISE has a long-lasting effect on my students.”

Get WISE is hosted by the CPCO office in partnership with the College of Engineering, the College of Sciences and Arts, and the Western Upper Peninsula Center for Sciences, Mathematics and Environmental Education.

From Tech Today, by Jenn Donovan.

University encouraging women in science and engineering fields

Dollar Bay Middle School 7th Grader Molly Myllyoja said, “We filtered out water by using different materials like sand and gravel, felt coffee filters, and then we got to filter it so it turned to pure water instead of dirty water.”

Michigan Tech’s Center for Pre–College Outreach partners with the College of Engineering, the College of Sciences and Arts, and the Western Upper Peninsula Center for Sciences, Mathematics and Environmental Education to make the program possible

Read more at ABC 10 UP News, by Rick Allen.

WJMN-TV Channel 3 and WBUP-TV Channel 10 broadcast stories about the Get WISE program that brought 250 middle-school girls to Michigan Tech for a day of hands-on science and engineering. Get WISE stands for Get Women in Science and Engineering.

From Tech Today.

Isle Royale Moose Watch for Educators Summer 2016

Isle Royale Moose Watch for Educators

MooseWatch
Moose Watch

July 7 – July 14, 2016
Deadline: May 6, 2016

Moosewatch for Educators is a unique field experience in support of the ecological study of wolves and moose at Isle Royale National Park. Educators will receive the technical instruction needed to participate as a member of a backcountry research team collecting moose bones and performing field necropsies on moose kill sites. The research team will be operating in an off-trail wilderness setting involving travel by canoe and foot. They will learn research methods, backcountry navigation, and wilderness living skills. The course will integrate aspects of earth science, geography, anatomy and physiology, and general ecology and mathematics. Moose pathology and anatomy will be an integral instructional component of the program. Participants will provide oral presentations about their experiences (at the end of the field course) as well as develop lesson plans off-site for use at their local schools.

ED 5560
3 credits

Learn more and apply at Teacher Professional Development Summer Institutes.

Highlights of Psych 3001 Research Spring 2015

Color vs ComplexityAssociate Professor of Psychology Shane T. Mueller announces that Volume 3 of the JMUBR (Journal of Midwest Undergraduate Behavioral Research)—an on-line journal dedicated to the research projects conducted by our undergraduates in PSY 3001 – Experimental Methods and Statistics II—has been published. This was research conducted in Spring 2015.

Highlights include:

  • Research that spans disciplines of cognitive, perceptual, social, moral, health, sports, clinical, and personality psychology.
  • A study on how for some types of behaviors, legality is an important factor in whether people judge them as moral.
  • A study of how people categorize and classify naturalistic objects (chairs!)
  • Two studies investigating the interaction of color and memory.
  • A study of the perceptions of how LBGTQ students on campus are viewed, both within and outside the Greek system.
  • A study on how college students balance financial pressures with convenience and health in making decisions about what they eat.
  • A study on the types of factors that may contribute to false memory.
  • A study on the factors that motivate student athletes.
  • A study of bullying and anti-social behavior in online and multiplayer video games.

Coffee Chat with Gillian Roehrig

COFFEE CHAT: CREATIVE WAYS TO ENGAGE STUDENTS AND CHECK UNDERSTANDING

Dr. Gillian Roehrig, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Science Education at the University of Minnesota, will demonstrate several novel ways to engage students, including Concept Mapping, Photo-Elicitation Interviews (PEI’s), and the use of Socio-scientific Issues (SSI’s).

Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Time: 10:00am – 11:00am
Location: Library East Reading Room
Campus: Center for Teaching and Learning

Learn more and register at the Center for Teaching and Learning.

Designing a Sustainable Future Summer 2016

Sustainable Future
Sustainable Future

Designing a Sustainable Future

July 11 – 15, 2016
Deadline: May 2, 2016

ED 5640 Designing a Sustainable Future Teacher Institute (for Grades 4-12 Teachers)
Date: M-F, July 11-15, 2016
The institute will introduce teachers to the field of sustainability through examination of product life cycles, product recycling, repurposing materials, renewable energy sources of wind, solar, and biomass, designing energy- and resource-efficient buildings, site designs to reduce storm water runoff and increase biodiversity, and efficient transportation systems and vehicles. The institute will address the Next Generation Science Standards and be taught by a variety of Michigan Tech University faculty and graduate students, along with community and teacher experts. Cost: $400 off campus includes five lunches, 2 MTU graduate credits and instructional materials. $700 on campus includes five nights lodging & meals from Monday morning through Friday lunch, 2 MTU graduate credits and materials. 
Link to register: 2016 Designing a Sustainable Future Application

Engaging Students in Authentic Science Research Summer 2016

Engaging Students
Engaging Students

Engaging Students in Authentic Science Research

June 27 – July 1, 2016
Deadline: May 2, 2016

ED5601 Engaging Students in Authentic Science Research Teacher Institute (for Gr. 4-12 Teachers)
Date: M-F, June 27-July 1, 2016
Teachers gain skills in designing original research, rather than merely conducting cookbook experiments. Teachers will learn research design methods and procedures, and participate in a variety of research field and lab studies. Cost: $400 off campus includes five lunches, 2 MTU graduate credits and instructional materials. $700 on campus includes 5 nights lodging & meals from Monday morning through Friday lunch, 2 MTU graduate credits and instructional materials. 
Link to register: 2016 Engaging Students in Science Research Application

Teaching About Global Change Summer 2016

Global Change
Global Change

Teaching About Global Change

June 20 – 24, 2016
Deadline: May 2, 201

ED5641 Global Change Teacher Institute (for Grades 4-12 Teachers)
Date: M-F, June 20-24, 2016
This 5-day Institute will prepare you to engage your middle and high school students in a real-world study of the effects of global change on ecosystems, including the impacts of climatic change on forests— elevated carbon dioxide and ozone levels, nitrogen saturation, acid rain, and invasive species. Teachers will participate in the MEECS Climate Change workshop and receive the NEW MEECS Climate Change Unit. Cost: $400 off campus includes five lunches, 2 MTU graduate credits and instructional materials. $700 on campus includes 5 nights lodging & meals from Monday morning through Friday lunch, 2 MTU graduate credits and instructional materials.
Link to register: 2016 Global Change Teacher Institute Application

BASIC – Building Adult Skills in Computing

Back to BASICs: Computer help group has new name, same drive to help build skills

HOUGHTON?- It’s an hour before the Portage Lake District Library opens, but if you enter through the side door, you’ll see a group of Tech students and community members already hard at work. They bow over smartphones, tablets and laptops, deep in conversation. They’re here to teach, and to learn.

This is BASIC (Building Adult Skills in Computing), formerly known as Online at the Library. The group meets on Saturday mornings while Tech is in session.

Though its name has changed, the group’s mission has remained the same – to help answer questions for, and teach computing skills to, community members.

Another faculty member helping out Jan. 23 was Kelly Steelman, an assistant professor in Tech’s department of cognitive and learning sciences.

She’s been working with the program for a year, but she didn’t originally intend to become a tutor. Instead, she entered her first session hoping to gain insight on where to take Tech’s program, and see if there were technologies that could be developed to help older adults interact with technology, or to help the student tutors help others.

“I’m really interested in how people use technology, how they pay attention, and how we can get them to find the things that they’re trying to find and design technology in such a way that people aren’t getting lost,” she said.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Meghan Marquardt. (Subscription required.)

Donations Sought For Free Sale

The Free Sale is coming. Consider donating gently used, clean women’s business clothing and accessories (hangers are appreciated, all sizes welcome) for the Free Sale prior to the Spring Career Fair February, 16.

Your items will be available to all Tech students at no cost. Items remaining after the event will be either donated to a local non-profit or held for a future event.

This is the third “free sale”—a give away of gently worn women’s business clothing for students. We had great success with the first two events last year, helping more than 100 students and giving out more than 95 percent of donated items. Everyone walked out with something.

We plan to hold another event for our students from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, February 14, at the Meese Center. We are asking for your donations.

Donations are being accepted now during normal business hours at the following locations:

  • 107 Meese Center
  • 108A Dillman Hall
  • 219 Van Pelt and Opie Library

Also look for the drop off box in the library during Winter Carnival, Thursday through Sunday of this week.

Donations can also be shipped to:

CLS Department – Clothing Donation

Michigan Tech University

Meese Center

1400 Townsend Drive

Houghton, MI 49931

From Tech Today, by CLS.