Author: College of Engineering

Students take EPA readings
Area teens visit superfund site

Lake Linden-Hubbell High School and Dollar Bay High School students measured plant life at the Torch Lake Superfund site in a Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative project. The data collected by students is sent on to the Environmental Protection Agency for its monitoring of the post-remediation recovery of the Torch Lake area.

On Oct. 1, the students will board the Agassiz, Michigan Technological University’s research vessel, and take samples of sediments in Torch Lake.

“They can go and monitor the lake and see if the nice, healthy plant cover is stopping stamp sand from going into the lake,” said Joan Chadde, education program coordinator for the Western U.P. Center for Science, Math and Environmental Education.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Garrett Neese.

The Portage Lake District Library hosted K-6 students and their parents for an evening of fun, science and technology led by Michigan Tech students on Tuesday, September 24, from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. Families learned about the basics of circuitry and electrical engineering with a night of creative and playful interactive lessons.

This event was conducted by the Western U.P. Center for Science, Math, and Environmental Education and Michigan Technological University.

Brad Baltensperger, Chair of Cognitive and Learning Sciences, attended the school board meeting for Houghton-Portage Township Schools. The meeting concerned district student counts, testing, classroom technology, extracurricular activities, and other items.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Garrett Neese.

Studying and Improving Teacher Education Experiences
Researcher hopes to incorporate her findings into teacher education coursework, initially in mathematics instruction

When a student raises a question in the classroom or has a comment, it can provide a learning opportunity that goes beyond the lesson already underway. Yet, an inexperienced teacher often will miss the moment.

“Novice teachers don’t always notice the importance of student ideas,” says Shari Stockero, an assistant professor of mathematics education at Michigan Technological University. “A lot of time, I think novice teachers are focused on what they need to do during the lesson, or are focused on classroom management, and often bypass important student thinking.”

Read more at National Science Foundation Discoveries, by Marlene Cimons.

The Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) has named the Teacher Education Program at Michigan Tech as a 2013 finalist for the Frank B. Murray Award for Excellence and Innovation in Program Self-Study. TEAC is dedicated to helping educator preparation programs improve and be accountable for their quality. The award recognizes a program’s evidence of quality that makes it worthy of accreditation.

The teacher education program at Michigan Tech is nationally accredited by TEAC and has received a rating of “exemplary” from the Michigan Department of Education.

Our program’s graduates meet all state mandates for teacher licensure as defined by the Professional Standards for Michigan Teachers.

TheTeacher Ed program has been accredited by TEAC through 2019.

Teachers from schools throughout the Great Lakes watershed are spending this week in Green Bay, Wis., learning about ship building and shipping on the Great Lakes. The four-day teacher institute is sponsored by Michigan Tech, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, North Coast Marine Manufacturing Alliance and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, with funding from the National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education.

Read more at Tech Today, by Jennifer Donovan.