Category: Teacher Education

Ellis Publishes on Social Interactions of Beginning Teachers

STEM Teaching VideoJoshua A. Ellis, Assistant Professor of STEM Education, has published “Investigating the social interactions of beginning teachers using a video annotation tool” in Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education this month. The article can be read in its entirety online. Dr. Ellis will be discussing this study in the Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors forum on November 9, 2015, at 2:00 pm.

Dare Publishes on Physics Education Research

Emily Dare
Emily Dare

Emily Dare, Assistant Professor of STEM Education in Cognitive and Learning Sciences, has an article in press cited as:

Dare, E. A., & Roehrig, G. H. (in press). “If I had to do it, then I would”: Understanding Early Middle School Students’ Perceptions of Physics and Physics-Related Careers by Gender. Physical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research.

Physical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research (PRST-PER) is a peer-reviewed online open-access journal sponsored by the American Physical Society (APS), the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and the APS Forum on Education.

Science teachers design a sustainable future

Designing a Sustainable Future

HOUGHTON — Since Monday, these 9 middle and high school science teachers have been learning how to use energy productively and efficiently at the Designing A Sustainable Future Teacher’s Institute.

“Well everyday we’ve had different themes,” says local science teacher Heather Bradway. “Monday was solar, today we’re going to learn about sustainable food systems. So it covers many different aspects,” says Bradway.

Read more and watch the video at Upper Michigan’s Source, by Aleah Hordges.

Teachers are Learning This Week at Michigan Tech

Engaging Students14 middle and high school teachers from across Michigan are on the Michigan Tech campus this week as part of the five-day “Engaging Students in Authentic Science Research Teacher Institute,” running through Friday.

The institute is designed to guide teachers in gaining the skills to engage their students in designing and conducting 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 led by Michigan Tech faculty and graduate students. Some of the sessions include: physics of atmospheric science, chromatography, materials science, transportation surveys, insect inventories, aquatic invasive species and visiting local sites to see the types of research local students are conducting. The institute is co-led by Joan Chadde, director of the Center for Science & Environmental Outreach at Michigan Tech and Lauri Davis, Houghton High School science teacher and science department chair. The institute is partially funded by a National Science Foundation grant (Evan Kane, Principal Investigator).

From Tech Today, by Joan Chadde.

Teachers attend Teacher Institute to better teach students

“Authentic research is actually kids starting at ground zero,” says high school teacher and Institute Developer Lauri Davis. “They develop a question to answer, they develop the procedure to do the experiment, to answer the question, to collect the data, they analyze the data and then they present the data in numerous different forms.”

Read more and watch the video at Upper Michigan’s Source, by Aleah Hordges.

Michigan Teachers Participate in Mi-STAR

Science TeachersTeachers Work on New Ways to Teach Middle-School Science This Week at Three Universities

Middle-school science teachers from across Michigan are back in school themselves this week at Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU), Grand Valley State University (GVSU) and Michigan Technological University, working on a new and better way to teach middle-school science.

They are participating in the Michigan Science Teaching and Assessment Reform (Mi-STAR) program. Learning ways to connect the sciences to each other and to real-world problems, biology, chemistry, physics and earth sciences teachers are working together to create a new kind of science curriculum, one that crosses the traditional boundaries between science subjects and engineering and focuses on solving real-world science problems such as ensuring access to clean water and sustainable sources of energy.

Read more at Michigan Tech News, by Jennifer Donovan.

Learn more about teacher professional development at Michigan Tech.

Michigan Tech hosts gathering for science teachers

“We feel that it’s important for our students to be able to understand that not only science is important in the classroom, but it’s also important in your everyday life,” said Yonee Bryant-Kuiphoff, Kalamazoo science teacher.

Read more at Upper Michigan’s Source, by Aleah Hordges.

Teacher Summer Institute: Global Change CANCELLED

Global Change
Global Change

Global Change
July 13 – 17, 2015
CANCELLED for Summer 2015

This five-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 climate change, elevated carbon dioxide and ozone levels, nitrogen saturation, acid rain, and invasive species.

Learn more about the Global Change Summer Institute.

Dear Teachers:

I regret to inform you that due to a low enrollment, we will need to cancel the Global Change Teacher Institute scheduled for July 13-17 this summer at Michigan Tech University.
We plan to offer the Global Change Teacher Institute again next summer, so hope you will come then. We have offered the Global Change teacher institute annually since 2005, except for one year. Last year, we had the best teacher evaluations ever!

We do have enough participants to offer the other two teacher institutes listed below, and you are welcome to register for these, even tho the registration deadline was last Friday, June 19.

M-F, July 6-10 ED5601 Engaging Students in Authentic Science Research Teacher Institute
M-F, July 20-24 ED 5640 Designing a Sustainable Future Teacher Institute

Joan Chadde

Summer Teacher Institute Deadlines Extended to June 19, 2015

Sustainable Future2015 Summer Michigan Tech University Summer Teacher Institutes

REGISTRATION EXTENDED to JUNE 19!

  • M-F, July 6-10 ED5601 Engaging Students in Authentic Science Research Teacher Institute
  • M-F, July 13-17 ED5641 Global Change Teacher Institute
  • M-F, July 20-24 ED 5640 Designing a Sustainable Future Teacher Institute
  • M-F, July 27-30 Keweenaw Geoheritage Tours by Water and Land

See Teacher Professional Development – Current Institutes for details about the courses.

STEM Night Attended by 300 Teachers

NSTA 2015Joan Chadde, director of the Michigan Tech Center for Science & Environmental Outreach, and Neil Hutzler, retired past chair of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, collaborated with the Foundation for Family Science & Engineering to conduct a STEM Night for a sold-out crowd of 300 teachers from across the country who were attending the 2015 National Science Teachers’ Association STEM Forum & Expo last week in Minneapolis.

Chadde and Hutzler are among the co-authors of the Family Engineering Activity & Event Planning Guide published in 2011. Michigan Tech received a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop the guide.

Anza Mitchell, president of the Michigan Tech student chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, assisted with the event.

From Tech Today.