Cornell Scientists Teach Upstate NY Science Teachers
High
school science teachers from the Dundee
Central School
District in Dundee, NY will spend the next two years with
scientists from Cornell University in
Ithaca, NY, developing and enhancing laboratory
investigations that they can then pass on to their own students.
The
first Xraise Science Teacher Workshop took place September 27 at
Cornell as part of an outreach program of the Cornell
Laboratory for
Accelerator-Based Sciences and Education (CLASSE).
That
first session, held at the eXploration station behind the
Wilson Synchrotron Laboratory on the Cornell campus, included a keynote
by
Ernie Fontes, associate director of the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron
Source,
who encouraged the teachers to evoke their students' sense of curiosity,
creativity and wonder about science.
Then
Tom Hartman, a physics assistant professor, talked about
his research on quantum gravity and quantum field theory before teachers
did
some lab experiments on the subject, all with the intention of passing
on what
they learned to their students back at Dundee.
"The
students will love the relativity aspect of how muons make
it to the Earth's surface," said Jim Greenhall, a high school teacher
from
Poughkeepsie, NY.
The
high school teachers also learned about crystallography
techniques, atomic force microscopy and X-ray fluorescence during their
visit
to the Wilson Lab facility.
The
Xraise Science Teacher Workshop program, funded by a
National Science Foundation grant, will allow teachers to spend about 90
hours
over the next two years to develop programs at their own schools to
increase
their students' academic achievement.
"We
at Xraise are looking forward to working with the Dundee
science teachers to develop curriculum materials that that tie into the
science
of Wilson Lab and, at the same time, tie into the New York state
learning
standards," said Eva Luna, CLASSE teaching support specialist.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.