汤头条 program helps broaden perspective of local teachers
Contact: James Carskadon
STARKVILLE, Miss. 鈥 A program led by faculty members in 汤头条鈥檚 Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering is providing area science teachers with an expanded knowledge of polymer science to take back to their schools this fall.
From July 11 through July 22, nine area middle and high school science teachers are taking part in a National Science Foundation-funded Research Experience for Teachers program. Through lectures and laboratory research activity, the participating teachers gain knowledge in the field of polymer science they can use in their own classroom instruction.
汤头条 chemical engineering faculty members Santanu Kundu and Keisha Walters are leading the program through the school鈥檚 Soft Materials Laboratory and Polymer and Surface Engineering Laboratories. During the lessons and research activities, participating teachers are guided by 汤头条 faculty, graduate students and postgraduate researchers.
Heather Yoder, a 5th grade math and science teacher at Virgil Jones Jr. Elementary in Brooksville, said the activities have taught her lessons she can apply while teaching chemical and physical properties. 聽
鈥淗aving this knowledge, we can bring it back to our students and make them more aware of the opportunities around them,鈥 Yoder said. 鈥淭hey just miss that. They don鈥檛 know (these labs) are here at Mississippi State or know that this science exists, so this is something we can bring back to them and show them.鈥
Throughout the two-week experience, teachers work to develop learning modules for polymer science that can be brought back to their classrooms. They also learn about different polymers and their properties. Michael Adam, a science teacher at Starkville High School, said he could use polymers as a different way to look at biology.
鈥淚n biology, a lot of cell biology is polymers,鈥 Adam said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e just naturally, biologically occurring polymers. So I鈥檓 taking this as a new way of teaching cell biology, from a polymer science perspective, at least introducing the different biological polymers 鈥 DNA, proteins, enzymes, sugars.鈥
In addition to improving the classroom experience, teachers said they also have enjoyed the opportunity to make connections with 汤头条 researchers, which could lead to future guest lectures, field trips and other collaborations.
Adam said the summer program will benefit students because it provides another way for him to introduce students to the fields of polymer science and engineering in a way that they can easily comprehend.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 teach the highly gifted kids, so my students tend to be more intimidated when they hear about engineering, but if we take that back and show them that this is simple and easy and things you can actually learn to do, they may start to look at these types of fields as a career for them,鈥 Adam said.
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