April 30th, 2011 Bob
Eligibility requirements for the STEP@UCO Summer Bridge Program: Applicants must have been admitted to the University of Central Oklahoma for the fall semester with freshman classification. They must have a minimum ACT score of 20, or be admitted alternatively with a requirement to participate in the Summer Bridge Program, and plan to major in a STEM discipline (biology, chemistry, mathematics, engineering/physics, and computer science).
Summer Bridge 2011 Application
Summer Bridge Faculty Mentors
Summer Bridge Brochure Fall Bridge for transfer students: A Fall Bridge program is designed for students transferring from a community college to one of four state universities, UCO, Langston, East Central, and Northeastern, who plan to major in a STEM discipline. The program dates are July 25th-28th, 2011 on the UCO campus. The Fall Bridge is designed to help students find and use university resources and provide extra training in the subjects of science, mathematics, and English. Participants will attend a series of orientation events, enrollment, obtaining financial aid, and campus life opportunities. Participants will receive a $500 stipend. On-campus housing is available at no cost to participants who prefer to stay in the dorms.
Fall Bridge 2011 Application
Summer research opportunities for high school science and mathematics teachers: Two experienced STEM teachers will be selected from high schools to participate in research with UCO faculty during the month of July (Mondays through Thursdays, July 5th through 28th, 2011). The teachers work alongside the Summer Bridge participants and faculty mentors to gain research experience. These experiences gained by the teachers are valuable for integration into the STEM curricula in their high school classrooms. Each STEM teacher participant will receive a $2,000 stipend.
Summer Research Program for Teachers 2011 Application
Three other Oklahoma campuses participate in the program: East Central University in Ada, Langston University in Langston, and Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. For more information on STEP@UCO, please contact Dr. Charlotte Simmons cksimmons@uco.edu or 405 974-2722.
For more information about STEP@UCO go to http://cms.uco.edu/step/
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April 20th, 2011 Bob
The Summer Engineering Academy at The University of Tulsa for Precollege Students is scheduled for June 20th – 24th, 2011, and is for students interested in careers in electrical and mechanical engineering. This day-only, commuter academy, allows students to experience engineering through hands-on design projects, seminars, industry professional interaction, and an integrated project related to traffic crash reconstruction. The faculty of the Academy includes professors from the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Departments at TU and local high school teachers. The Director is Professor Peter LoPresti, (918)-631-3274 or peter-lopresti@utulsa.edu.
Objectives:
The objectives of our program are:
. To make students aware of engineering career opportunities through hands-on design projects, seminars, and tours of local companies.
. To train middle school and high school teachers in engineering related activities and provide support to the teachers in implementing academy exercises within the teachers’ classroom during the regular school year.
. To attract more Oklahoma students into engineering study to help meet Oklahoma technical employer needs.
. To illustrate the need for students to develop math and science skills to tackle challenging and interesting engineering problems.
Basic Information:
. Academy dates are June 20th – June 24th, 2011
. Students entering grades 8 through 11 in the fall of 2011 can apply.
. Teacher training will occur the week prior to the Academy.
. Commuter Academy: Students are dropped off between 8am and 8:30am, students are picked up about 4:30pm.
. The application forms must be submitted by April 20th to be considered for the Academy. Forms received after that date will be put on a waiting list in the order they are received.
. Application forms can be found on the Academy website or by contacting the Academy Director, Professor Peter LoPresti (peter-lopresti@utulsa.edu or 918-631-3274).
. Sponsored by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, so there is no cost for the student to attend the Academy. A closing program open to family and friends is held on the afternoon of the 24th.
Example Activities from Past Academies:
Communication and Team Building:
The purpose of this activity was to explore the various ways that groups of people communicate and work together to arrive at a common goal. The first part of the exercise involved an ice-breaking game where the students were each given game pieces, a subset of the game rules, and basic instructions, and then had to put together the highest value hand possible. The students had to exchange information and communicate with peers, decipher conflicting rules, and plan a strategy for success.
Electric Car: The students explore the concept of resistor-capacitor (RC) circuits with respect to the application of powering an electric car. Students work in teams to build a small K’Nex car for testing purposes. The students then studied how quickly the capacitor charged through a circuit and discharged the capacitor through their car. The students then competed to see whose car would travel the farthest on a single charge.
The Wheatstone Bridge Circuit
Students will build a bridge circuit comprising two bonded strain gages and two precision resistors. The bonded strain gages will be attached to a slender aluminum bar with holes on both ends. The students will complete the circuit and use a voltmeter to measure the bridge output voltage as weight is added to the end of the bar. Thus, the students will build their own weigh scale.
Weigh a Vehicle Using a Strain Gauge
Once their Wheatstone bridge circuit is completed, the students will weigh two vehicles. The vehicles will be on a platform and suspended a couple of inches off the ground from three points. The students will be given the task to use a prewired strain gage to determine the weight on the platform. The students will be given a worksheet that guides them in determining the total weight and center of gravity location of the cars. The students will be measuring the weight with a voltmeter. These vehicles will be used in a crash test on Thursday. This activity combines both mechanical and electrical engineering concepts.
Skid Testing
Student will witness a demonstration showing the ability for a vehicle to stop. Specifically, the gravity-adjusted coefficient of friction of a vehicle will be measured. The data will be obtained by different means: an onboard accelerometer and a recording radar. The students will then measure the skid marks and predict how fast the vehicle was going at the beginning of the skid. This exercise combines concepts of distance, time, acceleration, velocity, force, work, and energy.
Crash Test Demonstration
In cooperation with the Tulsa County Fairgrounds, the students will witness a staged crash. The vehicles that the students measured and examined in the previous days will be used in the crash test. The crash will be performed by pulling a vehicle using a wire cable system into a stationary vehicle. Each vehicle will have a remote controlled pneumatic braking system. Both documentation video and high-speed video will be gathered for the students. The culminating exercise from this crash test is a competition for the students to predict the impact speed as recorded by radar. This exercise will require the students to use the weight and skid data from previous days. The reconstruction of this type of collision can be done by using the conservation of linear momentum.
Professional Presentations: Each group creates a five-minute talk about one project or theme of the academy using PowerPoint. The students are given guidelines on good presentation practices and present their talks at the closing banquet with their families and friends as an audience.
Obtain an application here
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April 11th, 2011 Bob
Interested in learning about engineering research?
Interested in developing engineering context for your math or science classroom?
Apply to participate in The University of Oklahoma College of Engineering Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program:
- Strengthening a K12 Learning Community through Engineering Research
- Year-long program through OU Norman campus and OU Tulsa campus
- Intensive 6-week on-site summer research program: June 13-July 22, 2011
- Classroom follow-ups during the 2011-2012 school year
- Fifteen science and math high school teacher participants from across Oklahoma
- Earn $3600 for summer and $200 each of the follow-up semesters
Engage in OU Engineering faculty research programs:
- Driver behavior in intelligent transportation systems (Industrial Engineering)
- Environmental Biofilms (Environmental Engineering)
- Telecommunication systems (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
- Tissue engineering (Biomedical Engineering)
- Strength prediction and testing (Structural Engineering)
Integrate engineering research into authentic inquiry-based math or science curriculum
Develop engineering research implementation project (ERIP) and Assess student learning
Learn proposal writing skills
Receive up to $800 for successful ERIP proposal to purchase materials
Find the program application HERE. (application deadline May 2, 2011)
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April 7th, 2011 Bob
One of a Kind Workshop for Teachers!
9:00 AM — 4:00 PM
Monday — Friday
Oklahoma City, OK
June 20 — June 24
Lawton, OK
June 27 — July 1
All lessons and activities are PASS aligned
Receive 3 Graduate Credits from The University of Tulsa
Stipend upon completion of workshop for accepted applicants
Private Digital Camera for classroom use
Join us to meet new friends and learn new ways to engage students while meeting PASS standards.
Qualifications
To participate you must:
• Be a current public or private school teacher
• Teach at the elementary or middle school level
• Submit completed application by April 22
• Priority will be made to those who can participate in teams of 3 teachers from the same school
• Be able to attend all classes at all sites
• Be responsible for your transportation to and from all workshop locations Submission of application does not guarantee a spot in the workshop, you will be notified of acceptance by mail.
• All teachers must develop and present a lesson plan by the end of the workshop.
• All teachers must participate in 2 follow-up programs. (Information regarding follow up days will be distributed during workshop)
• All teachers need to provide a pre and post class summary of their Standardized test scores.
• Each teacher will work towards a common goal of developing and distributing applications for their students that extend lessons and integrate science, math and reading. There will be outdoor sessions and moderate physical activity, including walking on uneven terrain.
Join us to meet new friends and learn new ways to engage students while meeting PASS standards.
To Apply Online Visit
www.orgs.utulsa.edu/sense
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April 7th, 2011 Bob
The Science PASS Standards and Objectives were revised effective March 2011. Those new standards will go into effect beginning Fall 2011. The assessment for spring 2011 will be based upon Science PASS version 2002.
When the PASS Standards and Objectives are changed, the assessment changes to mirror the standards it is based upon. Assessment changes are usually one year behind the PASS standards, permitting new test items to be developed and field tested prior to becoming operational.
The following listing may be helpful to understand the transition for science assessments in Grades 5 and 8, and Biology I.
Spring and Summer 2011 science assessments – based on PASS version 2002 standards.
Winter/Trimester 2011 science assessments – based on PASS version 2002 standards, with field test items corresponding to PASS version 2011 embedded within the test.
Spring and Summer 2012 science assessments – based on PASS version 2002 standards, with field test items corresponding to PASS version 2011, embedded within the test.
Beginning with the 2012- 2013 school year and assessment cycle—all science assessments will be based on PASS version 2011.
All testing documents will be updated over the course of the coming summer to reflect the 2012-13 test. As they are updated, and reposted to the SDE website, you will be notified through the various OSDE listserves and the OSTA website.
Move to span the page question format:
Beginning with the spring 2011 assessments, science test items for all grades, will appear in a “span the page” format. Previously, tests used the 2-column format. The span the page format falls more closely in line with current research related to student performance on tests and reading studies.
The Test and Item Specification documents have been updated to reflect this change in presentation format. This changed document has a revision date of March 2011, and is posted on the SDE website.
http://www.sde.state.ok.us/AcctAssess/core.html
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