Classes for teachers
MAUREEN DOLAN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 13 years, 6 months AGO
<p>JEROME A. POLLOS/Press Jamie Esler, a physics teacher at Lake City High, tests a anemometer he built as Vernon Kimball, Idaho Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education, observes during a a science session Wednesday at the iSTEM program at North Idaho College.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Monique Gafford held up the anemometer she had just crafted out of small paper cups Wednesday in a classroom at North Idaho College.
Gafford pursed her lips and gently blew on the wind measuring device.
"Well, what do you know? It works," she said as the cups spun around, reminiscent of a pinwheel.
Gafford, a Lone Star Middle School teacher from Nampa, is one of 300 Idaho school teachers participating in an expense-paid series of institutes designed to help teachers learn how to incorporate hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) projects into their classrooms.
Under the guidance of DaNel Hogan, a former high school physics teacher from Kuna, Gafford and about 20 other teachers learned a lesson in wind energy.
"It's really important for teachers to be able to do the hands-on activities themselves. Doing it this way, they can learn about the possible pitfalls so it goes well in the classroom," Hogan said. "They get to play a lot this week."
The teachers also go home with free kits and supplies so they can recreate the various projects with their students.
The teacher institutes are part of the Idaho STEM initiative, a partnership of educators, government and businesses working together to improve science, technology, engineering and math education in the state.
Michael Emory, an eighth-grade teacher at Woodland Middle School in Coeur d'Alene, said attending the i-STEM institute is a great way to find resources and make connections, statewide and nationally.
"I've got a month's worth of lessons that I can add to the curriculum," Emory said.
During the four-day workshops, teachers choose a specific topic such as robotics, water systems, gold mining or health care to study.
Emory said he will integrate the lessons he takes away from the i-STEM institute into classroom lessons, often asking students to consider a problem in society and find a way to address it.
"It's career training," Emory said.
The i-STEM institutes are funded by grants and by industry supporters like Battelle Energy Alliance, the contractor that runs Idaho National Laboratory, Micron, HP, Idaho Power and others.
STEM education is a priority for the U.S. Department of Energy and Battelle Energy Alliance. Since 2006, Battelle has committed more than $2.5 million to support STEM education in Idaho.
Similar i-STEM teacher institutes are taking place at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls and in Boise.
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