Area teachers flock to campus for cutting-edge science event

Margaret Hornbrook, left, and Lorie Colbert, both teachers at DeWitt Middle School in Ithaca, build a bridge out of marshmallows and toothpicks as part of an exercise March 24 in the Biotechnology Building. The session was part of Teacher Professional Development Day on the Cornell campus, attracting more than 200 K-12 teachers from the region to participate in science workshops. Robert Barker/University Photography

By Bill Steele

Marshmallow bridges, cosmic rays, Fibonacci numbers, silly putty -- these were just a few of the things a group of central New York science teachers encountered during Teacher Professional Development Day on Cornell's campus March 24.

Some 230 K-12 teachers participated in the daylong series of workshops designed to acquaint them with cutting-edge science they could take back to their students. Some learned to etch circuits on silicon chips. Others, in a workshop on plant genetics, learned to spot genetic differences between similar plants. Anil Nerode, a Goldwin Smith Professor of Mathematics, described practical engineering applications for abstract math.

In a keynote speech, Nobelist Robert Richardson, vice provost for research, told the teachers that they should not just be educating tomorrow's scientists and engineers but also preparing their students to become scientifically literate citizens.

It was the first of what is hoped will be an annual event, sponsored by the Office of the Associate Provost for Outreach, with additional support from Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga BOCES. Many of the outreach programs that offered workshops are funded by the National Science Foundation and other government agencies whose grants include funds for outreach.

According to Stephen Hamilton, associate provost for outreach, "Federal funding agencies increasingly want to have their grantees improve teaching of math and science. There are two dozen or more outreach programs affiliated with various centers and research projects, but each is autonomous. This is an attempt to see what we could accomplish jointly."

Teachers came mostly from Southern Tier schools, with a few from the Syracuse area. Many school district superintendents arranged for their superintendents' conference day -- when teachers would be free -- to coincide with Cornell's spring break, when classrooms and faculty would be available. Other superintendents made substitutes available so their teachers could attend. The program was free to teachers.

Also taking advantage of the teachers' day off, but in a separate program, the Einaudi Center for International Studies hosted about 20 teachers in its semiannual International Studies Institute for Middle and High School Teachers. The workshop on "Dams, Water Rights and Displacement" was an interdisciplinary program combining science, social studies and other disciplines to examine the effects of large dam projects on human populations in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Meanwhile, other teachers were attending workshops at Ithaca College, bringing the total influx to Ithaca to about 600 teachers.

These and other Cornell outreach programs are described at http://www.cornell.edu/outreach/.

More information on the Einaudi Center workshop is available at http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/isi/.