Leadership in Education (LEAP) Competition for Teachers Feedback from Past Recipients
Alumni support helps our Club sustain and grow K-12 STEM Outreach in the greater Houston area: Alumni interested in making donations can do so along with their annual membership dues or at any time via our online donation form
2012 Winner, Paulette Bogert, Lanier Middle School in Houston ISD 2012 Winner, Michael Hunt from Episcopal High School, Bellaire, TX 2007 Winner, Mary Patterson from Hamilton Middle School in Cy-Fair ISD 2007 Winner, Serena Magrogan, Hightower High School in Ft. Bend ISD 2005 Winner, Anne Mangas Smith, James E. Bay Elementary School from Clear Creek ISD 2003 Winner, Andra Zoller, James E. Bay Elementary School from Clear Creek ISD
2012 Winner, Paulette Bogert, Lanier Middle School in Houston ISD
2012 Winner, Michael Hunt from Episcopal High School, Bellaire, TX
SEPT 2012 was AWESOME!
The presentations were wonderfully inspiring and provided conceptual insight as well as many concrete tools to use in the classroom. I was particularly taken by the warmth with which each presenter engaged us! EVERY presenter was approachable, patient, and open in encouraging and answering each of our questions!
I am so grateful to everyone at MIT who was involved in organizing, running, and contributing to SEPT 2012 and especially to all of the presenters for making time in their busy schedules to be with and present to us. The whole week was well-run by SEPT Co-director, Professor Eric Klopfer, and his administrative assistant, Lauren McNamara! Truly well done! Thank you!
It was an extreme privilege for me to attend this unique learning experience! And I thank you and the MIT Club of South Texas so much for your selection and sponsorship of me!
One of my goals in attending SEPT was to network with other participants, and I appreciate being made a member of NEST, which, as you know, was created to facilitate such networking. I look forward to the collaboration and to keeping in touch.
There were at least seven topic threads, as I organized them in my own mind, interwoven through the week's presentations, all of which I found fascinating, informative, and helpful to my future teaching plans:
1. HOW DOES THE BRAIN WORK? Among other excellent presentations in this fascinating thread, the ones by Professor Ed Boyden on Monday about creating and repairing neuro-pathways in the brain, having profound implications for medical practice, and by Professor Sebastian Seung on Friday about the "Connectome," a Genome-type reference to the inter-connectedness of the brain's neurons, formed the backbone of the thread! It was exciting to get a glimpse at the "next grand frontier" of scientific inquiry, particularly since exploration of it is made possible only by the extreme computational power of modern computers. Sharing information about this subject area with my school's students and colleagues will provide rich and fresh incentive to some students to study computer science, in particular, as well as mathematics and biology in high school and following, and to consider careers in computer science, brain and medical research, cognitive science, bio-engineering, and related fields. (Both professors have TED Talks.)
2. HOW DO WE IMPROVE LEARNING? A number of superb presentations formed this thread, providing information about free, on-line teaching and learning resources, including math and science video lessons for high school students at blossoms.mit.edu (Professor Richard Larson); YouTube-like videos of presentations in science, engineering, and technology at techtv.mit.edu; and MIT's OpenCourseWare at ocw.mit.edu, which also contains a sub-site of lessons for high school students at ocw.mit.edu/high-school; the latter could be particularly helpful to AP students at my school (Joseph Pickett). Professor Patrick Winston's presentation on artificial intelligence, particularly the insight that human learning and intelligence involve making sense through story telling and engaging visual, linguistic, and motor centers in the brain, will inform my future teaching. Professor Anant Agarwal's presentation about the joint MIT/Harvard venture edX, aimed at distance learning and building a global community of learners, was inspirational and addressed one of my specific goals for attending SEPT, which was to be informed about the state of the art in distance learning and in leveraging technology to improve student learning. That venture capitalists are beginning to invest heavily in on-line learning and in "gamifying" learning (providing engaging instructional games for students) will, as Professor Agarwal put it, "Change the world... and is the new face of learning." I appreciated his affirmation that on-line learning is "the single biggest change in education since the printing press!" (video at www.edxonline.org) Finally, Professor Edward Moriarity's engineering workshop on Wednesday afternoon, provided powerful examples of the superior effectiveness of hands-on learning.
3. IS CLIMATE CHANGE REAL, AND IF SO, WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT? All of Monday afternoon was devoted to participating in Professor John Sterman's Role-Play Simulation of Global Climate Negotiations (a previous video: www.olegalexander.com/?p=1032), which was a powerful learning experience, and provided a tangible and exemplary example of hands-on, project-based learning. All materials and instructions for running the simulation are posted online at www.climateinteractive.org, and I will encourage my school's science teachers to use the simulation with their students, although the simulation may better present my school with a wonderful opportunity for cross-curricular learning in STEM, economics, history, and political science, etc. On Tuesday afternoon, we were treated to an extremely entertaining and enthusiastic presentation by Professor Donald Sadoway (has a TED Talk), whose optimistic vision that non-noble metal electrode (i.e., liquid metal) battery technology "will liberate foreign policy and energy" was inspiring and uplifting! His call for more students to study electro-chemical engineering as the "key to world peace" resonated with me as did his model for "inventing inventors" through mentoring, and I will share his vision and call with students and colleagues at every opportunity.
4. WHAT'S NEXT IN SPACE EXPLORATION? Professors Daniel Hastings and Olivier de Weck and NASA Astronaut/Professor Jeffrey Hoffman addressed the current state and future plans for government-sponsored and commercial manned spaceflight and for unmanned space exploration, topics that are particularly relevant to students at my school in Houston, TX. Members of MIT's Women's Graduate Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics presented a portable wind tunnel that they had constructed and that provided an example of a hands-on project that could be undertaken by high school students (instructions posted at www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/WindTunnel/build.html).
5. HOW DO WE USE WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE HUMAN GENOME? This thread, although I do not teach biology, was one of the most enlightening and exciting for me as a teacher! Professor Kathleen Vandiver's hands-on LEGO Atoms and Molecules workshop on Wednesday morning, in which we modeled intra-cellular chemical reactions using LEGOs, was the top "gotta bring this back to my school" take-away for the week! When I told my school's AP Biology teacher about the experience, he immediately grasped the power of using these tools, which he currently does not have, to teach these complex concepts! On Thursday, Professor Manolis Kellis' presentation on Understanding the Human Genome and Disease was a perfect follow-on to the LEGO workshop. Here as in the brain thread mentioned previously, the essential role of computers was made clear and my sharing this information will provide additional incentive for students to study computer science at my school (we are in the second year of launching a multi-year computer science program, and we are working to attract more students into it).
6. HOW DO WE IMPROVE COMPUTER SCIENCE INSTRUCTION? On Monday, Professor Mitch Resnick, a past student of Seymour Papert (LOGO and LEGO Mindstorms Robotics), began this thread by sharing the computer programming language SCRATCH with us. Plans are underway at my school this summer, in fact, to employ SCRATCH in the fall for the first time in our computer science program as a vehicle to introduce computer programming. There were other excellent presentations in this thread, culminating in Shaileen Pokress' smartphone App Inventor hands-on workshop on Thursday afternoon. The workshop materials are in on-going development, are posted on-line at beta.appinventor.mit.edu, and address an acknowledged need in my school's computer science curriculum.
7. WHAT IS THE FRONTIER OF MEDICAL RESEARCH? A number of previously mentioned presentations were integral to this thread as well. Additionally, Professors Charles Jennings and Michael Cima's presentations were informative about the state of research into brain disorders and cancer, respectively. We were graciously given tours of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard (for cancer research). Ever-presently evident throughout the week was MIT's ethos of stewardship and humanitarian service through applied problem-solving, which was particularly manifested in these two institutes! The service-oriented culture of MIT was awe-inspiring!
The capstone of the week was Friday night's address by Dean Michael Feuer of George Washington University, who, together with SEPT Founder and Director, Professor Emeritus Ron Latanision, proposed a vision to augment MIT's SEPT by a follow-on program on the campus of GWU, aimed at exposing school teachers to educational policy-making at the national level. I, for one, would be interested in capitalizing on my SEPT experience by participating in such a program. Please let me know how I can help.
In summary, SEPT 2012 was intense, and it flew by incredibly quickly! It definitely fulfilled its promise to be "like drinking from a fire hose!" But, I wish I could have remained at MIT in the program all summer! Nonetheless, all of my goals for the experience were met and exceeded, and I take with me the lasting memories of a powerful once-in-a-life-time learning experience, connections with new friends and colleagues, and visions and enthusiasm for applying what I have learned to the end of improving student learning at my school and in the larger educational community.
Again, thank you!
Sincerely,
Michael Hunt Chair, Mathematics Department Episcopal High School Houston 4650 Bissonnet, Bellaire, TX 77401 Back to Top
2007 Winner, Mary Patterson from Hamilton Middle School in Cy-Fair ISD
2007 Winner, Serena Magrogan, Hightower High School in Ft. Bend ISD
2005 Winner, Anne Mangas Smith, James E. Bay Elementary School from Clear Creek ISD
2003 Winner, Andra Zoller, James E. Bay Elementary School from Clear Creek ISD
I have been revived, validated, and energized! The “drink from the fire hose” was a truly incredible academic experience. I was in awe of the sixty minds from around the world. I learned so much from them and am looking forward to future teamwork and collaboration.
I am amazed at how biology, chemistry, and physics have changed. I just didn’t realize how integrated the disciplines have become. This “immersion in science and engineering” has made a profound positive impact on how I will teach my young talented students. This week has opened my eyes in how to be part of a valuable team effort that helps to prepare young students for their future. It’s amazing and comforting to know how critical curiosity, exploration, and discovery are. Being the only elementary level educator in attendance, I was able to shed some light for the secondary teachers as to how and why children learn as they do and the cognitive development that this entails. In retrospect, it was so interesting to learn from the secondary teachers. It enlightened me to learn what is happening around the world. It truly was an eye-opening experience. Now that I am a NEST alum, I am looking forward with great anticipation to future visits. The week was packed with outstanding lectures from presenters who definitely had a passion for what they are doing. The lectures flowed beautifully from one to the next, while connecting all science and engineering disciplines. It was so refreshing to observe a group of experts that truly love what they are doing.
I came away from MIT being energized about what I love to do, validated for teaching science, technology, and mathematics in an inquiry based program, while putting my students first, and revived that what I am doing is “right on target” and “on the cutting edge.” In fact, I absorbed so much like a sponge that my brain hurts. All in all, I would have to admit that having the golden opportunity to meet and work with the sixty educators was an earth shattering experience. I am looking forward to keeping in touch with these “Who’s Who in Science and Math Education” minds with unbelievable “character.”
.… Please accept my deep gratitude for this experience. One more thing, when I received the letter in the mail, I couldn’t open it. This is the first award that I have ever applied for. I held the envelope up to the kitchen window trying to read it through the sunlight, as if I was Lucille Ball. Remember the infamous “candy episode?” Well, that’s how I felt all week. I felt like Lucille Ball on the candy factory assembly line and didn’t want to miss a thing while absorbing everything in sight. Finally, I couldn’t take the suspense any longer and painstakingly sliced the envelope open and read its contents. My friend told me that she heard me scream all the way to her house. I was so elated that I called my husband on the golf course. He had just gotten a hole in one. Imagine that…some things are just meant to be.
With Warmest Regards, Andra L. Zoller NEST ‘03 Gifted Education Specialist James F. Bay Elementary Clear Creek ISD Back to Top