For Immediate Release
Contact: Diane LaFollette
500 President Clinton Avenue, Suite 150
Little Rock, AR 72201
(501) 396-7050, ext. 119
dlafollette@amod.org
Arkansas Teachers Present Easy and Fun Hands-On Science To Peers
Alumni from the 2008 Exploratorium Summer Teacher Institute Share Several Activities with Fellow Teachers at the Arkansas Curriculum Conference
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.(November 21, 2008) — Six Arkansas teachers who attended the Exploratorium Summer Teacher Institute this past summer shared several hands-on, easy-to-make science and math activities they learned at the Exploratorium with attendees of the Arkansas Curriculum Conference during their Exploratorium Explorations session, held on November 14 in Little Rock. The Arkansas Discovery Network, thanks to a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, has been sending teachers to the Institute for the past three years as part of the effort improve science education in Arkansas.
Activities included learning about the primary colors of light and the primary colors of pigment by making personal "tvs" and looking at colors of light mixing. Attendees were shown how to conduct hands-on investigations locating the point where an earthquake begins; participants played a game that simulated p and s waves from an earthquake. A "Balloon Air Puck," made from a cd, a bottle top with a hole, and a balloon, investigates Newton's Laws of Motion. Participants learned how to use adding machine tape to find the relative distances between the planets. Teachers graphed without numbers using hand temperatures to show the linear pattern of the differences in temperatures of hands compared to a standard.
Attendees were also shown a slide show of pictures from the 2008 Teacher Institute and were told how the program operated.
For more information on the Summer Teacher Institute, go to http://www.arkansasdiscoverynetwork.org/grown-ups/summer_teacher.html.
Teachers who took part in the Institute and the session at the Arkansas Curriculum Conference are: Kristy Kidd, Dunbar Magnet Middle School in Little Rock; Melissa Miller, Lynch Middle School in Farmington; Joyce Dooley, Spring Hill Middle School in Bentonville; Ruth Brewer, Central Middle School in Van Buren; Linda Shott, Pottsville Jr. High in Pottsville; and Kathy Prophet, Hellstern Middle School in Springdale.
About the Arkansas Discovery Network
The Arkansas Discovery Network, funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, works to strengthen partner museums by sharing resources and expanding discovery learning opportunities throughout the state. Member museums include the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock, Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs, Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff, Texarkana Museum System in Texarkana, Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources in Smackover, Arkansas State University Museum in Jonesboro and the University of Arkansas Center for Mathematics and Science Education in Fayetteville. Visit the website at www.arkansasdiscoverynetwork.org.
About the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, headquartered in Las Vegas, is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. The Foundation is one of the 50 largest private foundations in the United States.
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