Teacher Explores New Ways To Bring Hands-On Science Fun To Local Students

Arkansas Discovery Network, funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, sends West Fork Middle School science teacher to world-renowned Teacher Institute

West Fork, AR (August 10) – The Secret Science Ingredient was fruit. By the time the Iron Science Teacher competition was over, Renay Autrey-Treat an eighth-grade science teacher at West Fork Middle School in West Fork, AR, had witnessed some unconventional, yet effective ways to use fruit to teach science. During the competition, oranges became conductors for electricity, berries were used to tie-dye t-shirts, and a lemon cake was baked in a glass cup using electrified spoons.

The Arkansas Discovery Network, funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, chose Autrey-Treat and seven other Arkansas educators to participate in the renowned, four-week Teacher Institute at the Exploratorium museum this summer. Iron Science competitions were just one of the wild, sometimes wacky, but always-interesting experiments, competitions and lessons that Autrey-Treat experienced during the training she received in San Francisco.

Besides being interviewed on television and quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, the participating teachers experienced a rich mix of hands-on activities to invigorate their classroom lessons. They have come back to Arkansas with new ways to make science more involving for students, using activities and materials that cost very little – certainly a boon to any school budget. In all, Autrey-Treat spent a total of 110 hours over the four weeks immersed in inquiry learning techniques.

Autrey-Treat, a science teacher at West Fork Middle School for 15 years, said the Summer Institute is one of the best experiences a teacher can have. “The Institute helps new and veteran teachers prepare with inquiry-based activities that are easy and inexpensive to prepare and use in the classroom everyday,” Autrey-Treat said, “Before I attended the Institute, I thought that a month was a very long time to do a teacher training workshop. After three weeks of being at the Institute I realize that I had not even scraped the surface of the resources available at the Institute. The trip was exceptional, inspirational and applicable.”

Teacher outreach programs such as this are just one aspect of the Arkansas Discovery Network’s mission. The first program of its kind in the nation, the Arkansas Discovery Network will tour innovative teaching exhibits among seven local member museums, making a hands-on, interactive museum experience more accessible to all the state’s 498,000 school children and their families.

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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