Teachers Pull Together for Math and Science

A three year workshop program at University of Arkansas makes it possible to have teachers pull together for math and science.

A plastic bottle filled with water was blasted beyond the treetops with a loud pop. As teachers from Springdale Arkansas watched the bottle descent, they laughed about the successful launch of a rocket made from a 2 liter bottle. They also discussed how to iimprove the plastic pipe launcherwhich was activated with air from a bicycle tire pump.

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The purpose of the activity was to create an experiment which demonstrated Newton’s Second Law of Motion. Marla Kreider, a seventh-grade math teacher explained that Newton’s Second Law of Motion is force equals mass time acceleration. Newton’s Laws are in the seventh-grade science curriculum.

Kreider, Tracy Campbell and Kristi Smith, all teachers at Hellstern Middle School in Springdale, are among 86 instructors wrapping up a two-week workshop learning how to integrate math and science into middle school lesson plans. Most of the teachers are from Northwest Arkansas schools, and some traveled from Forrest City and Mena.

“Research tells us to get the students hooked on math and science or they turn away by middle school,” said Bryan Hill, assistant dean in the College of

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Engineering. That is especially true of girls and minority students, he said.A $1.2 million federal grant funneled through the Arkansas Department of Education over three years is paying for the workshop. The focus is to help fifth- through eighth-grade teachers understand inquiry-based learning and integrate math and science as they implement Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation of Science Standards. The teachers attend a lecture in the morning and spend the afternoon designing projects or experiments.”We as teachers never get to work together in a vertical collaboration,” Campbell said. “We’ve taught our subjects in isolation. Kids really get into this.”