By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS
Dr. Janet Stramel, associate professor of teacher education, received a grant from the National Science Foundation to work with former FHSU Noyce Scholars who now teach. In Fort Hays State’s efforts to serve rural Kansans, this grant provides training to rural Kansas teachers of middle-to-high school students to teach how mathematics and science is applied to real-world experiences.
The grant, High Flying Math and Science, included a day of project-based learning (PBL) training for teachers during the spring semester 2019.
Dr. Sarah Broman Miller, assistant professor of teacher education, provided the training.
Ten former FHSU Noyce Scholars, now Teacher Leaders in their schools, participated in the training and toured the National Weather Service in Dodge City to see the community connections of mathematics and science.
A follow-up to that training was a PBL project with their own students, culminating in the launch of a high-altitude balloon. Middle and high school students prepared a payload of sensors, cilantro seeds, sea-monkey eggs, and a GoPro camera in order to collect data to analyze so that students could see the connections among mathematics, science, and the real world.
Katie Flax, a science teacher at Trego Community High School, WaKeeney engaged her high school students in a PBL lesson with a balloon launch on Sept. 16.
Science teachers Julie Weber, Wamego Middle School, and Thomas Broxterman, Royal Valley High School, Hoit, collaborated on a joint PBL with their students. Their balloon launch was at Wamego Middle School on Oct. 1.