{"id":33009,"date":"2017-06-21T10:00:48","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T15:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmn.fhsu.edu\/?p=33009"},"modified":"2017-06-21T10:00:48","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T15:00:48","slug":"fhsu-mixes-learning-with-fun-at-smei-camps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=33009","title":{"rendered":"FHSU mixes learning with fun at SMEI camps"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Randy Gonzales<\/span> <\/em><\/span>
\nCourtesy of University Relations and Marketing<\/span> <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

HAYS, Kan. — Whether they realize it or not, the young participants have been learning something while having fun at Fort Hays State University\u2019s Science and Mathematics Education Institute\u2019s summer camps this month.<\/span><\/p>\n

The FHSU students who have been teaching the SMEI campers are learning something, too — if they want to choose a career path as a teacher, specifically in math or science.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the fourth year, undergraduate students serving as Noyce Scholars instructed the children, ranging from second-graders to eighth-graders, in four-day camps on the FHSU campus. The six Fort Hays State students received hands-on experience in the classroom, while their young students received hands-on learning about science and math.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love it so much, more than I thought I would,\u201d said Jenna Klein, a Noyce Scholar from Abilene, who will be a junior this fall. \u201cThese kids are so sweet and so excited to learn about science. They\u2019re really interested and have fun learning. It\u2019s really fun to teach them when they\u2019re excited about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Paul Adams, dean of the College of Education, said the purpose of the SMEI summer camps was twofold. He is trying to recruit future science and math teachers, and he also wants to provide science and math experiences for school children.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a good program to prepare science and math teachers. State wide, we have a shortage. We\u2019re trying to get people early and interested in it,\u201d Adams said. \u201cOne of the things I wanted to do, I needed to provide (science, math and technology) experiences for kids. Kids will make their career decisions by middle school. That\u2019s part of what these camps are about, get them interested in doing it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

SMEI has four camps in June. The first one this summer was a new one, involving the science behind magic tricks. At the end of the week there was a magic show for parents. Last week\u2019s camp was dedicated to learning about engineering and physics. This week, there are two camps. One is devoted to the engineering design process, nanotechnology and rockets, while the other is a new one for middle school girls, where among the things they will learn is composting, beekeeping and planting in flower pots. The final camp week is dedicated to robots, with experiments and challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEach project required the children to use the scientific method,\u201d said Dr. Valerie Zelenka, assistant professor of teacher education, who is involved in the planning and supervision of the camps. \u201cIn small groups, they made initial observations, came up with a question or questions based on their observations, developed a hypothesis or prediction, conducted their experiment, recorded the results and drew conclusions, and shared and discussed their findings with the whole group.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The six FHSU students who are Noyce Scholars are involved for six weeks. They are trained for teaching in a classroom setting for a week, then are with the children for four weeks. The final week, they work on a project together as a group.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another of the Noyce Scholars is Breanna Meier, a junior-to-be this fall from Lincoln who is majoring in biology and secondary education. She wants to teach math and science in middle school and high school in a small school district in Kansas.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been fun,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve had several friends go through the program in the past, and they always talk about how much they loved it and how they learned more about the age group they want to teach.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One morning last week, Klein and Meier taught the kids about the science behind hula hoops. The young students learned about things such as torque, mass, weight, gravity, diameter and circumference using different-sized hula hoops with different amounts of sand in them. At the end of the session the children had a hula hoop contest to see who was best at gyrating the hoop around his or her body.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey learn so much about science and math,\u201d Meier said. \u201cIt\u2019s really hands-on. They get to do experiments. We ask them a lot of questions, provoking thought. They think about it that way, instead of being lectured to. It\u2019s more open discussion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s fun, said Benjamin Dome, an 11-year-old from Hays who will be attending Victoria Middle School in the fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey teach you really cool stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cYou get to do really fun stuff.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Adams said a program like the summer SMEI camps is important for FHSU and the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt says what we are,\u201d Adams said. \u201cIt shows our commitment, not just to being here, but being engaged with the community. It shows our commitment to the community and also our commitment to the state of Kansas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can capture interest at this age, then we look at long-term workforce development. This is where we\u2019ve got to start,\u201d Adams added. \u201cThis is a great opportunity for us to both work with the community and have our students engaged.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Meier said the SMEI camp, along with the several other camps FHSU hosts during the summer, provide both learning and a sense of community.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a lot of camps; I think it\u2019s awesome,\u201d she said. \u201cIt brings kids on campus. I hope they\u2019re going to be future Tigers one day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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