With funding from the National Science Foundation, Hope College in Holland, Michigan,
is exploring the interface between education and research. We are
convinced that education connects to research with inquiry. Inquiry in its
purest form is research. Education in one of its most effective forms is
inquiry. To this end we provide a workshop each summer at which talented
high school teachers develop inquiry labs that integrate open-ended exercises
with technology. Resources for learning how to integrate technology are
part of the experience, and teachers emerge with lessons they can use and new
skills to develop.
This year we will use the considerable water resources of Western Michigan as
our focus of study -- Lake Michigan, a smaller lake and some streams that make up
the Macatawa Watershed. In addition, we have an Experimental Design Pool
which enables students to formulate and test hypotheses about water quality in a
controlled, artificial pool. All of these bodies of water will be measured
using a variety of electronic sensors connected to graphing calculators.
Computer skills to handle inquiry exercises will also be dealt with at the
workshop. Teachers are encouraged to present the exercises they develop at
local and national meetings. Time is also provided for teachers to share
lessons they use with success in their classes.
Dr. Donald Cronkite, Professor of Biology at Hope College, is the academic director of this program. He began working with teachers in 1991 when he was the founding academic director of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Leadership Program for High School Biology teachers. He also directed the 1993, 1995, 1996 and 1997 Woodrow Wilson institutes. Nancy Hein, a high school teacher from Abeline, Texas, is the inquiry consultant for this workshop. She has extensive experience in presenting workshops for teachers that integrate technology with teaching. In addition, Jewel Reuter, a science teacher at Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie, LA, will also be on the staff. She presents an extensive series of technology inservice workshops for the State of Louisiana, and is the inventor of the experimental design pool.
About 20 teachers are sought for this workshop. Room and board are in Hope College Residence Halls. The cost of room and board and transportation to the workshop is paid for by the AIRE Award to Hope College. Teachers receive a $600 stipend for the week. Hope College is an undergraduate liberal arts college of 3000 students especially well known for its program of research involving undergraduate students. It is a natural outgrowth of this interest to offer workshops which extend the research model of science education to high school classes. Holland, MI, is a town of about 50,000 people on the shores of Lake Macatawa, an inlet of Lake Michigan. The summer is a popular time for visitors to the Holland area.