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By Susan O’Connor

JONESBORO — Instruction in hands-on experiments that integrate space science and math brought 17 teachers from across the state to ARKANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY this week.

In addition to fifth- through eighth-grade science teachers, the group included two gifted and talented instructors, two special education teachers and an administrator. The educators learned dozens of innovative experiments to implement in their teaching, and received three hours of science graduate credit and 15 hours of professional development credit.

“It has been extremely helpful,” said Jennifer MacFarland, who will begin her first year teaching seventh- and eighth-grade science in the Cross County School District. “It really gives me a guide of ideas — of things that I want to do with my students.”

For example, MacFarland said they calculated how fast the earth is spinning at Jonesboro’s latitude point, a speed that surprised her.

“We’re spinning at 643 miles per hour. At the equator, the earth spins 1,000 miles per hour. Jonesboro is located at 35 degrees north latitude. We did a little math and calculated the spin here in Jonesboro. I think my students will be interested in doing that calculation for themselves.”

The class, funded by a No Child Left Behind grant, was taught by professor of record Dr. Tillman Kennon and Dr. Cynthia Miller, a NASA faculty fellow who has taught the class four times between 2000 and 2002.

“This is not a typical science graduate class,” Miller said. “In a lecture-lab situation, there is often a disconnect between the theory that they learn and real-life applications that students take away.

“Ninety-five percent of what we are doing is hands-on. We are teaching science content while giving them activities for their classrooms.”

Miller said new state mandates require 20 percent of instruction in science to be students engaged in hands-on activities and experiments.

“A lot of teachers are so accustomed to teaching out of a textbook,” Miller said. “And when they do experiments, they are demonstrations by the teachers. They are really going to be scrambling to find activities.”

Class participants will receive some equipment to take back to their classrooms, such as a spectrometer, which measures gases in the atmosphere, and a 30x microscope.

On Wednesday, teachers put the microscopes to use. They were asked to bring debris from their gutters. They used the microscopes to find micrometeorites in the debris, which are identifiable because of their smooth surface and metallic appearance, Miller said.

“It makes it really special to students when they find micrometeorites in their own yard.”

“What we really have to do is get elementary students turned on to science,” Kennon said. “I really see the importance of working with elementary teachers on science and math.” Kennon added that incorporating math and science topics in conversations with children at an early age will help them to be less apprehensive about taking courses such as chemistry and physics when they are older.

“We’ve got to get our kids attention,” said Carolyn Wilson, a former teacher and current administrator from Cross County who is taking the class. “We’ve got to compete with video games and you can’t just lecture anymore. I’m excited about the things my teachers will be doing.”