Program brings math, sciences to life
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HAMMOND — School may be out for students, but for high school teachers Cathy Kinchen, Pernethia Buckhalter and Sandra Lavigne, the learning is just beginning.
The three high school teachers joined more than 25 others June 4 at Southeastern Louisiana University for the Math and Science Project I-TAPS, or Inquiry-based Teaching of Algebra and Physical Science.
During a three-week course, teachers were coached on how to better help students learn math and science skills.
Teachers get experiences in tying in technology with the curricula and instruction and on improving student performance in algebra, chemistry, earth science and physical science.
“It’s hands-on learning,” said C.C. Lanier, curriculum specialist with the Tangipahoa Parish school system.
“They (teachers) have to have a feel for it (math and science) in order to relay it to their students.”
The project, a joint effort between the Tangipahoa Parish school system and SLU, is meant to improve science and mathematics education in the eighth through 12th grades.
By bringing together algebra, physical science and chemistry teachers, the project increases their knowledge of all three subjects, allowing for better integration across the subjects.
During an experiment — one teachers will conduct with their students this coming school year — Kinchen, Buckhalter and Lavigne sat in front of blue, green and red light bulbs, clearly positioned in front of a white board.
As they turned one color on and another off, the group explored the relationship of light and color.
“We’re looking at how the colors are reflecting off the light board,” Kinchen said. The experiment helped teachers better understand how colored lights appeared in combination and how to translate those findings into mathematical statements.
The information is a basic building block in understanding how computer and television screens work and how our eyes perceive them.
“This helps students explore a question for themselves,” Kinchen said.
“And helps with critical thinking,” she said.
In another experiment earlier that week, teachers dropped a basketball in a demonstration of how sonar works.
The simple exercise, one that could easily be conducted in the classroom, shows how math is applied to the real world.
“Students do not always realize that they use science every day, like when they wash their hair,” Lanier said. “Science touches every part of their life.”
Lavigne, a Hammond High School math teacher, said the program “helps me connect the math to the science. If you can show them how the math and science work together, they can understand why we do this. These are ways to integrate the two.”
The program was awarded a $193,000 grant, with the guarantee of additional funds that would bring the grant total to $239,000.
Troy Williams, SLU department of physics and chemistry instructor, and Gwen Autin, assistant professor in the SLU department of teaching and learning, are teaching the classes.
“Everything they do here increases the content knowledge of the teachers and makes it easier for them to explain math and science lessons to the students,” Lanier said.
Program results are being closely monitored. Teachers who have taken the class will build a student database that will track students’ performance on standardized tests.
SLU President John L. Crain said the partnership benefits the university, if for no other reason, by better preparing Tangipahoa Parish school system students for college.
“They will become the university’s next generation of students,” Crain said.
Now in its second year, the I-TAPS program has a waiting list of teachers. A second session, for third- to fifth-grade teachers, begins Monday and ends July 17.
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