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Newsletter Volume 3 |
Spring 1999 |
ACEPT Induction Workshop for Gilbert District Teachers
Eugene Judson
Teacher & ACEPT Consultant
Brimhall Jr. High School
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Newsletter Volume 3 |
Spring 1999 |
Twenty-two new 5th and 6th grade teachers attended a two-day ACEPT Workshop last summer during which they were introduced to graphing calculators for fifth, sixth and seventh grade math and science classes in the Gilbert School District. Texas Instruments loaned ACEPT a classroom set of their new TI-73 graphing calculators that interface with the Calculator Based laboratories (CBLs) and probes. The ACEPT Beginning Teacher Workshop co-led by me and Jeff Turley, ACEPT Teacher Liaison, focused on beginning teacher issues, classroom management as well as introducing the new TI-73s intended for use in the middle school classrooms. Overall the teachers enjoyed learning to use the new graphing calculators. After reviewing the basics of the calculator, and some time in groups to explore their use, the teachers participating in the Workshop were quite receptive to the math curricula ACEPT had developed to use with the calculators and the use of the calculators themselves.
Mental math and thinking skills were introduced through the math games Quadice and Hanoi Tower. ACEPT leaders demonstrated how these games could be the catalysts for greater in depth analysis. The participants enjoyed the hands-on activities and provided ideas on how other materials could utilized. New 7th and 8th grade teachers attended a second-day ACEPT science and math workshop on how to integrate math and science at the junior high school level. Teachers learned the ease and functionality of the TI-73 calculators and how Calculator Based Rangers (CBRs) could be used to gather real data and viewed as a graph on the calculator.
Probes, CBRs, and CBLs were introduced and used to demonstrate an inquiry approach of science-e.g.what factors affect the swing of a pendulum. During this activity the teachers were truly piloting their new equipment in innovative ways. ACEPT led the workshop participants in the GEMS unit, Moons of Jupiter. Both days involved activities and workshops, such as these, to provide the modeling and in-depth content of inquiry-based teaching that ACEPT endorses.
Teachers from each workshop wanted more information on how they could get equipment for their classrooms. Once the new ASU Center is in place, ACEPT leaders expect that this type of equipment will be available to teachers, to try out before purchasing their own, and for those districts, that do not have the funds to purchase this type of equipment, to borrow.
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