Yesterday, my Nanotechnology team members and I returned to NC State’s ASSIST Center after our week long retreat in the mountains. We spent the morning learning about Mind Mapping. Contrary to my initial thought, Mind Mapping has nothing to do with activities similar to the one conducted by Duke University on my son as he participated in a brain study… Read more »
A week ago 42 educators from around the State of North Carolina were preparing to embark on the beginning of a year-long journey of teaching internships with collaborative partners in education and industry to tackle many 21st Century Learning experiences to bring back into their own schools and classrooms as part of the 2015-2016 Kenan Fellows. For some, like myself,… Read more »
On Wednesday, June 24, our Kenan cohort spent an absolutely incredible day outdoors team building and enjoying the beauty of nature. A group of us woke up early and went for a sunrise mountain hike on the grounds of NCCAT in Cullowhee. After cleaning up and enjoying a wonderful NCCAT breakfast (all the NCCAT food is great by the way)… Read more »
Preface: I believe that professional development (PD) should be relevant, applicable, realistic, managed in a timely and efficient manner but most importantly PD needs to be beneficial for student learning. Unfortunately, I have experienced “PD shock” in the past (however, not at my current school of course) in which at least one if not all elements were not in place and… Read more »
We arrived today among the mountains of Cullowhee, NC at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) adjacent to the beautiful campus of Western Carolina University. The trip was about a 5 hour drive from Raleigh including a lunch break along the way. This is the first time we have gathered as a complete cohort of Kenan… Read more »
A big thank you to Porticos and Device Solutions both located in Morrisville, NC for hosting the cohort of teachers from the ASSIST Center on Friday, June 19. The businesses team up together occasionally on various projects. Porticos focuses on providing mechanical engineering solutions where as Device Solutions handles the hardware and software side of their projects. Mr. Greg Patterson… Read more »
Friday morning, June 19, our Assist cohort had the privilege of being hosted by Dr. Mehmet Ozturk at NC State’s Nanofabrication Facility (NNF) in the university’s Larry K. Monteith Engineering Research Center. Dr. Ozturk began by delivering a lecture on semiconductors while sharing hands on examples and fielding questions. After the discussion, we all suited up to tour the NNF’s clean room… Read more »
This morning our cohort toured the science teacher playground known as the Analytical Instrumentation Facility (AIF) within the same building as our Assist internship at NC State University. Although as a business educator I was a fish out of water, I know enough to be thoroughly impressed with the technology at use within AIF. I sincerely believe that I have… Read more »
Today at NC State’s ASSIST Center I partnered with Justus McGee, a math teacher from Durham to create and present a cross-curricular lesson plan utilizing a Texas Instruments SimpleLink SensorTag. The primary goals for our plan included students using the SensorTag to monitor movement and body temperature during physical activity, compile related data, and analysis for the math component. Then… Read more »
Yesterday we learned about system design and coding utilizing LilyPad Arduino. New information for me but fun and challenging. I know my students will love exploring such important technology as stated in the cover story in this week’s BusinessWeek magazine. http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-paul-ford-what-is-code/