Arkansas Curriculum Conference — Nov. 13 & 14 2008
The Arkansas Discovery Network, funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, was represented at two sessions at the 2008 Arkansas Curriculum Conference. In addition, The Race for Planet 'X' landed in the exhibit hall to give teachers the opportunity to experience this unique mobile museum.
Potpourri of Science & the Senses
with the San Francisco’s Exploratorium
Attendees got a taste of the Exploratorium Teacher Institute with hands-on, ears-on and eyes-on session full of activities. Use activities that explore vision and hearing (for life/biology/anatomy teachers) and light, color and sound (physical/physics teachers).
Exploratorium Explorations
Arkansas teachers, who attended the 2008 Exploratorium Teacher Institute this past summer, shared interesting activities they learned with other teachers at the Arkansas Curriculum Conference during a session on November 14.
Activities included learning about the primary colors of light and the primary colors of pigment by making personal "tvs" and looking at colors of light mixing. Attendees were shown how to conduct hands-on investigations locating the point where an earthquake begins; participants played a game that simulated p and s waves from an earthquake. A "Balloon Air Puck," made from a cd, a bottl
e top with a hole, and a balloon, investigates Newton's Laws of Motion. Participants learned how to use adding machine tape to find the relative distances between the planets. Teachers graphed without numbers using hand temperatures to show the linear pattern of the differences in temperatures of hands compared to a standard.
Attendees were also shown a slide show of pictures from the 2008 Teacher Institute and were told how the program operated. (More information on the Summer Teacher Institute.)
Participating teachers: Ruth Brewer, Van Buren School District; Joyce Dooley, Bentonville School District; Kristy Kidd, Little Rock School District; Melissa Miller, Farmington School District; Kathy Prophet, Springdale School District; Linda Shott, Pottsville School District, Kathy Prophet, Springdale School District