Arkansas Discovery Network to Send Hot Springs Teacher to
World-Renowned Exploratorium in San Francisco for Teacher Institute

Hot Springs, AR (June 12, 2007) — Kathy Hopper, a teacher at Cutter Morning Start High School in Hot Springs, has been chosen to attend a four-week Teacher Institute at the Exploratorium museum in San Francisco this summer. Hopper is one of six Arkansas teachers chosen by the Arkansas Discovery Network to take part in this exciting learning experience. The Arkansas teachers will team with teachers from around the country to share new and intriguing ideas for teaching science.

Hopper has been teaching science for seven years at Cutter Morning Start High School. She hopes the workshop helps her become a better educator for her students. “I am looking forward to gaining the experience that I need to become a more knowledgeable and confident teacher through the resources available there. In addition, I will have an opportunity to form a new network of motivated teachers! One area of particular interest to me is physical science — that is the subject that I have had the least amount of professional development. Arkansas' Science Frameworks now integrate physical, earth and life science in 7th and 8th grade science. Brushing up on my skills will enable me to become a better educator. California here I come!”

The Teacher Institute offers a rich mix of hands-on activities based on Exploratorium exhibits, content-based discussions, classroom materials, web-based teaching resources, and machine shop experiences. Each participant spends 110 hours immersed in inquiry education experiences using activities and materials that cost very little, a boon to any school budget. The teachers also compete in the “Iron Science Teacher” competition in which they demonstrate innovative techniques for communicating complex science concepts. Audience members from the San Francisco area determine the winner by voting for their favorite demonstration.

Teacher outreach programs such as this are just one aspect of the Network’s mission. It also tours high-quality exhibits throughout Arkansas through member museums and a mobile museum, “The Race for Planet ‘X’”, that will travel the state, making hands-on, interactive museum experiences more accessible to the state’s 498,000 schoolchildren and their families. In addition, collaboration throughout the Network will enhance the visitor experience at each museum.

About the Arkansas Discovery Network
The Arkansas Discovery Network, funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, works to strengthen partner museums by sharing resources and expanding discovery learning opportunities throughout the state. Member museums include the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock, Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs, Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff, Texarkana Museum System in Texarkana, Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources in Smackover, Arkansas State University Museum in Jonesboro and the University of Arkansas Center for Mathematics and Science Education in Fayetteville. Visit the website at www.arkansasdiscoverynetwork.org.

About the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, headquartered in Las Vegas, is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. The Foundation is one of the 50 largest private foundations in the United States.

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