CAPE TEACHERS FOCUS ON SCIENCE AT SUMMER INSTITUTE

Members of the National Faculty tour group discussed the effects of zero gravity on the human body with a former NASA engineer.

Biologist Selina Heppell, left, instructed Judy Gau on the use of an underwater breathing apparatus used in SCUBA diving.

Roselyn Conrad, left, and Diana Valleroy worked on a project in which they plotted gamma ray bursts to discern a pattern.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center to figure out that science is the key to the future for America and for the rest of the world. As a matter of fact, Cape Girardeau teachers are learning this summer that it's as simple as ABC -- astronomy, biology and chemistry, that is.

Eleven teachers from the Cape Girardeau Public Schools are joining for two weeks with teachers from Dyersburg, Tenn., Murphysboro, Ill., and Sikeston in Huntsville, Ala. for a Delta Teachers Academy summer institute. The Cape Girardeau team, like the other three teams in this summer's institute, have focused on science as their area of study.

Cape Girardeau's team leader is Bonnie Kerr, a second grade teacher at Franklin Elementary School. She is joined by teachers from Alma Schrader, Washington, Clippard and Franklin elementary schools. Schultz School also is represented on the team.

For two weeks, the teachers at the summer institute are spending their days doing some typical and some atypical science experiments.

"People who just happened to see us might think we are crazy from some of the things we've been doing," commented Kerr. "We've done everything from racing match-box cars to lawn-mowing to studying light refraction, and we've even laid at the bottom of a swimming pool with a weight on top of us to study the way light travels through water. Now we know what the world looks like to a fish," she laughed.

New experiences are the name of the game at the summer institute. Whether it's looking for sunspots through a telescope or recording date about water quality, every teacher is gaining new experiences he or she can take back to the classroom. And the learning isn't confined to the classroom or even the University of Alabama-Huntsville campus.

The teachers went on field trips to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville and to the Monte Sano Observatory as part of their astronomy study, and to the giant aquarium in Chattanooga, Tenn., as part of their marine biology study.

It is because of this unique opportunity for intensive learning experiences that the Cape Girardeau team became a member of the Delta Teachers Academy, a program of The National Faculty. Though the summer institute is probably the most intense learning situation, the team members also attend academic workshops throughout the school year in their own hometowns.

In just two years, the members of the Cape Girardeau team feel they have learned a lot. Kerr recalled that the opportunity to learn was the draw of The National Faculty from the beginning of Cape's association with it.

"From a personal perspective, I saw involvement in The National Faculty as an opportunity to learn science from some of the best scholars in the field. I used to feel that science was a weak area for me, and now I feel that my knowledge base has increased a great deal. That is knowledge that I can take back into the classroom, and thus give my students a stronger background in science," said Kerr.

Kerr is extremely proud of both the Cape Girardeau team and of the support it has gotten from the school district's administration.

"This involvement with The National Faculty represents a great commitment from the teachers involved. These teachers not only involve themselves through the school year in periodic two-day workshops, but then they take the time out of their summers to come to a two-week institute away from their homes and families," said Kerr, noting that last summer the teachers traveled to New Orleans to attend the summer institute.

"For teachers to take that kind of time away from their families means that they are truly dedicated teachers with families that apparently realize the importance of what we are doing," said Kerr, adding that several of the teachers involved have small children.

One teacher left behind a husband and five young children to be able to attend the summer institute. "We've all decided her husband deserves a medal to allow her to leave home for two weeks," Kerr laughed.

The participants in the summer institute have little time to get homesick, though. They stay busy from 8:30 each morning until sometimes late in the afternoon or evening attending academic sessions where they have the opportunity to learn from some of the nation's best scientists and professors from leading universities.

This summer's institute is being lead by three experts in their chosen fields. They are Gordon Emslie, who is chairman of the University of Alabama-Huntsville's physics department and a pilot and flight instructor at the U.S. Rocket and Space Center in Huntsville; Selina Heppell, a marine biologist who is involved in research on sea turtle populations and is a member of Duke University's Department of Zoology; and Clyde Smith, retired chairman of the Department of Chemistry at Southern University at New Orleans.

Andy Talmadge, associate director of The National Faculty, is somewhat of a talent scout for the organization. He and others search the nation for the most gifted university professors to teach the nation's teachers.

The National Faculty not only looks for people who have excelled in their fields academically, but also for those who know how to translate their own expertise in an easy-to-understand language that teachers without extensive scientific training can understand. People skills are equally as important.

When a school district and its teachers decide to work with The National Faculty, they are making a three-year commitment. That means the teachers involved will be attending workshops and summer institutes for three years, which Kerr noted is about the time it takes a teacher to pursue a degree.

"As a matter of fact, some school districts are already recognizing that commitment by awarding the participating teachers with graduate credit," noted Talmadge. "Participating Sikeston teachers, for instance, receive a total of 18 hours graduate credit for their three-year commitment."

At one time science was considered a curriculum area for the secondary schools and not really apporpriate for elementary children, Kerr said. But all of that has changed.

"Now we as teachers, and I think as a nation, understand how important it is to begin exposing children to science and to scientific ways of thinking as early as possible. It really is only natural," she added.

"Science is really all about observing, and children are natural observers. Really all we are teaching them are ways to record what they are observing and to follow their natural inclination to ask questions."

In the end, the result should be children who grow up without a fear of science, and with the ability to make the world a better place by learning to use the impact of science in a positive way.

Tammy Raddle, a teacher at Franklin Elementary School, attended a summer institute in Huntsville, Ala.