ENGINEERING

This no-cost, weeklong activity will introduce 25 Louisiana high school teachers to computational science tools and techniques, giving them ideas for incorporating this technology into their lesson plans and curricula. Teachers were able to sign up for the workshop on a first-come, first-served basis.

The workshop is possible through a grant CCT staff members Bety Rodriguez-Milla and Kathy Traxler were awarded from the Louisiana Board of Regents to create an outreach activity that enhances K-12 education opportunities in Louisiana.

The workshop instructors are leading computational science educators from universities around the country, who will travel to LSU to participate, including Robert Panoff of Shodor Institute and Dr. Charlie Peck of Earlham College. In addition to workshop instruction, Panoff and Peck also will train CCT faculty and staff so that they can host more, similar workshops.

The participating teachers will meet LSU researchers working on the CyberTools project, in which researchers are developing tools and applications to allow scientists to use high-performance computing more effectively. These researchers, many of whom are on faculty with CCT, will present their work throughout the week.

CCT is co-hosting this activity with the LONI Institute, a consortium created around the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative, or LONI, a high-speed, fiber optic network that connects Louisiana’s major research universities. Computational scientists and faculty members who work with the LONI Institute will attend the workshop to present their research.

The 25 teachers who will participate, all of whom teach high school math, science or computer science, will finish the workshop with at least one lesson plan and homework assignment for their high school students, which will include new computational science concepts and activities.