VSU KTU Program Registration date- Sept. 26, 2011

Hi everyone,

The online registration date/time for the VSU KTU program is now Sept. 26, 2011 at 6 pm. Please see here for the enrollment website and update your calendars!

With the power outage last week and delayed school openings in the Petersburg, and surrounding, area the organizers at VSU thought it best to adapt to a new registration date.

Attention Educators: VSU KTU Teacher Workshops Offered!!

The Virginia State University Kids' Tech University program is excited to offer CEU's in conjunction with the KTU program. Educators will learn it, teach it, and take it back to the classroom. You will engage in an exciting, hands-on teaching experience, and then apply what you learned in a unique, first-hand teaching environment with 3rd-6th graders. You will also be able to participate in ongoing community blogs and network with other teachers and education specialists.

We are excited to offer CEU (Continuing Education Unit) credits for educators interested in interactive learning of STEM content.

This program is ideal for elementary and middle school educators, or others, interested in STEM teaching.

Registration
The registration deadline is 20 participants or 1 week before the scheduled teacher workshop. The class/workshops can be taken as a series or individually.

Educator Workshop
• interact with Scientists, Technology Experts, Engineers, and Mathematicians
• includes a 4-hour interactive hands-on training
• you will interact with KTU students at learning stations to deploy what you learned
• you watch an interactive session given to kids on the topics, led by a world renowned research scientist
• you will learn how to incorporate fundamentals and concepts from the interactive session and training into your classrooms or after school time

Teacher Workshop/Development Class Schedule
The workshops will be held on the Virginia State University campus in Petersburg, Virginia.

October 22, 2011; 8:00-5:00 pm---- "Patterns With Nature: Math Concepts Explained" Workshop instructors: Dr. Kristy Collins & Dr. Reinhard Laubenbacher, Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech

Have you ever heard that math is the universal language? That it is constant and can define the world around us? Find out more about mathematical patterns that are all around us, and how math can help us to find patterns in nature with this October teacher workshop. In this workshop teachers will learn about the math concepts that are applicable to nature, dance and the various online learning tools that may be brought into the classroom. ENROLL NOW!

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November 19, 2011; 8:00-5:00 pm- "ANDRILL- Insight Into Antartica And Climate Change Secrets" Workshop instructor: Dr. Kristy Collins, VBI

Do you recognize an urgency to understand the evidence being observed in changing worldwide Earth systems? Do you need exciting, quality resources to teach climate science and environmental literacy? Then, this is the workshop for you! The materials and activities presented in the workshop have successfully been used in grades K-12 even though they were specifically designed for grades 5-8. The materials can be used in cross-curricular activities and can relate to SOL's in geography, math, science, and English. All teachers, 4-H agents and informal educators are welcome to attend. ENROLL NOW!

Contact:

Dr. Marcus Comer

Extension Specialist
Agriculture and Natural Resources
804.524.5964
mcomer@vsu.edu

Virginia State University will host Fall Kids' Tech University program!

Hi Everyone,

We are excited to announce that Virginia State University will host their second annual Kids' Tech University program this fall. Please check out their new website here!! The VSU KTU program will also offer teacher workshops in conjunction to each program date!

The event dates will include Interactive Sessions by two world renown scientists:

Oct. 22, 2011 - “Patterns Are Everywhere! How And Why?” - Answered by Dr. Reinhard Laubenbacher

AND

Nov. 19, 2011 - "Why Is Antarctica So "Cool" To Geologists?" - Answered by Cristina Millan

See the VSU KTU website for registration information!

2011 Mathematics Centric Kids' Tech University Program!

At the Virginia Tech Kids' Tech University Jan. 30, 2011 KTU event, Dr. Reinhard Laubenbacher engaged the students in a discussion on “Patterns are Everywhere! How and Why?”. After this session children were escorted by their parents to have lunch and then to the hands-on portion of the event where the children participated in two activities. During one activity, "Dancing with the Stars: what's math got to do with it?", with co-instructor Prof. Cara Rawlings, Theater Arts Department children arranged dance movements in mathematical patterns in order to choreograph dance moves. See here for a Youtube video of the event! During the second hands-on activity children used mathematics principles to predict patterns, interact with the mathematics formulas and create beautiful fractals. These activities are the basis of the Kids' Tech University, Virtual World of Patterns website where children can make fractals, ask questions to Dr. Laubenbacher and play the "Game of Life" invented by John Conway, a Cambridge mathematician.

Virginia Tech KTU April 2011 program

We created an KTU exhibitor based video on the April 9, 2011, Kids' Tech University program. Check it out!! At this event, Dr. Helena Carvalho engaged the students in a discussion on “Why do we want to touch everything with our fingertips? And more ‘why’ questions about how our bodies communicate with the world.” See this KTU website for a list of the hands-on exhibitors that participated in the event that day.

"Our Green Future" High School program

In July Virginia Bioinformatics Institute hosted "Our Green Future" high school internship funded through the NSF Award Number IOS-0922747. The internship exposed students to the exciting fields of research in biology, plant pathology, the environment, climate and bioinformatics. This week-long program consisted of serval research activity labs, research-related tours and a discussion/lecture series by undergraduate students, graduate students and Virginia Tech faculty.

There will be another high school internship program in 2012; see the website around March 2012 for more information!

"Our Green Future" High School Interns

VBI welcomes Higher Achievement

Kids' Tech University is a program of all the K-12 outreach and education efforts of Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI).

VBI welcomes a Higher Achievement visit this week! These high schools students are traveling from Washington, DC to come to Virginia Tech and participate in a variety of activities and tours around campus. During their time at VBI the students will extract DNA from a strawberry (see why we do this activity- here!) and take a tour of the facility.

For more information on how to get connected with Virginia Tech Faculty, researchers and students, visit the KTU Faculty Network site!