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IN THIS ISSUE Newsletter/Publications Newsletter: Publications:
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Partnership
News New
Teacher Dinner Club For the past two school years STEMTEC has been sponsoring this teachers group for first, second and third year math and science teachers as well as interested elementary teachers. The group has been led by two veteran teachers, former STEMTEC Teaching Scholar and current Amherst sixth grade teacher Maury Bohan and Hatfield secondary science teacher Emily Case. Originally slated to meet once a month, demand from the participants pushed the meetings to every three weeks. New teachers are welcome to attend these free meetings and although there is an agenda for each meeting, time is always reserved for topics of current need. Agenda items have included issues such as rubrics, classroom management, classroom organization, MCAS preparation, lesson planning, resources and dealing with administration and parents. The new teachers always seem to enjoy general shoptalk over dinner. Teachers have come from schools in Springfield, Palmer, Pioneer Valley High School, Quabbin Regional, Greenfield, Hampshire Regional, Frontier Regional, Amherst Regional, Hadley, Great Falls Middle School, West Springfield, Holyoke, Pathfinder Regional, Wilbraham and Smith Academy. Meetings
are held at the Five College Center in Amherst. Meeting dates are
set for Thursdays January 9 and 30, February 27, March 20, April
10 and May 8 and begin at 6pm. For more information on this group
contact Bill Tyler at wtyler@umass12k.net
or 545-0626. Sponsored by STEMTEC (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics Teacher Education Collaborative) What
do teachers think of this club? "The New Teachers Club has been a strong support for me in my first years of teaching science. It immediately filled the need of sharing with peers. Opportunities for questions, complaints and new information on practical curriculum, classroom resources, and administrative insights were priceless. On the tough days it is nice to know that others are going through some of these experiences or can advise as they have been there before. " "An additional valuable benefit has been attending seminars on content and on issues on a space available basis. As many of the workshops were smaller than the average college classes, the answers to queries and the hands-on experiences were terrific. The Five Colleges and related education groups provided superlative teachers and materials, not available even in the larger city of Springfield." "The New Teacher Meetings are a lifeline for me. Being able to commiserate with other teachers that are in the exact same situation is supportive in ways that no other program can provide." "I left with ideas to implement in the classroom after almost every meeting." "This is a great place to bounce ideas off people and to come up with new ideas." "This is a safe place to share." "The people here inspire me to be the best teacher I can be." "I have always gone away from these meeting emotionally recharged." Research Opportunity for Science Teachers Interdisciplinary study of Acid Mine Drainage Science teachers are being sought to participate in the following NSF-funded research project as part of a graduate program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. This opportunity is open to middle and high school science teachers. Teachers will enroll in either a master's degree or CAGS (certificate of advanced graduate standing) program at UMass. The program will help teachers fulfill the new Massachusetts requirements for "Professional Licensure," which replaces the Standard Certificate. Teachers will participate in on-going research projects supervised by science or engineering faculty as a major component of their requirements. Research opportunities will include laboratory studies, field work, or computer modeling. In order to provide time for an introduction to the research project and follow-up, teachers will need to make the following commitment:
UMass faculty involved include Prof. Richard Yuretich (Geosciences), Profs. David Ahlfeld and Sarina Ergas (Environmental Engineering), and Prof. Klaus Nusslein (Microbiology). For more information contact: Prof. Allan Feldman School of Education University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003. 413 545-1570 Biogeochemistry of Fe\(III\) and sulfate reduction in extreme
acidic environments A field study site has been established along the outflow of Davis Mine, a long-abandoned pyrite mine in western Massachusetts. Changes in hydrology and geochemistry of the stream and groundwater will be monitored as a function of distance from the AMD source. Core samples from the stream and surrounding aquifer will be used for laboratory studies of community analysis and enrichment cultures. Community structure will be examined at three levels: (1) anaerobic microorganisms will be identified by sequencing, (2) Fe(III) and sulfate-reducing community members will be identified from functional genes by using specific primer pairs for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (3) the metabolic potential of iron- and sulfate-reducing acidophiles will be assayed by designing primers for quantitative PCR that are unique for specific functional genes. Other sediment samples will be inoculated with these microbial communities to document the electron donors supporting the iron-and sulfate-reducing bacteria, and to determine the nutrients that limit the proliferation of these organisms. Data from the laboratory will provide valuable information on the diversity, distribution, and activity of microorganisms catalyzing iron and sulfate reduction. Additional experiments will involve in situ microcosms and laboratory columns to link the microbiological analyses to the field studies and modeling. Kinetic coefficients will be estimated and integrated into a predictive model that will evaluate both the biological and physico-chemical contributions to AMD attenuation. International collaboration will enable comparisons with similar mines in the U.K.
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