The Nebraska Math and Science Summer Institutes closed out Summer 2023 with 20 courses, four of which were grant-funded, and welcomed 149 distinct graduate students to our programming.
The total number of registrations came to 246, with 187 of those in NMSSI courses that were not fully funded by grants in computer science education. Of the 149 graduate students taking courses, 124 were Nebraska teachers, while 11 were educators from outside of Nebraska.
Integrated STEM courses saw a comeback in Summer 2023 and were taught by Center for Science, Mathematics and Computer Education faculty. ASTR 892: Life in the Universe for STEM Teachers was back, this time as an online 5-week asynchronous course, taught again by Dr. Kevin Lee of the UNL Department of Physics and Astronomy and the CSMCE. Participant Adam Cribelli of Cambridge High School said he has list of new topics that he is going to utilize in his classroom this fall from ASTR 892, one example being the existence of extremophiles.
“The students will be curious about these creatures and that curiosity will serve as a strong foundation for a good lesson,” Cribelli said.
Math 893: Secondary-Integrated STEM was updated from previous iterations in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and co-taught in-person by Dr. Mindi Searls of the UNL Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and the CSMCE along with Cassie Seiboldt of Lincoln Public Schools. Together they brought the perspective of a college professor and a classroom teacher, which was appreciated by the participants.
“I loved the projects that I can take straight to my classroom, especially the roller coaster, build a band and balloon car,” said Joe Haschke of Lakeview High School. “I am excited to collaborate with some of the math teachers on a couple of projects I have in mind. This is one of the best grad classes I have taken.”
Fellowships totaling more than $52,000 were awarded to Nebraska teachers. The NMSSI 20% tuition discount totaled more than $20,000 in support for Nebraska teachers in eligible courses.
The NMSSI offered six courses via web conferencing (four in Math and two in TLTE); five in-person in Lincoln (two in Math, two in sciences, and one in TLTE); and five online asynchronous (three in Math, one in science, and 1 in TLTE). You can expect similar counts by course type in Summer 2024.
Join us online for either Math 810T: Algebra for Algebra Teachers or Math 811T: Functions for High School Teachers (see accompanying story in newsletters). After Spring 2024, our new online rotation of two Math courses per semester begins. See https://math.unl.edu/mat-schedule to learn more.
Thank you for your support of our courses this summer!
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Center for Science, Mathematics and Computer Education
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