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CTS
Progress Report:
Meeting
#1, January 15, 2002, Granada Hills High School ~ Room C-5:
Participants:
Henry Abrash, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, CSUN
Edward J. Carroll, Ph.D., Dean CSUN School of Science and Math
Sandra L. Jewett, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, CSUN
Omar Zahir, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, CSUN
Izzy I. Goodman, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, Los Angeles
Pierce College
Judie Flint Baumwirt, Granada Hills High School/CSUN MST
Magnet
Debbie Bennett, Canoga Park High School
Gary Bowen, El Camino Real High School
Mark Dreben, Verdugo Hills High School
Brandon Duran, Valley Alternative Magnet High School
Myrna Fleming, Birmingham High School
Susana Halpine, Artist Biochemist, Candle Light Productions
Dave Kukla, North Holly HS/Van Nuys MST
Bill Lee, Granada Hills High School
Diana Mendez, Verdugo Hills High School
Lourdes Quevedo, San Fernando High School
Haigo Salibian, Granada Hills High School
Mary Stepter, Monroe High School
Bruce Towar, Sylmar High School
Jody Westernoff, Canoga Park High School
Lisa Yiu, Granada Hills High School
Following
introductions of CSUN Professors Jewett, Abrash and Zahir a
special welcome was extended to Dr. Edward Carroll, Dean
of the School of Science and Math and Dr. Izzy Goodman from Los
Angeles Pierce College. A short explanation of the
organization and support of the group led to a description of
the progress we have made over the past few weeks.
CSUN
Student Volunteers for High School Chemistry Lab Preparation:
Dr. Jewett discussed the status of the CSUN Student Volunteers
for High School Chemistry Lab Assistance and reported that one
undergraduate student has applied for the CSUN 499 Chemistry
course. This class provides credit to the student for
their assistance to high school teachers. The student has
been in contact with Judie Baumwirt and will begin making
arrangements for assistance in the Spring semester.
Chemistry
Teacher Laboratory Training Workshops:
In response to the identified need for laboratory and safety
training of chemistry teachers, the status of CSUN's hosting of
the Flinn Scientific Summer Chemistry Workshop Series was
discussed in detail. Funding to bring the week-long
Workshop to our area had been provided for by Stephen
Oppenheimer of the California Science Project as well as the
CSUN School of Science and Math. Flinn
Scientific has arranged to hold ten of the possible 40
spots open for placement of LAUSD Teachers. Funding for
their registration in the amount of $250 each may be provided by
the Office of Instruction at the Downtown LAUSD Office if their
individual school funding is insufficient. Any LAUSD
teacher unable to cover these expenses should contact Judie
Baumwirt at cts@csun.edu for
further information and application for assistance.
Applications are currently available online at http://www.flinnsci.com.
AP
Chemistry Student Laboratory Workshops:
In
that it was not possible to hold student AP Chemistry labs
during Winter Intercession at CSUN, Dr. Izzy Goodman of LA
Pierce College has volunteered to offer several Saturday
laboratory experiences to complete some of the required AP
Chemistry laboratory experiments. Dr. Debbie Bennett of
Canoga Park High School will be making arrangements with Dr.
Goodman to host and offer these labs. Students will be
meeting at L.A. Pierce College on selected Saturdays prior to
the AP Exams in May and will receive one college credit for their
completed laboratories. For more information, please
contact Dr. Debbie Bennett at dbenn01@netscape.net.
She and Dr. Goodman will be making all arrangements for the
dates and selection of laboratories to be offered.
Use
of Technology in the Classroom:
Judie Baumwirt and Bill Lee presented some of the uses of
technology integrated into chemistry instruction at Granada
Hills High School. Web-based homework and parent
communication resources, tutorials, and other free web-based
assistance was demonstrated along with a presentation of the
Classroom Performance System (CPS) available from eInstruction.
Participants were entertained by the use of this instant
assessment tool, an interactive IR response system which records
each student's answer and displays results in a variety of
formats. The system will be available for check-out for
two-week trial periods. Please contact jbaumwirt@aol.com
. For more information regarding this system go to http://www.einstruction.com.
Mr. Lee demonstrated the use of a class set of laptops in
conjunction with Vernier software, student probe data
collection, graphing and data manipulation. Details of
costs, availability, District requirements and possible funding
sources were also discussed.
Laboratory
Safety and the Classroom:
Debbie Bennett discussed the fact that chemistry teachers are
not privy to notification of pregnancy of chemistry
students. She stated that this is a District policy that
should be challenged in the best interest of students to protect
them from chemical exposure. By consensus we agreed that
this issue should be addressed in a letter from the CSUN Support
Group to LAUSD. Subsequently, Susana Halpine submitted
website links for student information and real life applications
of Good Laboratory Practices(GLP) which may be accessed now on
the Web site Resource Page.
Benchmark
Laboratory Experiments and Activities Project:
Dave Kukla continued leading the discussion on
identifying specific standards-based labs, pre and post
activities that should be developed into pre-packaged class set
kits for use by new teachers and make available through the
District and possibly LAUSP. Labs in four specific areas
were identified: 1) Measurement/Density 2)
Ions/Conductivity/Precipitation
3) Stoichiometry/Moles and 4) Physical and
Chemical Properties/Gases. All participants are requested
to submit (send to cts@csun.edu)
possible labs in these areas prior to the next meeting for
duplication and review by the group. Any available pre and post
lab materials supporting these areas are also requested.
It is the desire of this group to identify and develop a minimum
of 3-4 labs for classroom kits which will be made available
for immediate use by new teachers for Fall 2002.
Review of Pre-Packaged,
Commercially Available Lab Kits:
It was suggested that a new link be developed on the CTS website
that would allow chemistry teachers to log on and submit reviews
of pre-packaged commercially available lab kits. In this
way other teacher can determine whether or not these kits are
suitable for their student audience and practical for
purchase. (The link is now available at: http://www.csun.edu/~cheteach.)
Establishment of a High
School Chemistry Listserv:
The establishment of a high school chemistry listserv, sponsored
by the CSUN Chemistry Teacher Support Group is now up and
running. Potential participants can send an email to majordomo@csun.edu,
put nothing in the subject line and enter in the body of the
message: HSChem-L subscribe. Once registered
in this manner, participants can send email to HSChem-L@csun.edu
to post questions and concerns to other high school chemistry
teachers. This is an email listserv and has no "digest
mode" capabilities at this time. The listserv
was established specifically for high school chemistry teachers
and is not intended to compete with the ChemEd-L or the apchem-L
in any way as the student audience, requirements and resources
are extremely different. (note: As of January 22nd,
142 individuals have subscribed to this listserv.)
Next
Meeting:
No high school representative present was prepared to host
the next meeting due to the proximity of the next meeting date
to Fall Final Exams. Dr. Edward Carroll generously offered
a conference room at CSUN for the next meeting. The next
meeting of the CSUN Chemistry Teacher Support Group will be
Wednesday, February 6th at 4:30 pm at California State
University, Northridge. Specific meeting location, room
and parking arrangements will be included in the notifications
via email, website and through school mail.
____________________________________________
Meeting
#2, February 6, 2002, CSUN Science
2,
Conference Room 2131:
Participants:
Edward J. Carroll, Jr., Ph.D., Dean, CSUN School of
Science and Math
Henry Abrash, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, CSUN
Sandra Jewett, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, CSUN
Judie Baumwirt, Granada Hills High School
Debbie Bennett, Ph.D., Canoga Park High School
Gary Bowen, El Camino Real High School
Mark Dreben, Verdugo Hills High School
Ginger Ferguson, CSUN
Myrna Fleming, Birmingham High School
Marie Kazanjian, Holy Martyrs High School
Marixa Pleitez, Francis Polytechnic High School
Louise Laden, CSUN
Bill Lee. Granada Hills, High School
Lourdes Quevedo, San Fernando High School
Haygo Salibian, Granada Hills High School
Barbara Sitzman, Chatsworth High School
Mahesh Sood, Grant High School
Sarah Vos, Hoover High School
Lisa Yiu, Granada Hills High School
In
opening the meeting, each attendee introduced themselves
identifying their association with a local educational
institution. Special acknowledgement was made to CSUN Professors Jewett,
and Abrash, and to Dr. Edward J. Carroll, Dean
of the School of Science and Math in appreciation of their
attendance. A short explanation of the
organization and support of the group led to a description of
the vision
and potential to service the needs of local chemistry teachers.
Eisenhower
Research Fellowships at CSUN:
Updates:
Flinn
Scientific Chemistry Workshop hosted by CSUN August 12-16,
2002:
LAUSD
Salary Points and Needs-based Scholarships available to
attend the workshop:
Support
Group Website and Listserv Update:
Equipment
Donations and Surplus Available for Local HS Chemistry
Classes:
Saturday
AP Chemistry Lab Opportunities at Los Angeles Pierce
College:
Collaborative
Focus - Standards-Based Lab Activities and Experiments:
CSUN
Summer High School Laboratory Internships:
Reactivation
of the Southern California Association of Chemistry Teachers:
Next
Meeting Scheduled for Wednesday, March 13, 2002 at CSUN in
Science 2, Lab Room Sc#2328 at 4:30 p.m.
____________________________________________
Meeting
#3, March 13, 2002, CSUN Science Laboratory
2328:
Participants:
Henry Abrash, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, CSUN
Sandra Jewett, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, CSUN
Omar Zahir, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, CSUN
Judie Baumwirt, Granada Hills High School
Debbie Bennett, Ph.D., Canoga Park High School
Marie Kazanjian, Holy Martyrs High School
Dave Kukla, North Hollywood High School
Marixa Pleitez, Francis Polytechnic High School
Louise Laden, CSUN
Richard Moore, Monroe High School
Lourdes Quevedo, San Fernando High School
Haygo Salibian, Granada Hills High School
Barbara Sitzman, Chatsworth High School
Mary Stepter, Monroe High School
In
opening the meeting, each attendee introduced themselves
identifying their association with a local educational
institution. Special acknowledgement was made to
CSUN Professors Jewett,
Abrash, and Zahir in appreciation of their attendance and
participation. A short explanation of the
organization and support of the group led to a description of
the vision
and potential to service the needs of local chemistry teachers.
Eisenhower
Research Fellowships at CSUN:
Updates:
Flinn
Scientific Chemistry Workshop hosted by CSUN August 12-16,
2002:
Mini Med has donated $2000 to support the opening brunch and
closing dinner for this week-long event. Flinn has
notified us that five LAUSD teachers are currently registered to
attend the August Workshop.
LAUSD
Salary Points and Needs-based Scholarships available to
attend the workshop:
Dave Kukla was consulted on the current discussion to
include LAUSD as a co-sponsor of this group. It is
important to make a political decision that will allow us
freedom yet protection under the umbrella of LAUSD's
resources. It was discussed that this is a CSUN Community
Outreach Project and that it is working in collaboration or in
cooperation with a variety of other community resources and
district personnel. Dave Kukla will run this by Don Kawano
of LAUSD for clarification of what is needed by the District in
specific wording of our relationship to go forward on the
granting of one salary point for every 30 hours of participation
in the CSUN Chemistry Teacher Support Group and its many
projects.
Support
Group Website and Listserv Update:
The current membership of the listserv is 296
participants. An information conversation with Dr. Edward
Carroll has lead to writing of a formal request to urge CSUN to
adopt new software to allow for participants to exercise a
"digest mode" option on the listserv. Dr.
Carroll will support our request.
The
website is still evolving and new glitches in its operation do
occasionally occur. It was requested that participants
notify the Project Director if they observe any portion of the
site operating improperly.
Laboratory
Safety and the Classroom:
Discussion again centered on the lack of training in safety and
laboratory procedures within the credential program. It
was suggested that the Flinn Scientific Safety Video which was
recently purchased by Granada Hills High School be circulated
among group members through school mail to begin an effort to
share resources.
The
mentor teacher program within LAUSD was also discussed and
feedback showed that most onsite Mentors were not assisting the
first year chemistry teachers effectively. It was
suggested that we group members consider forming a
"buddy" support system among veteran teachers and
newly placed teachers specifically within our own local
chemistry support group. We will continue to pursue this
idea at our next meeting and consider pairing up teachers for
greater support and resource sharing.
Equipment
Donations and Surplus Available for Local HS Chemistry
Classes: Participants were urged to post their
equipment and other needs as well as excess and surplus supplies
and equipment on the website for possible donations and
sharing. One of the participants mentioned that they did
not have an analytic balance... be sure to post these
needs!
Saturday
AP Chemistry Lab Opportunities at Los Angeles Pierce
College: Dr. Bennett reported that the first
laboratory meeting of AP Chemistry students at LA Pierce College
was a complete success and a very valuable experience for the
students. LA Pierce College has been extremely cooperative
and encouraging with the project which will continue with three
more laboratory sessions. Debbie Bennett and Barbara
Sitzman were asked to provide a formal feedback from all parties
involved for support of future cooperative programs with LA
Pierce College as well as other local community colleges.
Collaborative
Focus - Standards-Based Lab Activities and Experiments:
Participants brought a variety of laboratory experiments for
review in the four areas we have designated at past
meetings. All materials are being reproduced by CSUN and
will be circulated in school mail next week for review. It
is hoped that pre and post lab activities, real life
applications, rubrics, assessments and auxiliary support
materials will be generated for inclusion in the four final
working laboratory kits that will be developed within groups at
our subsequent meetings. A full lesson plan template will
be provided to the group that will be utilized for all four
laboratory kits for continuity and use as benchmark assignment
work-ups.
CSUN
Summer High School Laboratory Internships: Currently
Judie Baumwirt has two excellent students assigned to
participate in summer internships. Michael Miller will be
working with Dr. Medh and Peter Haderlein will be working with
Dr. Abrash.
Reactivation
of the Southern California Association of Chemistry Teachers:
At present no response has been received from past CACT
officers from previous emails sent.
Next
Meeting In a continued interest to visit local schools
within the San Fernando Valley, the next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday,
April 17, 2002 at Canoga Park High School at 4:30 p.m.
NOTE:
Due to consistent Scheduling Conflicts no further meetings were
scheduled for the remainder of the school year.
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