Virginia Commonwealth University B.S. in Science Degree Program

The initiation of the Virginia Commonwealth University B.S. in Science program was reported in this journal Fall 1999 as a program designed to meet the academic content major of a teacher preparation program for elementary and middle school mathematics and science teachers [1]. This paper reports the current status of the interdisciplinary B.S. in Science degree program including program enrollment data and trends. Also described are refinements in the required curriculum, which include a newly developed geometry, a mathematical computing course, and an emerging teaching technology course featuring graphing calculators, CBLs, and computer software applications

Virginia Commonwealth University\u27s Program for K-6 and 6-8 Teachers: The Interdisciplinary B.S. in Science

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) has very recently revised its requirements for the K-6 Certification to include a total of 21 hours in mathematics and science as well as a three credit hour methods course in mathematics and science. This requirement includes a physical science and a biological science course, each with a laboratory component, a contemporary mathematics course with extensive student projects, collaborative work and applications, a statistics course and interdisciplinary science and mathematics course. We believe that as students complete these requirements they will meet the new State K-6 licensure requirements in all areas, with the exception of geometry. We are developing a new geometry course that we hope will be required of all future teachers. The challenge of preparing middle school teachers to teach mathematics and/or science is much more difficult. VCU has been preparing very few middle school teachers of mathematics and science. We typically averaged less than one middle school science teacher and less than one middle school mathematics teacher per year. This paper provides a description of our interdisciplinary degree in mathematics and science that appears to be attracting significant numbers of students with an interest in teaching mathematics and/or science at the middle school level

Cal Poly Space Project G-279

The Cal Poly Space Project is an effort on the part of several highly motivated students to deploy a space canister which will examine the effects of microgravity on electroplating and immiscible metals. The experiments will be controlled and monitored by a specialized triple redundancy system developed to defer the possible electronic errors due to uncontrollable factors such as photons from the Sun. With the finalization of the payload design and the near completion of the data control system, the integration phase of the project is anticipated to be completed and the project ready for launching by early 1987. It is hoped that the experiments will lead to new insights in space research and also prove profitable to industry

Mathematics Professional Development Workshop for Middle School Teachers: Concept Versus Memorization

This article includes professional development topics for middle school mathematics and science teachers from two week-long Urban Teacher Institutes. These Institutes were held at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College (JSRCC) and its partner institution, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), during the summers of 2007 and 2008, and were supported by a grant obtained by Dr. Harriet Morrison (JSRCC). Co-author Dr. Dewey Taylor directed the 2007 workshop, and both authors served as faculty leaders in both workshops. The workshops focused on teaching in an urban environment and community mapping (understanding the details of a certain locale to make the teacher more knowledgeable about the environments of both the students and the schools). The community mapping aspect of the workshops was led by Dr. Shirley Key of the University of Memphis. They featured content teaching and applications led by VCU faculty in mathematics, physics, forensics, engineering, mathematics education, and science education. This article focuses on the mathematics professional development strand in the workshop which featured conceptual learning with graphing calculator support as an alternative to the memorization of formulas

Capabilities and limitations of the Jicamarca radar as an MST radar

The Jicamarca radar (Long. 76.52W, Lat. 11.56S), located at 20 km from Lima at approximately 500 meters over sea level, is surrounded by mountains which provide a good shield from man-made interference. The radio horizon goes from a few hundred meters, across the dry valley where it is located, to 15 km, along the valley in the direction of the continental divide. This limits the clutter to 15 km, except for one high peak at 21 km. It is the most equatorial of all existing MST radars. Its proximity to the Andes, makes its location unique for the study of lee waves and orographic-induced turbulence. Vertical as well as horizontal projections of MST velocities are obtained by simultaneously pointing with different sections of the antenna into three or four different directions. The transmitters, receivers, and systems for data acquisition, processing, and control are included