2008 Summer Workshop
Teacher Information

Teachers are invited to attend the workshop along with their students and receive free graduate credit!

When is the course?
Teachers should plan to arrive on the K-State campus by 9:00 a.m. on July 8^th to allow time for room check-in and to attend the teachers’ opening session.

The EXCITE! workshop activities will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 and conclude with a recognition ceremony in the afternoon on Friday, July 11, 2008.

What is the workshop about?
The EXCITE! workshop is a four-day engineering, math, and science exploration event held on the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan, KS. It is designed for female students graduating from the 8th and 9th grades in May 2008.

 It will feature hands-on activities led by K-State faculty, as well as industry tours geared toward the eight tentative workshop tracks: Bio-Fuels, Computer Gaming Design, Designing Spaces, Green Roof Design, Nano-Scale Polymers, Robotics, Take Flight! and 24 Carat EXCITEment.

What is the teacher graduate course about?
A 1 credit-hour, graduate-level course will be offered for teachers through a seminar entitled EDCI 886: Engineering and Gender in the Classroom.  This course will be taught by Dr. Jacqueline Spears.

Dr. Spears is the Director for the Center for Science Education and a faculty member in Secondary Education.  Her undergraduate and Masters degree are both in Physics, and she has co-authored an introductory physics textbook.  She has, herself, been a high school teacher, and has taught a course on gender issues in education for eight years. 

There will be three main course components. First, there will be an overview of engineering majors as well as examples of how engineering contexts can be used in teaching science and math standards. Second, teachers will explore gender issues in science and math teaching as well as observe the student and faculty participants at EXCITE!. Teachers will have the opportunity to reflect on ways of incorporating engineering contexts and gender issues in their classrooms.

How do I get the course paid for?
All teachers participating in the workshop will be paid an honorarium of $275. Teachers are encouraged to apply the honorarium toward the tuition cost for the graduate credit, but are not required to do so.  The scholarships (see below) and honorarium have a potential combined value of $725! 

How do I get my students signed up for the scholarships?
Each participating teacher will receive a $150 scholarship for one female student from their high school to attend the workshop. If the teacher attending the workshop brings students that are Latina, 1^st generation or immigration decent they can receive three scholarships.

The scholarship recipients should be entering the 9^th or 10^th grade in the fall of 2008. 

When you register you will indicate the name(s) of the students you would like to receive the scholarship(s). The student(s) will have to complete the registration process no later than May 30th. Click here for more information about the student registration process.

Where will I stay during the workshop?
Arrangements will be made for teachers to stay in a K-State residence hall.  Program participants will be housed in dormitory rooms (single or double occupancy depending on your preference). 

All meals from lunch on Tuesday to lunch on Friday are included.  Snacks will be provided during the day and evenings.

Participants are responsible for their own transportation to and from
K-State.  Dormitories are within walking distance of on-campus activities; buses will be provided for transportation to the industry tours.

In the evening you will have the choice of attending activities with the girls or having some free time. Access to the K-State Recreation Complex will be available.

How do I register?
Registration is on a first-come, first-serve basis; applications received after the course is full will be added to a waiting list.  If cancellations are received by a reasonable date, substitutions will be made in the order in which the additional applications were received.

Once we receive your information, our office will be in touch with more information regarding your acceptance. You will be mailed a confirmation letter, maps, check-in information, and information about our online pre-workshop survey.  If you must cancel your registration, do so as soon as possible so that someone else can take your spot.

Click here to download a registration brochure

Registration deadline is May 30th
or until the course is full!

Quotes from past teacher participants

“I was impressed with how much the groups were able to accomplish in such a short time! Particularly noteworthy was the complexity of the projects and how much work the girls did!” 

“This was my first experience with the EXCITE! program. I brought a Hispanic girl who had never been on a college campus before. I asked her if she had the opportunity to come back again would she go, she emphatically said ‘Yes!’”.

Have any questions?

Contact Susan Arnold Christian at 785.532.3395 or susanac@ksu.edu
 

You must have Acrobat Reader in order to view and print all EXCITE! publications, follow the link below to download a free version of the program.