FARNET Stories Project

51 Reasons to Invest in the National Information Infrastructure

story051.MS

Submitted by:

Julie B. Jordan
Computer Teacher
Mississippi School for Math & Science
P.O. Box W-1627
Columbus, MS 39701 USA

v: (601) 329-7360
f: (601) 329-7205
e: jjordan@msms.doe.k12.ms.us

Categories:

Education, K12

Keywords:

Innovative or improved ways of doing things; More equitable access to technology or electronic information; Creation of new ideas, products, or services; Technology transfer; Local commitment to network-based activities; Volunteer contributions of time and energy; Partnerships between public and private sector

Supporting Documentation (contact author for more information):

Video

The Story:

FARNET STORIES - MISSISSIPPI

During the summer of 1993, seven area high school teachers attended the Alabama HS Supercomputing Workshop. The NSF Engineering Research Center at Mississippi State funded their participation for the 2 week conference in Huntsville, AL.

The goal is to make master teachers of these seven and to hold the first annual Mississippi Academy of Computational Science and Supercomputing during the summer of 1994 at the NSF Engineering Research Center at Mississippi State University.

The goals of the Academy are; to bring computational science to life in our high schools; to train teachers to apply this science and the high tech tools involved; to make 'master' teachers who will then spread their knowledge around the state; to 'hook' as many students as possible on math, science and technology.

For the summer of 1994, the Academy will focus on teaching approximately 20 area high school teachers:

how to use the high performance computing systems available on the internet
how to apply high performance computing and computational science in their curriculum
how to use the resources on the internet to support these applications

The Internet is vital to the successful implementation of this program. The Internet will be used to connect participating teachers and students with each other, with mentors at Miss. State and elsewhere, and with the supercomputing resources needed to complete projects. To the participating schools, the spin-offs of having access to the Internet for this particular project are almost unlimited.

In order to participate, each school must commit to installing and supporting a data line (telephone line) in each teacher's classroom. If appropriate computer hardware is not available, the Academy is seeking funds from area industry to pay for hardware. Funding for the Academy is coming in part from the National Science Foundation, the Engineering Research Center at Miss. State University, and the Mississippi Center for Supercomputing Research at the University of Mississippi.

The 7 teacher participants for the summer of 1993 were:

Ms. Karen Scott : Columbus High School, West Columbus, MS

Ms. Pam Cox : Columbus High School, West Columbus, MS

Ms. Rissa Lawrence : Columbus High School, East Columbus,MS

Ms. Donna Johnigan : Starkville High School, Starkville, MS

Ms. Ellen Jordan : Columbus High School, West Columbus,MS

Mr. William Miles : West Point High West Point, MS

Other people involved include:

Dr. Jerry Rogers, Director of Education, NSF Research Center at Mississippi State University

Krista Vernon, Mississippi Center for Supercomputing Research at the University of Mississippi

High school superintendents and principals

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