LAUNCH • PURDUE UNIVERSITY
FACULTY PROMOTIONS Nadine Dolby Professor, C&I
Ayse Çiftçi Associate Professor, EDST Levon Esters Associate Professor, C&I Carrie Wachter Morris Associate Professor, EDST Anatoli Rapoport Associate Professor, C&I Melanie Shoffner Associate Professor, C&I Aman Yadav Associate Professor, EDST Sarah Templin Clinical Assistant Professor, EDST
NEW FACULTY Jake Burdick Visiting Faculty, C&I Eric D. Deemer Assistant Professor, EDST Edward E. Eiler Visiting Assistant Professor, EDST Chantal Levesque-Bristol Director of the CIE, Professor, EDST Kristina Ayers Paul Assistant Professor, EDST Alberto J. Rodriguez Professor/Mary Endres Chair, C&I Victoria L. Walker Clinical Assistant Professor, C&I Sunnie L. Watson Clinical Assistant Professor, C&I
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SLED CONTINUES SUCCESS IN SECOND YEAR SLED, a National Science Foundation Math Science Partnership project that links Purdue with Indiana school districts, is focused on improving science learning in grades 3-6. Engineering design has been proven to be effective in teaching math and science at higher grade levels. This project explores what happens when it is introduced to students at earlier ages.
The project, now in its second year, is co-directed by Brenda Capobianco, associate professor of science education, and Alyssa Panitch, professor of biomedical engineering. The participating elementary schools are from the Lafayette, Tippecanoe, Taylor (Kokomo) and Plymouth school districts in Central Indiana. The curriculum will prepare science teachers to meet the requirements of new state and national standards that require elementary-aged students to understand and use engineering design concepts. According to Capobianco, “Our work will create Indiana’s first engineering design-based model for science teacher professional development at both the pre-service and in-service levels and an innovative, research-based program for using engineering design-based strategies.” This past summer teachers from the partner schools attended a 2-week institute on the Purdue campus. The teachers tested new classroom design activities developed by Purdue faculty and developed plans for implementing
THE SLED SUMMER WORKSHOP
the activities with their own students during the 2012-13 academic year. The SLED team is creating a hands-on way for students to learn science by making products to meet specific, realistic needs. For example, one project has students learning about composting as a way to enrich the soil in Haiti. Another activity has students designing mittens to learn about heat transference and insulation. The project is a dynamic combination of partners and resources. Current classroom teachers and Purdue student teachers are learning together the necessary science content and teaching skills. Once they return to their individual schools, participants are connected to resources and each other through an internet hub. Online presentations, courses, learning modules, teaching materials, and more for SLED projects are available online as part of STEMedhub at https://stemedhub.org/groups/sled. More information on SLED and the tools associated with the project can be found at: http://sled. mspnet.org.
DE OLIVEIRA WINS CATESOL AWARD FOR NEWEST BOOK Luciana de Oliveira, an associate professor of curriculum and instruction was awarded the David E. Eskey Award for Curriculum Innovation from the California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (CATESOL). She is director of the English Language Learning (ELL) Licensure Program at Purdue and recipient of the 2011 Outstanding Latino Faculty Award from Purdue’s Latino Cultural Center.
Her book, “Knowing and writing school history: The language of students’ expository writing and teachers’ expectations,” explores the language demands, typical writing requirements, and the language expectations of historical discourse. The book includes the results of a study that
looked at 8th and 11th grade language resources and the role of writing in school history. De Oliveira’s scholarship focuses on three strands: the teaching and learning of English Language Learners (ELLs) in the content areas; teacher education for ELLs, advocacy, and social justice; and nonnative English-speaking teachers.