How do you interest teenagers in a career in math, science or engineering when the big issues of their day are getting to school, having a good hair day and eating? Develop high school math and science lessons about riding the bus, taking a good, hot shower, and eating Grandma’s favorite recipe.

Participants in the recent Math and Science Institute, from left, Jackson County High math teacher Donna Tucker, and Upperman High math teachers Cheryl Rodgers and Cindy Grissom.

That’s the tactic our faculty are sharing with more than 50 Upper Cumberland middle and high school teachers through the Math and Science Partnership Grant Institute. Funded at almost $1 million, the inaugural institute aims to help create excitement and promote insight in students studying physical science, chemistry, physics, algebra and trigonometry.

“I don’t see what else you could do to make this event any more helpful or educational,” says Cheryl Rodgers, Upperman High School’s math department chairperson who attended the two-week seminar. “I’m so pleased that we have a workshop of this caliber in our own back yard now."

Rodgers and other participants spent two weeks attending dozens of sessions with titles such as “Jumping out of Bed,” “A Good, Hot Shower,” “Grandma’s Bread is Best,” and “Rollercoaster — the Best Way to Get to School.” The theme serves to illustrate how science, math and engineering relate to the elements of a student’s day.

“Everything we do on a daily level can be applied in some manner in a science lesson,” says Anna Bryant, an institute master teacher and chemistry teacher at Cumberland County High School. “This is the best way to introduce our students to careers and possibilities. They need experience and references to how this affects their everyday lives.”

For instance, in the “A Good, Hot Shower” session, Chemical Engineering Professor Joe Biernacki coached teams of teachers in creating their own brand of liquid soap from a list of standard ingredients used in popular brands. He challenged them to think like corporate research and development teams to produce a product different than what exists, but one that still meets certain restraints, including cost, performance, safety and environmental criteria.

In another session, Mechanical Engineering Professor Stephen Canfield, a self-professed rollercoaster lover, stretched teachers’ imaginations and taught lessons about energy and motion using a lime-green, plastic toy rollercoaster.

And teachers loved the free classroom equipment they learned to use. Each participant received a calculator and a vernier, a sensor device with multiple attachments that collects data, which can be loaded into the calculator or computer. The usefulness of the equipment, valued at about $700 a set, has teachers looking forward to getting back to school to use them.

“Most schools do not have the money or technology budgets to buy this type of equipment,” says Bryant.

“Money is the big issue when it comes to equipment, but the knowledge we’ve gained about how to use it is an encouragement for us to apply for grants that will allow all our students to have the right equipment,” says Rodgers.

While the topics are fun, the stakes are serious. Roy Loutzenheiser, associate dean for Basic Engineering, anticipates that this program may be used as a model by the U.S. Department of Education to set standards for 7-12 grade science education.

“Ultimately, we’ll measure our success by the grades students make on standardized state tests,” says Loutzenheiser, who also serves as MSP project director.

Benchmarks that institute organizers will analyze include area students’ ACT and Gateway scores. They also will keep track of the number of Upper Cumberland students who enroll in engineering, math and science fields at TTU.

Maggie Phelps, director of our new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Center, serves as the local evaluator of the program and was vital in its implementation with partner counties, which include Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb, Fentress, Grundy, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Smith, Van Buren, Warren, and White, as well as York Institute. Other master teachers include Virginia Mayfield of Monterey, Nancy McNeal of Warren County and Bethany Stephens of Cookeville High; Ellen Wolfe is project liaison.

In addition to equipment, the grant provides a stipend for each participant and offers events beyond the summer institute, including classroom visits by our engineering faculty to partner schools.