CEHHS Participates in the DACTM/MDSTA Fall Conference

Elizabeth Morden

WARREN, MI - Elizabeth Morden staffed the College of Education, Health and Human Services (CEHHS) table at the 2016 Fall Conference for the Metropolitan Detroit Science Teachers Association (MDSTA) and the Detroit Area Council of Teachers of Mathematics (DACTM) on Saturday, November. 5, 2016.

The event was held at Cousino High School in Warren, MI. Liz greeted many area teachers and shared information on CEHHS graduate and doctoral programs. Several alumni stopped by the table to catch up on new program offerings including the STEM2 certificates.

LEO instructor Jeff Bouwman presented with David Bydlowski and Andy Henry, both from Wayne RESA on GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment ) Program in the Middle School Classroom.

David Bydlowski and CEHHS LEO Jeff Bouwman

 Jeff has been using GLOBE's activities which address scientific topics related to the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and soil/pedosphere with his middle school science students in the Gibraltar School District.

UMD Faculty and Students join Henry Ford Elementary for a Night of Engineering Fun

DEARBORN, MI - Professors Jeffrey Bouwman and Patricia Hartshorn from the UMD College of Education, Health, and Human Services participated on the third annual Family Engineering Night at Henry Ford Elementary in Dearborn on February 16, 2016 to show young students the hands-on fun of engineering.

More than 100 professors and their students from University of Michigan-Dearborn and Dearborn's Magnet Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Middle School turned out to staff two dozen stations.

Professor Hartshorn said this was the third year she brought some of her college students to help at this event. About 36 college students helped out. “It’s so much fun for the kids,” she said. “The mission is to get families engineering."

For professor Bouwman this was his first experience in this event and took along his STEM2 class, to help on the station for building parachutes. 

Professor Jeffrey Bouwman (wearing UM cap) and his students during
Family Engineering Night at Henry Ford Elementary

The challenge for the K-5 children was to construct a parachute that will float an action figure down from a second floor balcony. The children enjoyed building their own parachute and at the same time, they learned science concepts such as gravity, weight and time.

Professor Bouwman commented about this experience: “Simply put, Family Engineering Night at Henry Ford Elementary was awesome!  It was a great night of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics – STEM.  My EXPS 400/500 students and I had a blast working with some great students. Thank you to Professor Hartshorn and Henry Ford Elementary!”

Other stations included creating a boat to see how many pennies it would hold before sinking; stacking erasers on heavy paper supported by two cups to see how many of them the paper could hold and making mini windmills to learn about weather monitoring.

CEHHS Professor publishes a new book about STEM learning

Dr. Mesut Duran

DEARBORN, MI - Dr. Mesut Duran, Professor of Technology at the College of Education, Health, and Human Services, University of Michigan-Dearborn is the leading author of the recently released book, "STEM Learning: IT Integration and Collaborative Strategies".

 Springer publishing house, a leading global scientific, technical and medical publisher, made available the first edition of this book in both digital and printed format in December of 2015.

This book reports the results of a three-year research program funded by the National Science Foundation which targeted students and teachers from four Detroit high schools in order for them to learn, experience, and use IT within the context of STEM (IT/STEM), and explore 21st century career and educational pathways.

The book discusses the accomplishment of these goals through the creation of a Community of Designers-- an environment in which high school students and teachers, undergraduate/graduate student assistants, and STEM area faculty and industry experts worked together as a cohesive team. The program created four project-based design teams, one for each STEM area. Each team had access to two year-round IT/STEM enrichment experiences to create high-quality learning projects, strategies, and curriculum models. These strategies were applied in after school, weekend, and summer settings through hands-on, inquiry-based activities with a strong emphasis on non-traditional approaches to learning and understanding. The book represents the first comprehensive description and analysis of the research program and suggests a plan for future development and refinement.

Dr. Duran collaborated with Dr. Margret Hoft, UM-Dearborn's Professor emerita of Mathematics; Dr. Brahim Medjahed, Associate Professor at the UM-Dearborn's Department of Computer and Information Science; Dr. Daniel Lawson, Associate Professor at the UM-Dearborn's Department of Natural Science and Dr. Elsayed A. Orady, Professor of Manufacturing at the UM-Dearborn's Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems. They all came together to make this multidisciplinary book a reality. Dr. Tony England, Dean of College of Engineering and Computer Science wrote the book's Foreword.

To learn more about the authors and get a copy of the book, please click here.