Building a Bridge between High Performance Computing and the School Classroom
Kris Stewart
Associate Professor, Math & Computer Sciences
San Diego State Univeristy
and
Computational Science Curriculum Coordinator
San Diego Supercomputer Center
Ernest L. Boyer Technology Summit for Educators
Los Angeles CA
April 25-26, 1997
NOTE: these pages updated 8/15/98 to reflect step.sdsc.edu new host
for STEP home page
Sponsored by:
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Hosted by:
California State University
EC^2, the Annenberg Incubator Project at USC
KCET
This URL is stewart.sdsu.edu/ernestboyer/ updated 18May2023
Note: there are many links contained in this page but the hard
copy being distributed at the Summit does not have them underlined,
because they are distracting.
When you use your browser with the URL above, the links will be
distinguishable.
Background
Dr. Cheryl Lampe of the CSU Chancellor Academic Planning Office
invited Dr. Stewart to participate in the
Ernest Boyer Technology Summit due to her work with
high school science and math teachers in
San Diego county.
An article in SDSCwire gives
(a) background on this summit and
(b) Stewart's presentation.
Kris then invited Rose McKeon of SDSC to join her
to present the
SDSC Science Discovery Web Site.
Technology and Teacher Education
Dr. Kris Stewart
will give an interactive demonstration of materials
from the NSF funded
STEP
Supercomputer Teacher Enhancement
Program (STEP).
Last year, Stewart was invited to Washington, D.C. for the induction of
STEP into the
Smithsonian Institution's Permanent Research Collection on Information,
Technology and Society, in the Education and Academia Division.
STEP provided in-service preparation in computational science for teams of
secondary science and math teachers from twenty schools in San Diego
County. The program built on tools available
in the typical high school classroom. Beginning in 1991, extensive use
of the Internet to augment the learning environment in the classroom
has been successfully implemented, as evidenced by the Smithsonian
achievement mentioned above and the individual work of the teachers
participating in STEP.
Stewart led the program at its inception in 1991 and designed the
first three years of summer workshops to construct a solid bridge
between the High Performance Computing facilities at the
San Diego Supercomputer Center
and the varied (and evolving)
levels of technology in the individual school classroom.
A solid team of teachers emerged who were confident in their skills
to innovate and make a difference for their students and their peers.
Lessons were
learned by all.
The interactive Web Page work from 1995 and 1996 is due to Dr. Don Anderson
of the University of California, San Diego.
UCSD is the campus where the SDSC is located.
Using the Web in High
School Science & Math Education (1995) and follow the on workshop
in 1996 are
excellent places to start learning about this evolving technology.
Stewart will work dynamically from the home pages developed by
some of the teachers in the STEP program. From the recent April 12, 1997,
Academic Year meeting a sampling was selected. This presentation is
a subset of the extensive research done by this fantastic
group of teachers. Please stay tuned to the
STEP home page.
A Recent Snapshot of STEPpers Innovations (4/24/97)
Rose McKeon is an artist who has worked with the scientists at
the SDSC to produce a web site,
Science
Discovery, which uses chemistry,
biology and environmental science examples to define the broad scope
of computational science and scientific visualization. Science
Discovery promotes an understanding of the exciting possibilities
of computational science to a wide audience, including teachers,
students and parents.