278 STATEWIDE MATH, SCIENCE EDUCATION RESEARCH CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD AT MTSU

Release date: Feb. 21, 2007

Editorial contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
Center contacts: Dr. Ray Phillips and Dovie Kimmins, 615-904-8573


1st STATEWIDE MATH, SCIENCE EDUCATION RESEARCH CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD FEB. 22-23 AT MTSU’S TENNESSEE MILLER COLISEUM


(MURFREESBORO) — The Tennessee Mathematics, Science and Technology Education Center will hold its first statewide Mathematics and Science Education Research Conference Feb. 22-23 at Tennessee Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro, event organizers said recently.
About 70 math and science educators from Tennessee are expected to participate, said Drs. Ray Phillips and Dovie Kimmins, the respective director and assistant director of the math, science and technology education center.
According to Phillips and Kimmins, the conference’s purposes will raise participants’ awareness of the need to improve K-16 math and science education in the nation and particularly in Tennessee; to inform them of national initiatives to enhance math and science education and of funding sources; to facilitate and encourage more statewide collaboration in conducting research that could help improve K-16 math and science education in the state; and to provide a venue for state math and science educators to discuss current research projects.
Noted educators Robert Yager (University of Iowa), Mark Taylor (University of Tennessee-Knoxville), Leigh Abts (University of Maryland) and Cahit Erkal (UT-Martin) will be among the Thursday, Feb. 22, presenters.
Dr. Camilla Benbow, dean of the Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University, will be the speaker during dinner, which will be held from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel.
The Friday, Feb. 23, presenters at Tennessee Miller Coliseum will include Drs. Jim Lewis (University of Nebraska); Michael Rutledge, Ginger Rowell and Judith Iriarte-Gross (MTSU); Laura Novick (Vanderbilt); Wayne Stevenson (Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education); and John Haddock (University of Memphis).
U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, an MTSU alumnus who works to obtain federal funding for science and math programs in the Sixth Congressional district, will be the lunch speaker.
The Tennessee Space Grant Consortium and MTSU funded the conference.
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Media welcomed. Note: Conference agenda attached.
Mathematics and Science Education Research Conference Agenda

Thursday February 22
1:00-1:30 Registration Check-in (Miller Coliseum Club Room)
1:30 – 1:45 Welcome, Orientation
Dr. E. Ray Phillips, director, TMSTEC
Dr. Tom Cheatham, dean, MTSU College of Basic and Applied Sciences
1:45 – 2:30 Dr. Robert Yager, professor of science education, Univ. of Iowa
2:30 – 2:55 Dr. Mark Taylor, assistant professor of math education, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
2:55 – 3:05 Break
3:05 – 3:30 Drs. Ray Phillips, Mary Martin and Dovie Kimmins; TMSTEC
3:30 – 4:00 Dr. Leigh Abts, School of Education, University of Maryland4:00 – 4:30 Dr. Cahit Erkal, associate professor of Physics, UT-Martin
4:30 – 6:30 Break and travel to Doubletree Hotel
6:30 – 8:30 Dinner (Doubletree Hotel)
Welcome: Dr. Kaylene Gebert, provost and academic vice president, MTSU
Introduction of Speaker: Dr. Gloria Bonner, Dean of MTSU College of Education and Behavioral Sciences
Speaker: Dr. Camilla Benbow, Dean, Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University

Friday February 23
7:00 – 8:00 Breakfast (Miller Coliseum Club Room)
8:00 – 8:45 Dr. Jim Lewis, professor of mathematics, University of Nebraska
8:45 – 9:10 Dr. Michael Rutledge, Professor of Biology, MTSU
9:10 – 9:35 Dr. Laura Novick, associate professor of cognition and cognitive neuroscience, Vanderbilt University
9:35 – 9:50 Break
9:50 – 10:05 TBA
10:05 – 10:30 Dr. Wayne Stevenson, director of science and engineering education, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education
10:30 – 10:55 Dr. Ginger Rowell, Department of Mathematical Sciences, MTSU
10:55 – 11:25 Dr. John Haddock, professor of mathematics, Univ. of Memphis
11:25 - 11:40 Break
11:40 – 12:40 Lunch (Speaker – U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon
12:40 – 1:35 Networking
1:35 – 2:00 Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross, professor of chemistry, MTSU
2:00 – 2:15 Wrap