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The
Infinity Project Newsletter
January 2005 : Volume 3 - Issue
1
The Year In Review
By Tammy Richards
Executive Director, The Infinity Project
The start of a New Year gives us a chance to look back on
what we have accomplished and glance forward to what more
we can still achieve. Reflecting on the year that was 2004
for the Infinity Project, I am extremely pleased with the
results we accomplished.
• We were able to add 49 new Infinity Project schools. In
total, 121 schools in 25 states have adopted The Infinity
Project.
•
In addition, we conducted six Professional Development Institutes that helped
to train 83 teachers in how to better teach students math, science and engineering.
• Our organization worked diligently to develop a Daily
Lesson Plan Manual and published a Student Lab Manual to
enhance the impact The Infinity Project curriculum has
in the classroom on a daily basis.
• We initiated a student assessment survey aimed at
giving us a way to measure the impact The Infinity Project
is making on student achievement.
• We also created an Infinity Project awareness campaign
that is spreading the word about the program throughout the
United States.
Needless to say, 2004 was a very busy year for us and
the new year is filled with even more promise as
we continue to expand our reach and support of The Infinity
Project.
2005 will mark the fifth anniversary of the Infinity Project.
Looking ahead, we have more to achieve to better prepare
today's high school students for the future. Together,
we can provide students with broader career options by enhancing
their math, science, and engineering education.
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Infinity In Ireland
 An
interview with Michael Tully
Learning & Teaching Coordinator
Dublin Institute of Technology
The Infinity Project has now reached well beyond the borders
of the United States to the shores of the Emerald Isle after
the School of Electronic and Communications Engineering at
the Dublin Institute of Technology recently decided to adopt
the program.
The DIT, the largest third level institute of higher learning in Ireland,
is home to about 24,000 students. But even with such a large student population,
DIT leaders have faced the problem of a high attrition rate, up to 50 percent,
within its ranks of freshmen engineering students.
To combat that challenge, DIT spearheaded an effort lead by the school's
Learning & Teaching Coordinator, Michael Tully, to begin looking for
answers to their retention problems. That is when its leaders were introduced
to The Infinity Project.
'
There was a brief reference to it in some publication. On further investigation
it became obvious to me that Infinity was something we could use to great
advantage in Ireland,' Tully says. 'I wrote to Tammy Richards, as
Executive Director of Infinity, and explained our plight.'
According to Tully, his school's plight included the realization
something had to be done to increase the number of highly skilled
engineering students entering the workforce. Those engineers
were needed to support the numerous U.S.-based high tech companies
like Dell, Intel, Hewlett Packard, Analogue Devices and Motorola
that had all invested heavily in Ireland over the past several
decades.
'
Intel alone has invested several billion dollars,' Tully says. 'In
the mid-90s Ireland had a considerable highly trained work force which was
available to support these U.S. industries. However, as recruitment into
engineering, especially electronic engineering, has declined in the past
five years Ireland now finds itself in a situation where it is no longer
able to supply enough graduates to these industries.'
'
Tammy was very supportive of my plan to introduce Infinity into Ireland and
gave me every help and support,' he says. By Easter 2004, both Tully
and the Head of School, Dr. Gerald Farrell, had become deeply familiar with
Infinity's materials and were anxious to introduce it to their school's
freshmen students. But Tully says that would merely be the first action in
a plan to have 'Infinity running in the freshman year of all relevant programs
in the DIT as a first step and ultimately to have Infinity implemented in
all high schools throughout Ireland.'
In Ireland, the management of the high school system differs
greatly from that in the U.S., with all schools, both state
and private, under the direction of the Dublin-based Department
of Education and Science. According to Tully, around the
age of 15 students begin what is termed a 'transition year' where
they are allowed to select courses from various fields like
art, science and business so that they may make an informed
decision as to what field they would like to concentrate
their study in during their final two years of high school.
Tully and DIT saw these 'transition' high school
students as perfect targets for their use of Infinity in
order to attract more students to the field of engineering.
'
I approached the Minister's office in the Department of Education and Science
in June to make them aware of Infinity and to explain how it could be incorporated
into transition year. During the months of summer, officials in the department
considered my plan and in September I was given a positive response by them,' he
says.
But before the program finds a home in all 550 high schools
in Ireland, Tully says he and DIT must first prove the merits
of Infinity to the Department of Education and Science before
it can be introduced to high school students nationwide.
That will be achieved by running a pilot Infinity program
in several high schools as a test case.
 'The
strategy is to run the pilot in at least five high schools
which are located near the college,' Tully says. 'The
teachers will attend the college two evenings per week until
they are in a position to teach Infinity to their own students.' Tully
expects to begin training the high school teachers some time
early this year.
He was able to glean more insight into how the program can
be implemented after a visit to the SMU School of Engineering,
which hosts the Infinity Project, in October 2004. On
his return to the DIT a temporary 'Infinity' laboratory
was equipped in his school and has since been used on a daily
basis for all of the school's programs. A more permanent
laboratory is under way and DIT expects it to be ready by
late February 2005. In the meantime, some of the curriculum
which has been formerly taught as part of courses such as
Computer Systems has been replaced with Infinity.
'
The President of DIT, Prof. Brian Norton, and the Dean of Engineering,
Dr. Mike Murphy, are anxious that Infinity be implemented across
the whole Faculty of Engineering, which has 2,500 full-time
and 5,000 part-time students,' Tully says.
Initial student reaction to the changed curriculum has been
extremely positive. 'Some of the student comments are, 'I
like sine waves,' 'finally there is a program that shows
the fun side to engineering,' and '(it) makes learning
electronics easy and interesting,'' Tully says.
With what DIT has done with Infinity already, word has already
begun to spread. Tully says 'a number of representatives
of state or semi-state bodies have already been given demonstrations
of Infinity. Some of these bodies, such as Discovering Science
and Engineering, Enterprise Ireland, and the Irish branch
of the Institute of Electrical Engineers are very impressed
and we hope to get funding for the pilot in February.
Tully recently presented The Infinity Project to the Institution of Engineers
of Ireland. "They have fully endorsed the Project and are to write
about it in their journal. They also promised to include Infinity in
a national exhibition on engineering next October. I see a great future
for Infinity in Ireland. Through it, I hope to add another dimenson
to the teaching of engineering and to the application of math and science
in our schools and colleges."
Editors Note: This article was composed entirely from comments made by Michael
Tully in an e-mail exchange with officials from the Infinity Project.
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Robotics Championship A Big Success
 By
Dianna L. Rey
Director of Academic Relations, The Infinity Project
Sixty schools from five states converged on the campus of Southern
Methodist University for the Texas BEST Regional Championship
November 11 ' 13. Over 2,500 middle and high school
students throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and
New Mexico competed as part of the Boosting Engineering, Science,
and Technology (BEST) event. It was the first time the
SMU School of Engineering hosted the Olympic-style robotics
championship.
BEST participants are given six weeks to design, build,
and test a radio controlled robot. Engineers and other
technical professionals serve as mentors for each team. Students
go on to compete locally against other teams with competition
winners advancing to one of two regional play-off events for
BEST Robotics, Inc. Winners advancing to the Texas BEST
Regional Championship went head to head with other teams in
a game of strategy, speed, and skill. The enthusiasm
of the students, teachers, and spectators as they watched teams
battle it out for the best of the BEST was infectious. Participation
in the event went a long way to spark the interest of today's
young minds in engineering and science.
Several of the schools advancing to the championship utilize
The Infinity Project curriculum and credit it for their team's
success at Texas BEST.
Doug Rummel of St. Mark's School of Texas helped write
the Infinity curriculum in 2001. St. Mark's has been
participating in BEST for four years. With Infinity
as the foundation of his teaching, Rummel states 'It was
fairly easy to take the curriculum and apply it to the robotics
competition. My entire engineering class works on BEST. We
start off with chapter one in Engineering Our Digital
Future and review the engineering design process. Students
then apply this process and approach to the robotic design. My
goal is to get them to move from solving problems as artisans
(let's try and see if it works) to engineers (let's analyze
the problem in order to narrow down the solutions). Math
and physics allow engineers to create items that solve problems
without needing to pursue lots of designs that end in dead
ends.'
The reinforcing cross-currents between Infinity and BEST
are evident in the school's active robotics club where information
about both programs appears. St. Mark's School of Texas
was among the top award winners in multiple categories of the
Texas BEST Championship competition.
 Lincoln
High School in Dallas, Texas has participated in BEST for six
years. The school is mid-way through completing its first
year with The Infinity Project. 'BEST sparked interest
in Infinity' stated Tracey Etheredge, Infinity instructor
for Lincoln High School. 'After being involved with
BEST, students want to find out more. One of my students,
in particular, is especially interested in getting the Infinity
curriculum's two new chapters on robotics.'
Etheredge says she expects that after one or two more years
of Infinity, 'Our BEST team should perform better. That's
definitely what I'm hoping for. That's my plan. It
will allow us to be much more competitive.'
For more information about The Infinity Project and how
you can get started in offering this exciting curriculum at
your school, visit our web site at www.infinity-project.org.
We Want To Meet You
If you are attending the T3 (Teachers Teaching
with Technology) Conference this spring, join us for lunch!
We will plan a special gathering for current Infinity teachers
and those who want to learn more. This will be an ideal opportunity
to ask questions and get first-hand information from classroom
veterans familiar with the exciting curriculum.
The T3 conference is March 18-20 in Washington, D.C. The
date, time and place of the lunch will be posted on our website soon, so
check back later for details. You'll be asked to register on-line.
Infinity officials also will be at four other national conferences. Stop
by our booth, browse through the teaching materials, and see an onsite demonstration
of the easy-to-use Infinity Technology Kit.
National Science Teachers Association
March 31-April 3, 2005
Dallas, Texas
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
April 6-9, 2005
Anaheim, California
Conference for the Advancement of Mathematics Teaching
July 11-13, 2005
Dallas, Texas
Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching
October 27-29, 2005
Houston, Texas
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Teacher Training Is Pivotal To Infinity's
Success
Professional development is where the success of the Infinity
Project begins. Through a 40-hour week-long course, teachers
receive extensive training that prepares them for the successful
implementation of the program. Many teachers also enroll in
the training as a refresher course.
'Last summer we had 14 teachers take the training as a refresher course,' said
Rosemary Aguilar, director of professional development and curriculum. 'In
addition to reinforcing their knowledge base, it also helps them sharpen
their delivery skills.'
The training, which is delivered by Master Teachers, encompasses every area
of the curriculum and gives hands-on instruction in using the text, the technology
kit, hardware and software.
Professional Development Institute dates for the 2005-2006 school year are
as follows:
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Institute
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Location
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Date
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Institute I
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University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas
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June 6 - 10
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Institute II
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University of Houston, Houston, Texas
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June 13 ' 17
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Institute III
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University of Houston, Houston, Texas
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<DIV>June 20 ' 24 |
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Institute IV
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Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas
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June 27 ' July 1
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Institute V
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Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas
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July 11 ' 15
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Institute VI
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Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California
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July 18 - 22
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Institute VII
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University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida
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July 25 ' 29
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Institute VIII
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Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas
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August 1 - 5
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The cost of the course is $750. Participants are eligible for 35 hours of
continuing education credit upon completion.
After training, teachers have instant access to a special instructors-only
Infinity website that contains discussion groups, sample
exercises and a wealth of resources that help maximize the
Infinity experience for students.
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