Heath Tims

Work in progress - Cyber Discovery camp — Integrated approach to cyber studies

The Cyber Discovery camp was developed by a collaboration of math, science, engineering, and liberal arts faculty. The primary goal of the camp was to help teachers and students become better cyber-citizens who help rather than hinder security efforts by making them aware of the benefits and dangers of cyberspace. The residential camp exposes student participants to multiple topics of cyberspace including: history of cyberspace, ethical and social issues, applications, and the need for and use of security in cyberspace. Faculty members from the College of Engineering and Science teamed up with the College of Liberal Arts to develop a residential camp experience aimed at high school teachers and students. During the summer of 2008, 30 high school students and 10 teachers, from throughout the region participated in the summer camp. The camp consisted of discussion sessions, hands on engineering and computer science labs, a cryptographic treasure hunt, film sessions, and a final cyber challenge each of which integrated the history, ethical issues, applications, and theory behind cyberspace, security, and cryptography.

Work in progress — Application of the Boe-Bot in teaching K12 electricity fundamentals

Louisiana Tech University has recently developed a curriculum (NASA-Threads) that integrates engineering, mathematics, and physics. The curriculum, which targets junior and senior high school students, uses hands-on projects that develop student ability to solve realistic multiple-step problems and bring excitement into the classroom. NASA-Threads integrates NASA applications, fundamentals, technology, and communication through hands-on projects that are enabled by an inexpensive micro-controller/robotic platform, the Parallax Boe-Bot. The Boe-Bot provides the enabling technology for projects throughout the course. The course is developed so that a natural progression of fundamental topics is presented. This paper provides clear examples of K12 projects that utilize the Boe-Bot for teaching electricity fundamentals.

Work in progress — Using a “cigar box” guitar to teach waves and sound in a high school physics program

NASA-Threads is a full length high school physics program developed by Louisiana Tech University faculty with support from NASA. NASA-Threads is a partnership between K-12 schools and Louisiana Tech University that aims to improve high school student achievement in mathematics and science. This partnership will result in better prepared students entering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs at the university level. Our previous experiences with K-12 program development have shown that long-term impact on students comes through close collaborative relationships between their teachers and university faculty. This paper presents how mathematics and science fundamentals are shown through the construction of a cigar box guitar. Tuning the guitar further develops the physics concepts of sounds, frequency, and waves.

Work in progress — 2D paper trusses as a mechanism for teaching K12 fundamental STEM topics

Louisiana Tech University in partnership with three local high schools has recently developed NASA-Threads, a high school curriculum that integrates engineering, mathematics, and physics. The curriculum uses hands-on projects that develop student ability to solve realistic multiple-step problems and bring excitement into the classroom. One of the projects implemented in the “Work and Mechanics” portion of the curriculum involves the design, fabrication and testing of a two dimensional (2D) paper truss. Tensile truss members are made of dogbone-shaped manila folder strips, compressive specimens are made from paper mat board, and joints are held together with aluminum screw posts. The truss geometry and testing configuration ensure that the truss will fail when the most heavily loaded tensile member reaches its breaking strength. Tensile testing of individual members prior to the design process provides the data needed for students to design a truss whose load carrying capacity can be accurately estimated. The 2D paper trusses are easy to fabricate when compared to other paper or wooden trusses and provide an excellent way to introduce high school students to structural mechanics.

Work in progress — Engineering a context-based college algebra course

An apparent trend in university mathematics courses is that students approach mathematical problems methodically without understanding the context. A large contributor to this trend is the lack of true connections with real applications in most collegelevel algebra courses. For those students pursuing a STEM degree, this disconnect is often perpetuated in later courses in their major. Evidence suggests redesigning College Algebra content to become more context-based could promote a deeper understanding and eliminate the disconnect between fundamentals and applications. Developing the course would involve a structural redesign, creating a different flow of topics while simultaneously relating them to real applications.