by
Kelli Gamez Warble, physics and calculus teacher at Buckeye Union High School
from1993 until 2006. At the time, Buckeye was a rural town just west of
Phoenix. Kelli has co-led Modeling Workshops each summer since 1998. She wrote these recollections in 2003.
The students discussed below
were members of my physics and/or calculus course at Buckeye Union High School
in Buckeye, Arizona from 1993-2002.
The physics course was taught using the Modeling Method. The calculus course was taught by the
same teacher as the Modeling
physics, and was thus strongly influenced by many of the Modeling ideals: multiple representations of calculus
ideas, a guided inquiry approach to learning mathematics, hands-on activities
in which students constructed their own ideas about calculus concepts, and an
attempt to promote student discourse throughout the year.
Years of Buckeye attendance
are approximate (my best recollection).
Christopher Urwiller was a student in physics and calculus at Buckeye
Union High School in 1994. He
attended ASU in the aeronautical engineering program and was one of few
students accepted as a Boeing Intern the summer after his junior year in
college. His mother works at
Buckeye high school and she and Chris’ father have several times
expressed their appreciation of all that Chris learned in his high school
courses. They have told me that Chris’
experience in physics at Buckeye inspired him to seek a career as an engineer
and left him well prepared for the difficult technical courses he took in his path to attaining that goal. Chris is currently a practicing
engineer at Honeywell in Phoenix.
B.J. Spire was a student in physics at Buckeye Union High
School in 1994. I saw him several
years ago at Northern Arizona University (NAU) where he was majoring in
microbiology. At that time, he
told me he was one of few undergraduates assisting in microbiology research at
NAU and that his interest in science was spurred partly by his high school
physics experience. Although his
area of research was not specifically in physics, he felt that the inquiry
and model-building encouraged in his Modeling physics course directly
transferred to his appreciation for
the scientific process and aided him in his university experience. He was hoping to pursue graduate study
in microbiology or medicine.
Dawn Graham was a student in physics and calculus at Buckeye
Union High School in 1996. She
attended ASU with the intent of majoring in biology or pre-med on the road to
becoming a veterinarian. However,
as she attended her university math courses she found herself tutoring almost
all of her peers. They were having
a great deal of difficulty understanding the material, and they ended up in study
groups led by Dawn. She says she
realized how much her mathematical understanding had been strengthened during
her high school years in Modeling.
She became very frustrated at how college mathematics material was
presented as a disjointed collection of facts. She switched her major to secondary mathematics education and is now back at Buckeye Union High School as a
mathematics teacher. She loves
incorporating hands-on Modeling type activities into all of her 9th
and 10th grade mathematics courses, and requires her math students
to complete lab write-ups using the Modeling lab report rubric. She says she is disappointed she
didn’t also get certified to teach physics, and is exploring the idea of
enrolling in the MNS program for high school physics teachers at ASU.
Leatta McGlaughlin was a student in physics and calculus at Buckeye
Union High School in 1998. She
attended ASU as a business major and recently graduated. Her mother works at Buckeye HS, and she
commented that Leatta went into her first year college mathematics courses very
well-prepared. She mentioned that
Leatta was tutoring many of her fellow business students, especially in the use
of technology (such as graphing calculators and computers) as required in their
college mathematics courses. Leatta
was not intimidated by the technology, and often helped her fellow students
because she had already “learned to do that in high school.” Leatta
is currently exploring graduate programs in International Business and hopes to
travel abroad for her studies.
Female Engineers from
BUHS: As a teacher I traveled with a group of high school
students to ASU engineering day several years ago. When we checked in, a former student
(now in the engineering program at ASU) greeted us warmly, saying that she
hoped some prospective engineers from her former high school would be
coming. This student was a female,
and joked that the whole day was going to be a Buckeye reunion for me, as
many of my former students were leading the tours to the various engineering
labs. Sure enough, I crossed path with three
more former students, who started listing the names of several others also
enrolled in various engineering disciplines. What struck me most about the day was that out of about
ten names, all of these future engineers but one were female! As a
former female engineering student myself, I was gratified but not
surprised. Modeling Instruction
encourages cooperation and discourse about complicated ideas in a
non-threatening, supportive environment. I became turned off from
engineering when it appeared to me to be competitive and isolated. Females who view science, engineering,
and technology as fields encouraging cooperation and supportiveness will, I
believe, become much more attracted to these non-traditional areas.