Part of the struggle to interest more young people in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)–and equally a challenge for their K-12 teachers–is how to make these subjects more engaging. From Feb. 13 to 16, 23 California State University, Dominguez Hills students with aspirations of becoming math and science educators were given the chance to see one way to do that–through the game of golf. Students in the university's STEM educator scholarship programs–Math and Science Teacher Initiative, Noyce Scholars, Transition to Teaching (TTT)– spent their weekend at the Northern Trust Pro-Am Golf Tournament at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, where they taught the science ... Read More
Teacher Education
Lyzbeth Becerra: Noyce Scholar Testing Research Waters to Aid Future as Teacher
California State University, Dominguez Hills Noyce Scholar Lyzbeth Becerra learned how to be a research scientist this summer–and in the process has taken major steps to become the best teacher she can be. Becerra was among the approximately 200 students from either within the California State University system or at other universities with a Robert Noyce Scholarship Program who were selected to participate in STEM Teacher and Researcher (STAR), a summer internship organized by the Center for Excellence in Science and Math Education (CESAME) at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. STAR partners with national research labs to provide aspiring STEM (science, technology, engineering ... Read More
Fieldwork Enriches Education For Biology Major Erica Parra
Whether contending with torrential rains, viscous mud or venomous snakes, all under the din of screeching monkeys and the clatter of exotically feathered fliers, things in a densely vegetated rainforest can seem larger than life. But it was a wee creature that captured Erica Parra's imagination. “Once you really stop and observe them you realize they are not just ants but they are individuals who are working together to make their colonies function efficiently. And not only that, but they each have their own personality and mission, which in turn helps the environment that surrounds them,” Parra asserted. The California State University, Dominguez Hills senior, who is majoring in biology ... Read More
CSUDH Hosts Hundreds for Common Core Education Standards Training
Nearly 1,400 educators from Los Angeles Unified School District and Los Angeles public charter schools went back to the classroom at California State University, Dominguez Hills, this time as pupils, as it were, of the Launch LA: Common Core conference, where they had the opportunity to prepare for the implementation of the new national Common Core State Standards (CCSS) of what students are expected to learn. An equal number of teachers were on the waiting list to attend the Aug. 24 conference, which was organized by Teach Plus, a national nonprofit focused on improving educational access and outcomes for all students, and sponsored in partnership with LAUSD and CSU Dominguez Hills. ... Read More
Making the Grade: Teacher Candidates Learn With Their Students in Summer Lab School
“It's alive!” a child's voice could be heard over the chatting and laughing of students excited with the soggy, messy task of turning old notebook pages and newspapers into usable paper. Over the din, Sasha Magidi ('13, B.A. liberal studies: math) kept them focused. “Double-timing with the sponges, triple time, and then every time the water starts coming out of the sponges you have to drain it,” she instructed and encouraged. In another room, teens were on their feet learning what looked to be dance moves. At the head of the class, Mario Romero had the class demonstrate positive, negative, zero and undefined graph slopes using arm movements. He then set them to work finding the slope ... Read More
