Students demonstrate new talents to Mike Brown.
The 2003 Summer Portfolio Institute marked the ninth year of an exciting project that involves teachers, students, teaching assistants, and parents in meaningful educational experiences. Funded by Mike Brown at Pepsi Cola America, the Institute was a graduate course for K-12 teachers and a summer program for children in grades 4-8. This year over 60 children worked with 20 teachers on instructional activities that integrated mathematics, writing and technology.
Karen Karp and Todd Brown strike a pose.
Four classes of students were taught by teaching teams led by the following master teachers: Brenda Carr, Colleen Creed, Stephanie Fields and Vivian Russell. The following outstanding resource leaders supported the four teaching teams in the following areas of expertise: Writing - Beth Brown & Jay Crocker; Hand-held Technology - Tammy Crowder; and Computer Technology - Tim Gentry. Professor Karen Karp, mathematics educator and Instructor Todd Brown, early childhood researcher both in the Department of Teaching and Learning oversee the entire project.
This year the students were engaged in such exciting activities as:
- Voice Fingerprints
- Calendar Dodecahedrons
- Walking graphs
- Marshmallow Catapults
- Chromatography
- Paper-plate spheres
- Flying balloon rockets
- Tangram Poetry
- Circle Stories
- Mystery Graph stories
- Dolphins generated by coordinate pairs
- Bio-Poems
- Quilt Glyphs
- Pendulum Experiments
- Forensic applications of mathematics
- Jet-propelled cars
- Webbe Books
- Skittle Graphs
- Tessellations
Daily newsletters kept parents apprised of the various events and gave children the opportunity to see their writing published. The final showcase brought over 100 family members and friends together to share in the activities and excitement of the week. Please explore the following web page of the four teams and the resource leaders to capture the week in greater depth. Class Pictures and Presentations
