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Summer Math and Science Academy Returns to ORU

By Lacey Clay

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Click Photo to Enlarge Jay Paul followed the instructions for putting together a rocket that he later launched at a target.

Click Photo to Enlarge Math and Science Academy student Rahul Kohli put the "fins" on a model rocket during one of the engineering sessions.

Click Photo to Enlarge During the "Chemiluminescence" lab, Jordania Smallwood determined if temperature affected her solution.

Click Photo to Enlarge Dr. Halsmer, director of the Math and Science Academy, helped Jim Wang prepare his rocket for assembly.

Latest entry under the heading of "Triumphant Returns": the Summer Math and Science Academy. After a four-year hiatus (due to state funding issues), this weeklong academy for 8th, 9th, and 10th graders is now back in all of its mathematical and scientific glory.

During the week of June 13-17, 48 students from all over Oklahoma spent their days and nights on campus experimenting with science, math, and engineering projects. According to Dr. Dominic Halsmer, ORU engineering and physics instructor and director of the academy, "I think we are turning [the students] on to science, math, and engineering. It's neat to see them have the 'ah-ha' experience in the classroom or in the lab or with the rockets..."

The students spent the week working problems and doing experiments in all three disciplines. They participated in chemistry labs titled "Reactions," "Spectroscopy," "Chemiluminescence," and "Crime Scene Chemistry." In the engineering unit they built rockets and then launched them at a target using mathematical calculations to determine slopes of lines, trajectory, and projectile motion. They also got up close and personal with DNA and forensic science.

The academy wasn't strictly lab and classroom work. The students also visited some local educational sites such as the Oxley Nature Center, Tulsa Air and Space Museum, and ORU's Elsing Museum. They spent the afternoons in the Aerobics Center, ate out, watched a movie, and played nighttime Ultimate Frisbee.

The academy wouldn't have been possible without the help of six very generous teachers. Along with Halsmer, Drs. Catherine Klehm and Ken Weed, ORU chemistry instructors; Dr. Andy Lang, ORU math instructor; Dr. John Korstad, ORU biology instructor; and John Land, Broken Arrow high school science teacher, taught classes.

According to Halsmer, the benefits of the academy are manifested in the students "when they are able to figure something out because they understood how it worked or designed the solution. They see they can do science and do math and do engineering, and we hope that they will remain interested all the way through college."

ORU will host the academy again in 2006 and 2007, thanks to a three-year, $75,600 grant from the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.