As a teacher, I am always looking for ways to incorporate real life science into my lessons.  The opportunity that I had last summer working in Dr. Shin's lab allowed me to discuss the science that I was actually doing.   The students were impressed by the poster that I had on the wall.  The students used it as a reference when they were looking at the shapes of molecules.  I used the experiment that we designed in the lab with my students.  They were able to look at the effects of intermolecular forces on viscosity.  The hardest part for the students was doing the calculations.  This made me realize that I need to make a more concerted effort to teach them to conversions throughout the school year.  Some of the worst mistakes can be made when scientists do not know how to do conversions.  However, doing this experiment gave them an opportunity to compare the viscosity measurement that I made in the lab during summer to their own experimental value.  I plan on doing this lab next year with a few modifications.  It was great experience to work in the lab and be able to bring something new back to my students.

Dear Teachers,
I am trying to upload my poster on the blog but I do not see a file attachment icon.  Let me know if you have any luck with that.
I went to a great presentation by Dr. Brent Stucker about the 7 methods of Additive manufacturing (building parts by 3D printing) being done here at Speed School.     Maybe if we can get machines to form all of the parts we won't have to outsource so many jobs.
Thanks for letting visit your labs and see the other research being done as well.  I became entrenched in my own little world for 4 weeks and really did not understand the other projects until I visited the lab.
I hope to be able to schedule the Louisville Area Science Alliances to either visit the University or maybe have the grad students give their presnetations to us. It would definitely help get our students interested and answer the life long question of "Why do we have to learn this?"

@#WOW!

Wow! Such a simple word that doesn't even begin to describe my experience this summer at the University of Kentucky with Dr. Shin and Nolan. I have learned so much about lab technique, sterile technique, research based learning, research in general, functioning in a lab to get things done and working to accomplish a huge task on a short timeline. If you're reading this and are considering a Summer Fellowship with UK or UofL, sign up immediately! The knowledge you will gain far outweighs the time off that most teachers allegedly "have off" during the summer. I can't think of a better way to spend my time than with the wonderful folks that haved guided me and partnered with me to make things better for me and my kids!