SMART Team Teacher Workshop

polypeptide modelThe inaugural National SMART Team Teacher Workshop was held in Milwaukee on July 28 — August 2, 2008. This five-day workshop was designed especially for high school teachers interested in learning how to run a SMART Team modeling program at their school.

Questions and Answers

What is a SMART Team?

A SMART Team is a group of Students Modeling A Research Topic. These students work with a teacher who has been trained in the use of this modeling technology, a local outreach staff member, and a scientist mentor from a local research lab.

What are the goals of the SMART Team program?

  1. To expose your studets to the real world of science as it exists in a local research lab. We hope to show students that science is mroe than just the facts contained in their textbook. Rather, sciences is a process whereby those facts are discovered by real people — like those working in a local research lab.
  2. To teach your students about the basic concepts of protein structure and function.
  3. To train your students in the use of computer visualization tools to design physical models of proteins and the use of rapid prototyping tchnologies to build the models.

group with molecules of lifeThe workshop covers all aspets of the SMART Team program including:

  • Teaching the Process of Science — by Modeling
  • Basic Concepts of Protein Structure and Function
  • Introduction to Rapid Prototyping Technology
  • Physical Protein Model Design, using RP-RasMol
  • The Nuts and Bolts of Running a SMART Team, including
    • recruiting students
    • working with SMART Team students
    • working with your local outreach staff
    • working with your scientist mentor
    • "publishing" your work

group watching Shannon work her magic in RasMolWorkshop Logistics

  • There is no charge for this workshop.
  • Travel to Milwaukee will be reimbursed up to $300.
  • Free accommodations in our luxurious dorms.
  • Participants will earn 3 tuition-free special graduate credits (but there is a $50 transcript fee).
  • Participants will receive a free, life-time membership in the SMART Team Teacher Network and can look forward to a lifetime of rewarding experiences as you adn your students participate in the "process of science" while working with researchers at a local university.

For More Information:

  • Material from the 2008 National SMART Team Workshop
  • Contact Tim Herman herman@msoe.edu for more information about the program.