ARRL Represents Amateur Radio at Science Teachers' Convention

ARRL ETP Coordinator Mark Spencer, WA8SME (left), greets teachers attending the National Science Teachers Association convention in Dallas.

NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 8, 2005--ARRL Education and Technology Program (ETP) Coordinator Mark Spencer, WA8SME, represented Amateur Radio during the recent National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) convention in Dallas, Texas. Some 14,000 teachers from across the US attended the gathering March 31-April 4. Staffing a booth within the NASA area, Spencer did presentations on the ETP--"the Big Project"--as well as on the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program in which ARRL, NASA and AMSAT are US partners. Spencer says the underlying theme and concern among the teachers he spoke with was educational standards.

"Even more so than in the past, teachers are overwhelmingly concerned about teaching to the standards, and if material isn't specifically addressed in the standards--word-for-word, concept-for-concept--they were not particularly interested," he said. "This is an issue that we, as well as NASA, will have to aggressively address if the wireless technology literacy and space literacy curricular suggestions are going to have any hope of gaining a foothold." Spencer said many teachers told him that all routine instruction at their schools comes to a halt at this point in the school year so students can focus solely on preparing to take standardized tests.

The annual NSTA convention presents a valuable opportunity to encourage teachers to attend one of the ETP teachers institutes the League sponsors, Spencer said. "I had lots of one-on-one opportunities to talk with teachers about the program and the institutes," he said. ARRL offers the weeklong teachers institutes, which teach educators the basics of wireless technology and electronics, at virtually no cost to attendees beyond their time and effort.

Spencer said his short briefing on bringing space into the classroom at little or no cost received good exposure. "Even though it took approximately five minutes to make the presentation to each teacher who expressed interest, the feedback from teachers was that it was a wonderful idea, and they would consider including the concept in their classrooms," he said. He's hoping to repeat the mini-seminar at NSTA gatherings later this year in Chicago and Hartford.

Spencer took advantage of his stay in Texas to visit with an ETP school--Lyndon Baines Johnson High School (LBJ) in Austin--to see a Big Project program in action. Lead teacher Ronny Risinger, KC5EES, and his students in the LBJ program have developed a model program, Spencer reports. "Ronny is a talented and enthusiastic teacher, there is very strong support and participation in the school's program by the local ham community, and there appears to be good school administration support," he said. "All the components that make up a successful ETP program come together at this school."

While at LBJ, he toured the school, met with administrators, stopped by the school's Amateur Radio club station, K5LBJ, and spoke with many of the students.

"The students expressed goals of pursuing technical careers and mentioned that their participation in the Big Project helped them to formulate those goals," Spencer recounted. "Good things are happening at LBJ because of the teacher, the students, the local ham community and the resources provided by the ETP grants."

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