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CAS in the Media Arts and Sciences Media Headlines

Summer institute helps teachers make math reasoning explicit

Libby Knott
Libby Knott
It’s mid-way through the WSU summer session and nearly every table in the Math Learning Center on the Pullman campus is full. Look closely, though, and you’ll see that these aren’t your traditional undergraduate students: it’s a special summer institute for 75 elementary and secondary math teachers designed to help them help their students.

“In traditional math instruction, students are taught how to use a certain formula,” said Libby Knott, professor of mathematics and director of the summer institute, “but they aren’t taught why it works or what the reasoning is behind the process.”

Read the article in WSU News

On Gaiser Pond: Middle-schoolers have been doing real science

Gretchen Rollwagen-Bollens
Gretchen Rollwagen-Bollens
Now dubbed “Gaiser Pond” by the school community, wetlands below the school are being studied and cleaned up thanks to two dedicated Gaiser Middle School science teachers and their students and environmental science graduate students from Washington State University Vancouver.

The Partners in Discovery GK-12 Project brought together environmental science graduate students from WSUV with middle school science teachers in several Clark County districts for real-world science projects using funds from an NSF grant.

Read more and see the video

The beat goes on(line)

Brian Ward
Brian Ward
A popular rock music course has been added to WSU’s online curriculum for the fall semester.

The class begins with the music of the 1920’s and continues through the introduction of MTV. Music instructor Brian Ward says sometimes students say it’s their favorite class; they get to listen to music they enjoy.

Both Pullman sections of the class are already full.

More about sound scholarship at WSU News

WSU Professor Becomes Ambassador for Oboes

Keri McCarthy
Keri McCarthy

Thanks to a WSU grant, music professor and renowned oboist Keri McCarthy will travel to Burma later in July to deliver oboes to music students in Yangon, as part of a grassroots effort to build connections between the US and Burma. Oboes are virtually nonexistent in isolated Burma.

McCarthy plans to return to Burma in the spring to see how the oboes are being received, and will publish an article in a professional journal to encourage donations of oboes.

Read more about McCarthy’s instrumental outreach at WSU News

WSU to Offer In-state Tuition to All Online Students

Washington State University’s Board of Regents has voted to offer an in-state tuition rate to Global Campus online students, regardless of their location. The change is expected to take effect for the fall 2013 academic year.

“This positions us well in an ever increasing and competitive global market,” said David Cillay, vice president of the Global Campus. “Last Friday’s decision is another important step in WSU’s long efforts to bring education beyond geographical boundaries.”

The College of Arts and Sciences offers online degrees in criminal justice, psychology, humanities (with concentrations in disciplines such as English, history and philosophy), and social sciences (with concentrations in disciplines such as anthropology, political science, and sociology).

Learn more about the Global Campus >>