MONDAY,APRIL 14,2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Group to celebrate Black Love Week
By Henry C. Jackson
cjjackson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The Black Student Union is getting old — 40 years old, to be precise, and just one day of celebration wouldn't do it justice.
Members of the organization will celebrate the group's anniversary with a 51st party on Wescoe Beach. The event will be part of Black Love Week, five days of activities designed to involve the University of Kansas community in celebrations of African-American culture.
Black Love Week's activities include a talent show, basketball tournament and the week's most awaited event, the 40th birthday party.
"Turning 40 shows that even though we are small in numbers we're going to be here and we're going to be united anyway." Renita
Norman, Topeka sophomore, said.
"It shows we're strong and able to be united on one front forever."
Black Love Week will be especially fun for Norman because, as the group's programs chairwoman, she rarely gets to enjoy the activities she organizes.
Norman said that sometimes she only got to look at what the group was planning on doing.
Hatches said the group wanted to involve everyone and would like to have the whole University come out.
"Having it all set and being able to participate makes me feel good," she said.
C'Nea Hatches, Valaparaiso, Ind., sophomore and the organization's vice president, said the week's activities would focus on involving the whole University community — not just African Americans.
"We want people to experience black love and we don't want
BLACK LOVE WEEK
ACTIVITIES:
Today
Study session at 7:30 p.m. at the Relay Room, formerly the Pioneer Room, in the Burge Union after the Black Student Union meeting
Tomorrow
Black Student Union talent show at 7 p.m. at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union
them to just be black people," she said. "We want people to experience it through BSU."
Members of the organization have been planning Black Love Week for more than a month. Mark Dupree, Kansas City, Kan., junior and the group's president, said the event's activities, particularly the 40th birthday party
Wednesday
Birthday party from noon to 2 p.m.
on Wescoe Beach. Black Student
Union celebrates its 40th
anniversary.
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Thursday Black faculty and staff appreciation day
■ Friday
Basketball tournament at 6 p.m. at
Robinson Gymnasium
scheduled for Wednesday,showed the organization's staying power.
Dupree said it was a great accomplishment.
"It shows that the fight has not ended," he said, "and we will not be stopped by any problems or any situations."
— Edited by Christy Dendurent
Eric Fransen, Louisville, Ky., graduate student in mathematics, and Giulio Caviglia, Genoa, Italy, graduate student in mathematics, juggle outside of Wescoe Hall. The two students took a break Thursday before going to class.
Juggling fun and class
By Amy Potter
By Amy Potter
apotter@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Elementary science forms future careers
Science experiences in elementary school can make or break a student's attitude toward the field. As students continue through school their opinions about the subject may turn negative.
"It's terribly important that students have a positive experience in elementary school before they are turned off," said Doug Huffman, assistant professor in teaching and leadership.
According to Jim Ellis, associate professor of teaching and leadership, students going into education face some startling statistics.
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study was conducted in 42 countries in grades four, eight and 12 in 1995. U.S. fourth graders ranked about average.
Kelley Weiss/Kansan
Eighth-grade students are in the bottom third, and high school students are at the bottom in the global ranking.
"U.S. students don't start behind," Ellis said. "They fall behind."
"Iinquiry-based students have an opportunity to experience the natural world first." Ellis said
Ellis instructs a class that prepares students to teach middle and secondary school science. He teaches future students to use an inquiry approach to learning.
For example, a student studying photosynthesis would first have the opportunity to examine the plants, collect data and then analyze it. After all that is done the student would be introduced to the science vocabulary and science concepts.
Huffman instructs a class called Teaching Science in the Elementary School. Less emphasis is placed in lab experiments.
"The field is really moving more toward hands-on science, trying to engage kids in inquiry," Huffman said. "The students become more problem solvers faced with interesting tasks."
Huffman's students also gain field experience in a classroom using the various teaching concepts learned in class.
"It makes the things I'm modeling very real," Huffman said. "They get the chance to try it out with real kids."
Erin Beck, Security, Colo., senior, will be qualified to teach physics and earth science either in middle school or high school when she graduates. She plans on using models and experiments in her classroom to help the children visualize what she is teaching.
Beck recently taught a biology lesson in a Lawrence classroom.
"They were pretty open and receptive to it." Beck said. "And they came up with some great ideas."
Elementary school teachers face the difficulty of teaching everysubject.
Nationally, elementary school teachers spend two or three hours a week teaching science, Huffman said. There are some teachers who don't even bother with the subject.
"One of the goals it to get consistency across the board so that all teachers are teaching science every year for all kids," Huffman said.
Beck has prepared herself for students who might have a negative attitude toward science.
"I think my attitude will have a lot to do with it," Beck said. "If I'm excited about it and I enjoy science then I can help them share in that and experience it for themselves."
— Edited by Julie Jantzer
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