Education Commons^™

Imsa's Learning Standards, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

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IMSA's Learning Standards set reasonable but high expectations for learning and understanding across all areas of the Academy experience. The goal is to nurture academic growth and enable students to use both rich content and skill competency to demonstrate understanding. The following represent both Academy-wide Standards of Significant Learning and Program Purposes, Team Goals, and Learning Standards for each academic area.

Nova, 1999 Summer, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

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Recent IMSA graduate Keith Winstein of Oak Park spent part of his summer doing something quite unconventional for an 18-year-old.

Winstein was the only student in a group of 11 official United States delegates to attend the first World Conference on Science (WCS) in Budapest, Hungary, from June 26 to July 1. The conference brought together 2,500 scientists from 150 countries.

Nova, 1998-99 Fall-Winter, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

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To "bring the best minds in the world to IMSA," the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy launched its Great Minds Program in the Fall of 1998. Leading the program is Nobel Laureate Dr. Leon Lederman, a "founding father of IMSA."

This story is the first in a series to appear in upcoming NOVAs, charting the development of the program and its impact on IMSA students and staff, and other students and teachers in Illinois.

Center For Problem-Based Learning, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

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Problem-based learning (PBL) is an educational approach that organizes curriculum and instruction around carefully crafted "ill-structured" problems. Students gather and apply knowledge From multiple disciplines in their quest for solutions. Guided by teachers acting as cognitive coaches, they develop critical thinking, problem solving, and collaborative skills as they identify problems, formulate hypotheses, conduct data searches, perform experiments, formulate solutions and determine the best "fit" of solutions to the conditions of the problem. Problem-based learning enables students to embrace complexity, find relevance and joy in learning, and enhance their capacity for creative and responsible real-world problem-solving.

Ipbln: Illinois Problem-Based Learning Network, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

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Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is an educational approach that organizes curriculum and instruction around "ill structured" problems. Students gather and apply knowledge from multiple disciplines in their quest for solutions. Guided by teachers trained as cognitive coaches, students:

• develop critical thinking skills
• use problem solving skills
• practice collaborative skills
• formulate hypotheses
• conduct data searches
• perform experiments
• generate solutions
• determine the best solution

Making History: Quarks, Neutrinos, And Virtual Perfection: Interviews With Robert W. Galvin And Leon M. Lederman, Timothy J. Gilfoyle

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In 1986, Leon Lederman helped establish the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, one of the nation's first residential secondary schools created specifically for gifted students in the sciences. "Kids hate to be different," Lederman recognizes, "and very bright kids know they're different when they're in normal schools, and they react to that differentness in many different ways. But here, they're all the same. They're all . . . academically gifted and work together and collaborate and . . . have excellent teachers. While the building was a hand-me-down from the overbuilding of schools in the early '70s, it works, and …

Report Of The Strategic Planning Team: Executive Summary, Stephanie Pace Marshall

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On December 4, 1987, a representative group of faculty and all administrators convened for a day to reflect on our past, discuss our present, and begin to make plans for the future of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. At that time, we discussed the need to engage in a formal process by which we would define who we were, what we were about, what we valued, and how we would direct our resources, (both financial and human), to achieve the goals that were inherent in the establishment of this unique institution.

This brief, but nonetheless intense discussion, resulted in …

1993-94 Calculus-Based Physics/Mechanics Study: Statement, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

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In February 1994, the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) was featured in USA Weekend and on NBC-TV's Dateline in reports on gender equity in education. The reports centered on the work of David and Myra Sadker, professors of education at American University. The Sadkers' new book, Failing at Fairness: How America's Schools Cheat Girls, was published in February

The February 4-6 USA Weekend, the nationwide weekend newspaper insert, cited IMSA in a cover story by the Sadkers. Three IMSA students were pictured on the cover. The Dateline report by anchorwoman Jane Pauley aired February 8.

Both reports …

Leon Lederman: Nobel Laureate And Illinois' First Science Adviser, William H. Allen

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Leon N. Lederman, Illinois' first science adviser, worries about "the glaze." It coats the eyes of politicians when scientific subjects come up. The glaze might not be so important if it weren't for the fact that crucial policy issues involving science and technology are everywhere: global climate change, solid waste disposal, high-speed rail transit and stimulation of the advanced technology industry — to name just a few.

Imsa Newsrelease: Imsa Sees Positive Trends In First Graduates, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

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"Members of the first graduating class of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) declare an unusually high number of double majors In college and include an unusually high percentage of girls who major in mathematics and science-this according to a survey of the Charter Class of 1989 following their first year in college."

Strategic Plan: 1990-1995, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

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Belief Statements

WE BELIEVE THAT:

• meaning is discovered, not prescribed.
• all individuals have equal intrinsic worth.
• all people have an innate desire to learn.
• the power of the human mind is the world's greatest resource.
• every individual is capable of both changing and bringing about change.
• trust is essential for any human relationship to prosper.
• the survival of global civilization depends primarily upon the quality of the education provided to all citizens.
• every person is responsible for his/her own choices and actions.
• belonging to a group implies subordination of self-interests to the common good.
• excellence is worth the effort, but …

Nova, 1990 Winter, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

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Governor James R. Thompson and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Leon M. Lederman were honored at the formal dedication of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy on December 14. During the ceremony the Academy was dedicated to the People of Illinois in their honor.

1989 Charge To The Graduating Class Of Imsa, Leon Lederman

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I considered a number of snazzy subjects for my remarks to you today:

• The Unexpurgated Story of the Big Bang
• The Unbearable Lightness of Neutrinos
• Symmetry, Complexity and the Origin of Eagle Foods

Commencement Of The Charter Class Program, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

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The need to understand how the universe works is fundamental to human nature. It is also essential for safely managing the human future; but foolishly, we have designed a society based on science and technology in which hardly anyone understands science and technology. This is a clear prescription for disaster.

Our future depends on producing and encouraging highly competent, ethically responsible young scientists, as well as a much greater scientific literacy in the general public.

The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora, Illinois, is dedicated to meeting this challenge...

It is a gift from the people of Illinois to …

Strategic Planning Overview, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

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Strategic Planning Committee:

• Dr. David Barr
• Dr. Marcelline Barron
• John D. Court
• Gail Digate
• Dr. Larry Freeman
• Dr. Shelagh Gallagher
• Dr. Ed Goebel
• Merre Lynn Hare
• Connie Jo Hatcher
• Dr. Ross Hodel
• Elia Lopez
• Dr. Stephanie P. Marshall
• Jack McEachern
• Patrick McWilliams
• Robert Mellott
• George Milauskas
• Dr. Christian Nokkentved
• Julnar Rizk
• Michael Sloan
• Dr. LuAnn Smith
• Ogden Spruill
• Bill Stepien
• Cathy Veal
• Dr. David Workman
• Gregg Worrell

News Release, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

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Dr. Leon M. Lederman, Director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois, has been named one of three recipients of the 1988 Nobel Prize for physics. Sharing the prize with Dr. Lederman are Dr. Melvin Schwartz and Dr. Jack Steinberger. The three have been cited for their discovery, in 1962, of a second neutrino, an elementary subatomic particle. Fermilab is operated by the Universities Research Association, Inc., under contract with the United States Department of Energy (DOE).

1986 Convocation Address, Leon Lederman

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Fermiiab is full of scientists and engineers who work together with the common purpose of understanding nature, meeting difficult challenges and wisely spending a very large amount of public money. As Director of the Laboratory I sleep like a baby - I wake up every two hours and cry.

The dictionary says a convocation is an assembly of scholars, summoned together for some special purpose. The tradition no doubt got started in the great English universities - last week we read of the convocation at Harvard, celebrating the 350th anniversary of that great institution - and 350 is a nice …

News From The Office Of The Governor, State Of Illinois

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SPRINGFIELD, 111., October 16—Governor James R. Thompson appointed eight persons Wednesday to the Board of Trustees of the newly created Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy.

"Illinois is a State blessed with creative and gifted students whose talents are the bright hope of our future. But if these students are to grow to their full potential, their talents must be nurtured and refined, their minds must be challenged to reach out and examine the unknown. This is the object and goal of the Illinois Math and Science Academy. The Academy was a promise made in this Administration's Better Schools Program—a promise …