Mike’s presentation was very informative. I did not realize grant writing was as DOABLE as he said. I feel motivated to grant for my classroom for starters say a smart board and some other toys, then see if I can persuade fellow teachers to join in on the extra work for more collaborative materials.

Dr. Cooper’s presentation went kind of fast because I got caught up trying to entertain his codes he had on slides. I really enjoyed the precautions and safety nets we need to keep for ourselves as e-commerce users. I thought to myself: How big will encrypted numbers get to become ‘uncomputable’?

2) I have written a number of small grants (I actually got 1!) and was happy to see so many teachers are taking advantage of these opportunities. Funding is such a big issue now – thanks Mr. Sirois for some more resources to access.

3) We have covered many topics involving Gender Equity this week and Mr. Sirois’ comments gave me more to think about. I would like to see some of the more recent figures on females receiving degrees in Math and Science fields. Comments from my son at UT Austin are that there was about an equal balance of females/males in his Biochemistry classes and about a 2/1 ratio in Microbiology. In looking at the College of Pharmacy admissions statistics for the last 3 years, females have outnumbered male admissions by 3/1 in two of the years.

4) Dr. Cooper is certainly very knowledgable and has a very engaging style of lecturing. I must confess that as a Kindergarten teacher I was completely out of my league in the math area. I will rely on his expertise and feel safe about all the shopping I do online.

Mr. Sirois’s Speach: 1) Grant writing – Very practical and useful topic for me since I’ve never written a grant – I was just a benefitor! MS degree was funded by NASA and PhD work was funded by OWRT. Working for Kodak in R&D after school eliminated the need. It sounds like something I should actively look into during this year before I return to being a classroom teacher. 2) Educating Girls… – Somewhat mixed signal here. Are you concerned about gender equality, under representation, or just a decline in % decline during the last few years? I would expect the contributing factors you’ve listed should have been there when the increase was observed and that something else is going on to reduce the decreasing trend in recent years. My naive answer might be that girls with technological apptitute are getting into other new or old competing fields….

Dr. Cooper’s speach: It’s been a while since I had to really listen to a lecture to grasp its content and I thank you for such opportunity. I think I’ve understood the general concept if not all the specifics of Public-Key Encription. What a fascinating process. I think I’m running out of space. Thanks!

I was also interested in the topic by Professor Kumari. Although I feel we have made great strides, it seems we still have a long way to go.