The Advocate – Charles Lussier
“A succession of middle and high school science teachers on Friday climbed the bleachers at Capitol Middle School carrying Barbie or Ken dolls tied to long strands of strung-together rubber bands and proceeded to drop them to the gym floor. The winning doll managed to come within 4 centimeters of the floor without hitting. Other dolls were not so lucky. A couple of Barbies and Kens crash-landed. Ludy Guillermo’s Ken doll had the opposite problem. It didn’t hit the ground 13 feet below, but it didn’t fall very far either. Guillermo, who teaches physical science at the Baton Rouge middle school, was not fazed. “I tell my students all the time, ‘If you don’t get the right results, try again,’ ” Guillermo said. “That’s one of the best things they can learn.” “Barbie doll bungee jumping” was one of 16 activities the science teachers participated in this week during a four-day training session. They were among 350 teachers from throughout East Baton Rouge Parish who filled the campus to learn what they could, not just in science but also in math and English. The trainers were brought in by the Dallas-based National Math and Science Initiative.”(more)