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Teachers Earth Science Institute 2002

Teachers Earth Science Institute featured as a summer learning highlight by National Science Foundation

~ESI 2002 Session Photos~
Click on snapshot for a larger image; The photos on this page by E. Groth

Classroom session on Michigan Tech campus.

Geology lab.

Michigan Tech is hosting high school teachers from all over the US for the Teachers' Earth Science Institute, thanks to a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. During the institutes, which began in the summer of 2001 and continue this summer through 2005, secondary teachers will team up with University researchers and engineers to conduct original research, both in the lab and in the field. Topics will range from geological exploration to mining engineering to mineral processing.

Institute graduates will return to their high school classes with new teaching ideas and experiments, plus a fresh perspective on an old profession.

ESI 2002 class at Caledonia Mine.

Collecting copper , silver, datolite underground in the mine.

Learning how to do the load-haul-dump cycle.

Preparing dynamite for a drill hole blast.

In addition to the NSF grant, industry donors Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Red Metal Minerals, and Minntec, plus SME-The Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration Inc., are contributing $152,000 to support the Teachers' Earth Science Institutes. Principal investigator is Dr. Francis Otuonye, Tennessee Technological University. Co-principal investigators for the grant are Fritz Erickson, former chair of the Department of Education, Michigan Tech; and Richard Tieder, former projects manager in the Institute of Materials Processing of Michigan Tech.

Surveying underground in a mine.

Ground control lesson in timbering in the mine.

Drilling a hole for blasting and breaking up ore.

Studying geology and enjoying the Lake Superior shore.

Rock hunting at another copper mine.

Picnic at McLain Park on Lake Superior.

Collecting minerals and copper in a stope in a mine.

One lucky teacher found a silver nugget.

Lake Superior geology--the Copper Harbor conglomerate.

View of Lake Superior from Brockway Mountain.