tjTODAY
THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 6560 Braddock Rd., Alexandria, VA 22312
JUNE 8, 2012
JDAY P 10 and 12
VOLUME 27, ISSUE 9
TjSTAR showcases STEM Math put
in media’s public glare
photos by Jenny Chen, Arya Dahal and Sunny Kim
Clockwise from left: Senior Helen Hastings constructs her gumdrop tower using toothpicks and gumdrops during one of the many Design Challenges offered to students; junior Bruce Bland tests out a self-balancing vehicle at Displays and Demonstrations in Gymnasium 1; keynote speaker Subra Suresh, director of the National Science Foundation, addresses students, faculty and visitors in the auditorium.
by Jenny Chen and Arya Dahal News Editors On May 30, the TJ Symposium to Advance Research (tjSTAR) returned to the Jefferson community and populated the school with quirky, scuttling robots and iPads with the latest in app technology, among other displays of the power of the scientific world. At the center of the event, however, were featured students who presented their own research and speakers from professional fields of science, math and technology. Japanese teacher Koji Otani, chair of the tjSTAR Steering Committee, staff coordinator Kayla Gutierrez and other faculty members planned the day-long symposium. Seniors James Graham, Vansh Kumar, Lizaveta Miadzvedskaya and Ben Silverman represented students on the committee.
“I’ve been part of tjSTAR since 10th grade, and planning the event brings a satisfying pay out in seeing the school come to life with students and their research once a year,” senior James Graham said. Seniors presented their technology research lab projects and Integrated Biology, English and Technology (IBET) freshmen got their formal introduction to sharing their field and lab-based projects. “What’s impressive about tjSTAR is all students have a chance to learn about the full scope of research at TJ,” Principal Evan Glazer said. “Without tjSTAR, we can learn only from about one quarter of the senior projects that participate in science fair. Since tjSTAR is in late May, we can learn from all of the projects, plus the work from alumni and professional researchers.” Freshman Kashish Jagga regarded his first tjSTAR experience as a success.
P6-7
P8
Students share summer plans
Spring sports wrap up season
“It was also pretty cool to be presenting our own projects at a scientific symposium like that. All in all, I’m glad I had the opportunity,” Jagga said. Gym 1 contained displays and demonstrations to offer a glimpse into the most innovative technology in clean energy, robotics, crime scene investigation, land and air traffic and medical care from corporations such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Caliper and Microsoft. Another highlight of the symposium was the new and returning speakers from the professional world who represented different corporations and universities. Andrew Ko, general manager of the U.S. Partners in Learning program of Microsoft, led a session to discuss entrepreneurship and the changing characteristics of businesses. continued on p. 2
P9
‘Avatar: the Last Airbender’ excites
by YouNa An News Editor The underperformance of the Class of 2015 in math and science is getting almost daily media attention. Stakeholders from the county level on down want answers as to why one-third of them need remediation. “All the other classes have been excelling, including my freshman class. I’ve never seen it happen before,” senior Julie Vrabel said. The admissions process has been cited as one possible cause for the freshmen’s lack of proficiency in math and science. Critics say the admissions test is too easy and that the process does not put enough emphasis on admitting the most math-oriented people. Vern Williams, appointee to the National Mathematics Advisory Panel by the Bush administration and math teacher at Longfellow Middle School, believes the admissions process “can’t academically distinguish between the A and C students.” “What if I assigned grades and some of the C students received an A while some of the A students received a C? And no student is allowed to appeal his or her grade,” Williams said. “TJ admissions in a nutshell!” Similarly, in his May 25 column in the Washington Post, physics teacher John Dell voiced his concerns about the admissions process, saying students are no longer admitted according to their aptitude in STEM subjects, while some of the most promising students are rejected. “I’m hoping the outcome of this process will be a new clarity on the purpose and methodology in the admissions process, which continues to support a nucleus of strong STEM students,” Dell said. Admissions Director Tanisha Holland said the team is examining the entrance process to determine trends or indications, but no changes have been planned yet. “I believe it’s premature to single out the admissions policy as the root cause of the TJ teachers’ concerns,” Holland said. “The admission process was changed in 2009, and it is appropriate to examine the selection criteria to ensure that it is effective in identifying students for TJ.” The team was prompted to examine the process partly because of a letter by seven math teachers asking that the admissions test be reworked. Two of the teachers had examined a previously administered test and determined the questions to be too easy. “One of the points in the letter was that students were accelerating through math courses, such as skipping middle school math courses or taking summer Geometry,” said Principal Evan Glazer, who, as a math major, believes a solid foundation in math to be critical. Glazer considers the acceleration through math courses to be another likely reason for the underperformance of the freshmen. “So the question becomes, are students smarter than they used to be, or are we allowing them to accelerate through math courses?” Glazer said. continued on p. 2
P11
Retiring teachers bid farewell