TESI-5 Class of 2005 at Brockway Mountain overlooking Lake Superior

Michigan Tech is hosting high school and middle school teachers from all over the United States for the Teachers' Earth Science Institute. The program is funded 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 2006, 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 middle and high school classes with new teaching ideas and experiments, plus a fresh perspectives. Teachers are expected to incorporate TESI ideas into their classrooms and further expand the impact of TESI by communicating ideas to others in the teaching profession.

In addition to the NSF grant, significant support for the Teachers' Earth Science Institute comes from industry, including Red Metal Minerals, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., and White Pine Copper Refinery. Principal investigator for the NSF grant is Dr. Francis Otuonye, Tennessee Technological University. Co-principal investigators for the Michigan Tech subcontract to carry out the institute are Dr. Ted Bornhorst, A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum, Michigan Tech; and Allison Hein, Institute of Materials Processing, Michigan Tech.

Dr. Bornhorst teaching geology on the shore of Lake Superior:

Learning about minerals at the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum.

Classes on structural geology.

Dr. Ted Bornhorst uses one of his many charts.

TESI-5 Classroom on shore of Lake Superior: making 'bridges' from their experience to the classroom.

Hunting for and studying rocks and minerals in the field. Earth science teachers collect samples to share with students in the classroom.

Field trip scene with class checking out the groovy traces of glaciers.

Panoramic view of Copper Harbor

Dr. Otuonye talking about underground blasting arrays.

Exploration geology using a portable drill.
Movie

Placing explosives in the drill hole for blasting the rock.

Fire in the hole! Click for blast

Practice jackleg drilling. Movie

Drilling underground for copper ore. Movie

Preparing the explosives for blasting the rock.

Charging the drill holes with explosive.

The load haul and dump cycle. Movie

Preparing to blast. Movie

Underground class on ventilation

Contest on how fast a miner can suit up. Movie

Field trip to the Empire Iron Mine of Cleveland Cliffs Inc. Movie

 

Viewing the Republic Wetlands Preserve reclamation site

Viewing the Empire Iron Mine of Cleveland Cliffs Inc. Movie

Field trip to the Tilden Iron Mine of Cleveland Cliffs Inc.

Murray Gillis and teachers field trip to study aggregates