Students of SOE Alumnus Receive Toshiba/NSTA Exploravision Award

Toshiba and the National Science Teachers Association announced the 2008 Exploravision Awards national winners. In the winner’s circle was Amy Burke, an SOE alumnus who served as Coach to the West Hills Middle School, West Bloomfield, Michigan Second Place winners in the Grades 7-9 division. The students and Ms. Burke traveled to Washington D. C. in early June to receive their $5,000 award.

The West Middle school students won the award for their work with Strabismus glasses. Strabismus glasses provide auto-corrective treatment for people with the inability to align both eyes when focusing due to imbalance of the muscles of the eyeball. Sensors mounted on the frame of specially-designed glasses measure the difference in electrical charge between the front and back of the eye that defines eye movements and then activates LCD-fitted lenses in the glasses to adjust the binocular vision of the eyes. The winning website can be viewed at http://dev.nsta.org/evwebs/1937/

Ms. Burke received her undergraduate degree in elementary education from SOE in 2005 and has nearly completed her Master’s Degree in Education at SOE with an endorsement in educational technology. “Amy was one of the most motivated students I have worked with here and she is an excellent classroom teacher”, remarked Associate Professor of Science Education, Dr. Gail Luera. “I observed her working with her students when they were developing their inventions for the competition and was impressed with the well-thought out lesson plans that provided students with the opportunity to create winning projects” added Dr. Luera.