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Contact: Jim Laird

STARKVILLE, Miss.-- Fifteen middle-school science teachers from the Golden Triangle and central Mississippi region are at Mississippi State this month for the Creative Science Through Inquiry (CSI: Mississippi) workshop — a major education initiative of the Mississippi Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research’s Feeding and Power the World Project (Track 2).

Usually referred to by the acronym EPSCoR, the National Science Foundation-funded program identifies, develops and deploys academic science and technology to increase the state’s research and development competitiveness and foster economic growth.

CSI: Mississippi 2016 is introducing the teachers to forensic science as a method of teaching fundamental science skills and concepts to their students.

“Inquiry-based science learning fosters conceptual understanding, critical thinking, and a positive attitude about all of the STEM fields,” said Katie Echols, EPSCoR’s education and outreach coordinator, referring to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“We have created this workshop to give teachers the tools they need to successfully bring science inquiry into their classrooms in a way that engages their students in learning and understanding,” she said.

Participants are:

—Glenda Bennett, Grenada School District.

—Emily Dill, Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District.

—Abby Hairston, West Point Consolidated School District.

—Heather Henry, Lowndes County School District.

—Shelia Kannath, Kemper County School District.

—Teresa Morton, Webster County Schools.

—Nora O’Brian, Monroe County School District.

—Joshua Pankey, Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District.

—Deborah Pounders, Columbus Municipal School District.

—Jennifer Shepherd, Lowndes County School District.

—Sarah Smith, Starkville Academy.

—Ashley Springer, Lowndes County School District.

—Holly Tippett, Lowndes County School District.

—Jettie Ware, Aberdeen School District.

—Heather Yoder, Noxubee County School District.

Inspired in part by the CBS television drama, “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” the June 6-17 workshop is built around the State of Mississippi’s science curriculum, and incorporates biology, chemistry, physical science, physics, mathematics, technology, writing and more into an inquiry- and laboratory-based curriculum.

Contact Echols at katie@research.msstate.edu or 662-325-8904 to learn more about the teacher workshop.

For more information about Mississippi EPSCoR, visit .