Our Mission

To provide resources for and training in the use of modeling and visualization tools for inquiry based instruction in science and mathematics

The Verona Computational Science Teacher Leader Award

Jesse Bemley, Joint Educational Facilities, Inc., Washington D.C., and Susan Ragan, Maryland Virtual High School, were selected as the 2009 Verona Computational Science Outreach Leader and Teacher Leader Award winners, respectively, for the work they have done to promote computational science for both teachers and students. Bemley, founder and director of a non-profit with a mission to prepare minority students for high-tech careers, has been extremely successful in supporting students as they prepare for college. Through enrichment activities and mentoring, Bemley has been able to guide numerous students into the science and engineering pipeline. Ragan has been leading computational science workshops for teachers since the mid 1990's. Recently she partnered with the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center to infuse computational reasoning into professional development for Pittsburgh-area teachers. The awards were announced at the SC09 Education Program in Portland, Oregon on November 17, 2009.

Featured Student Projects

Research Projects

 

  

Parallel Programming Contest

The Blair Magnet Team composed of Andrew Das Sarma, Jacob Hurwitz, Anand Oza, Rohan Puttagunta, Chenyu Zhao, and alternate David Tolnay, tied for first place in the Student Programming Contest held on November 16 during the SC09 Conference Education Program in Portland, Oregon. The team was given eight hours to solve six problems involving methods to numerically find the minimum of complex non-linear functions, to find the entropy of various tilings in 2-D space, to encrypt and decrypt embedded messages efficiently, to benchmark a system for distributed memory computers, and to implement matrix multiplication for a multi-core system. The team competed against 7 other teams representing universities around the country. The other first place team represented the computer science department from the University of Delaware.

Featured Computational Science Activity

Modeling Oscillatory Systems, a project designed by MVHS teachers Don Higdon, Bud Rorison, Allen Skinner and Charlotte Trout, was recently referenced in the textbook, Introduction to Computational Science, written by Angela B. and George W. Shiflet.

Teacher Workshops

MVHS is collaborating with the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center to provide computational science training to Pittsburgh area teachers through the Computation and Science for Teachers (CAST) project. See Computational Resources for Teachers for a collection of modeling and visualization activities for science classes.

MVHS in the News

Computer simulations from Maryland Virtual High School were recently featured in the Future Schools section of Scholastic Administrator magazine. Charlotte Trout, science specialist in Washington County, Maryland, described how she used computer simulations with her students to extend their "wet" lab experiments. Through the use of simulations, students are able to analyze data and graphs, test hypotheses, and critically evaluate the reliability of a model.