
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, August 20, 1993                   TAG: 9308200203
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-12   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

SOUTHWEST, NORTHERN VA. TO JOIN IN RESEARCH

Virginia Tech researchers will guide a year of scientific research projects in which four Southwest Virginia teachers and 19 students are joining six students from Thomas Jefferson High School in Fairfax.

The model program is sponsored by the Southwest Virginia Public Education Consortium, based at Clinch Valley College in Wise, and the Powell River Project of Virginia Tech seeking new ways to reclaim strip-mined land.

The Tech researchers are Lee Daniels, Barry Stewart, Jack Hall, John Torbert and Greg Noe.

They recently completed a weeklong training conference at Clinch Valley and the Powell River Project with the students and teachers, covering problem identification, data collection, statistics and other aspects of research.

"All the research is original and focuses on important questions," said Jon Rockett, Powell River Project agent. "The research is at a high level for this grade level. In fact, some of it would be considered appropriate" for master's-degree work.

"This is a wonderful experiment in teaching science in new ways," said Marcia Quesenberry, executive director of the educational consortium. "We hope to continue to expand this program in the years to come, and eventually integrate research as a vital component of the high school experience in Southwest Virginia."

by CNB