Biography

Lesson Plan
Students will explore data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau through inquiry, cooperative learning and class discussions. Students will work cooperatively in groups to collect data, and challenged to analyze it. When presented with a possible real life problem, they will be encouraged to investigate possible solutions. They will also learn to write a persuasive essay using the data to support their argument. Finally as an alternative assessment, groups will have an opportunity to defend their essay to the class. The examples in this lesson reflect data for Pennsylvania, but other states and data sets could be substituted.

Lesson Title: Show Me the Money - The Census and Grant Process

• Grand Prize Winner
• Third Prize Winner

Tera Ryan

Mrs. Tera Ryan was born in Irwin, Pennsylvania and raised in Tucson, Arizona. She currently resides in Pennsylvania with her husband, Jim, and son, Dustin. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education and is currently working towards a Master of Arts Degree in Geography and Regional Planning from California University of Pennsylvania, California, PA.

When Mrs. Ryan’s son lost his hearing at an early age, she became a teacher in order to help him succeed in school. However, it was a college math class taught by Dr. John Starmack that truly inspired her to pursue a career in education. Dr. Starmack taught Mrs. Ryan that it is not what you teach, but how you teach that counts and that learning is a discovery process for students and teachers alike. She has always been fascinated with learning.

Mrs. Ryan participated in the contest because she thought it was a great opportunity to use census data in the classroom, particularly at the elementary level.

Her hobbies are golf, fishing with her family, and nature walks.

Dr. Thomas Mueller, Ph.D.

Dr. Thomas Mueller was born in Southern New Jersey moved to Ohio, Michigan, and then to Massachusetts. Most of his childhood years were spent in Massachusetts.

He has a B.S. in Geography from Towson University, Towson, MD; an M.A. in Geography from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT; and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Illinois, Urbana, IL.

Dr. Mueller is currently a professor of geography, planning and information sciences at the California University of Pennsylvania; he has been teaching for 4 years.

He decided to become a teacher when he attended Towson University. Dr. John Morgan III, Professor Phil Canter, and Dr. Kent Barnes encouraged him to become a better student by showing their love for geography and their love of teaching geography. He also thoroughly enjoyed geography and wanted to pass that enthusiasm on to others.

He has used Census data in many of his classes prior to participating in the lesson plan contest. In the freshmen courses that he teaches, the students learn to gather data from the Census Bureau website; his senior level students gather data from the website and analyze it using many methods, including projecting populations in the future and using the gravity model.

Dr. Mueller’s hobbies include playing golf and spending time outside.