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A good teacher uses whatever he can to reach struggling students. It could be books, flashcards, extra homework or, in the case of Hasan Suzuk, a 17-year-old girl.

In what turned out to be a win-win situation, the Dove Science Academy teacher helped 10th-grader Areli Hernandez create a prize-winning science project by befriending and tutoring a gaggle of sixth-grade girls. Twice a week for six months, Hernandez and eight younger girls, all Hispanic, met after school in a classroom at the charter school at 919 NW 23. While the sixth-graders worked on homework, Hernandez was there to help and to get to know them.

‘Big sister’ The group also bonded over four off-campus dinners – twice at Hernandez’s house. They celebrated each other’s birthdays and played “Secret Santa” at Christmas.

“She’s like their big sister,” Suzuk said. “Sometimes they talk about boyfriends or problems at home. They share everything, not just the work.”

Tests and surveys at the start and end of the six-month experiment showed every girl raised her grades and teachers reported improved study skills and self-esteem. As a group, their standardized test scores jumped almost 20 points in math and 13 points in reading.

Hernandez credits Suzuk with suggesting the science project, which finished first in its division at the Oklahoma Junior Academy of Science this week. But Suzuk said it was Hernandez’s idea to expand the school’s traditional tutoring into a closer relationship. Now other sixth-grade girls are demanding a big sister too, and some of the original eight who no longer need tutoring refuse to leave the program, Suzuk said. One girl told him she would deliberately do poorly on a standardized test if doing well meant being removed from the program.

Suzuk, who teaches sixth-grade math and computer science, said mentoring works because it is based on a relationship that is not possible between a student and teacher.

“When a student helps them, they see her as a friend, not a teacher,” Suzuk said. Program widens, but no boys In a group interview, the younger girls sang Hernandez’s praises. “At first I didn’t understand some things, and she helped me understand. My grades got higher. She helped me a lot and she’s nice,” Yemelin Calderon said.

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A device commonly used for heating is called a furnace. The word comes from the Latin word fornax, which means oven. These structures have been around for centuries. What is thought to have been the earliest form of this structure was excavated in Pakistan. At its prime, the device was probably used to manufacture ceramics. American and Canadian English use the word furnace to describe a household-heating device. In British English, this type of device is termed a boiler or heater and the term furnace is assigned to describe an industrial furnace.

There are different types. These devices vary in shape, size, purpose and fuel supply. The primary types: household, metallurgical, industrial process and outdoor wood-fired boilers.

A household furnace is a type of major appliance. Generally they are permanently installed in a home. Within the United States, natural gas is used to fuel these devices. Other fuel sources include liquefied petroleum gas, fuel oil, wood and coal. There are three primary components: controls and safety devices; blower and air movement; and burners, heat exchanger, venting and draft inducer. Modern structures can be classified as condensing or non-condensing, depending upon their ability to extract heat from exhaust gases.

These household structures provide heat through the intermediary movement of hot water, steam or air. When the heat is distributed through a system that uses hot water or steam, it is often called a boiler. An advantage of this type of system is that it elements the need for a separate water heater because it can provide the hot water necessary for a household. A disadvantage is that when the structure breaks down, no heating and domestic hot water will be available. Devices that use air convection can circulate air around the house and pull back cold hair to be reheated. The air is circulated through ductwork. An advantage of this system is that a central air conditioner can be easily installed by adding a cooling coil.

In metallurgy, several specialized structures are used. Some are used for smelting. An example is the blast furnace, which can reduce iron ore to pig iron. There are also steelmaking furnaces such as puddling, basic oxygen and electric induction. Metallurgical devices are often used in foundries to remelt metal. Some can heat treat metal for slitting and rolling mills. Vacuum furnaces can heat metal materials for brazing, sintering and other processes.

An industrial furnace may provide heat for a specific process. It can also be a reactor. These structures will vary in appearance. This is because they have variable functions, heating duties, fuel types and the methods of adding combustion air.

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