Some teachers at the April Collaborative meeting indicated that they were unable to open their cds with the Flash animations.  They need a Flash Reader.

The Collaborative For Excellence In Science Teaching web site, http://www.Region10UNT.com  , offers a free Flash Reader via the button at the bottom of the home page.  So does Adobe at www.Adobe.com

Pushing the Flash Button takes one to the free Adobe Flash Download site.

Simply press their download button and you will be able to read Flash files.   

Rev: 02/21/2008

The Regional Collaborative for Excellence in Science Teaching UNT

Project Director: 

Dr. Jim Roberts, Professor of Physics and Material Science and Director of the Center for Nonlinear Science UNT

General Program Description Participants will be recruited form high minority schools to learn science content in an environment that engages them in hands-on activities to allow them to develop their understanding of how scientific and technological devices work. Participants will be taught how to design lesson plans, make models for demonstration and to incorporate the most effective teaching models for teaching science.

 Anticipated Impact of Project During the summer of 2006 over sixty-eight teachers participated in he program. Their impact should be transferred to their schools and we will see the results soon. Part of the summer sessions of 2008 will be used to explore the impact through participant/teacher discussions. We shall modify our plans according to what we learn, if need be. Over 50 teachers along with their students will be impacted to better understand science and especially physics and how to better prepare students in their teaching role.

EARTH SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT WILL BE A MAJOR THEME OF THE PROGRAM

The need for qualified science teachers, especially in physics, is extremely high among the under represented populations. This program is designed to attack this need through the use of modules and exercises that are designed to be user friendly with “hands-on” capabilities. The materials will be available in both English and Spanish. With the large Hispanic population in the state of Texas, it becomes necessary to reduce the barriers to access science as much as possible.

Assessment: (1) A Science Processing Skills Test will be administered to determine a base of reference. The instrument is designed to determine the degree of use of the scientific method in solving problems and making an analysis of the results. (2) A knowledge content test over physics topics that are milestones in discovery will be given to determine the level of mastery of physics topics. The instrument consists of 100 questions over physics topics that represent important discoveries in science. Questions over time and motion, energy sources, potential and kinetic energy, simple electricity, atomic structure and other items that reflect some knowledge of physics and related topics: (3) Each activity will have a pretest that precedes the activity. A post- test will be given thereafter. The pre test will be used to set a level of understanding of what remediation is needed. There are ten questions on each test used to set a level of understanding of what remediation is needed in the specific activities. Each test is reviewed by the Project Directors to determine the specific nature of the remediation and training needed. These tests will serve as a reference to provide direction for future programs in the area of science/physics.

Teachers who work in the area schools will be recruited into the program to act as both participants and mentor teachers for the other teachers who are new in the program. The area teachers who have participated in the programs in the past will be recruited in limited number to serve as mentor models.

 The two Project Directors will provide pedagogy training (Dr. Crocker) and knowledge content in physics (Dr. Roberts). Other members of the staff will be responsible for helping carry out the mission of the project. The assistant teachers chosen have experience in pedagogy and knowledge content. Dr. Crocker will supervise the pedagogy component and Dr. Roberts will supervise the knowledge content personnel.

Several high-needs LEAs have been identified and teachers from those agencies recruited into the program. Specifically, teachers not teaching in the academic subjects or grade levels that the teachers were trained to teach, or for which there is a high percentage of teachers with emergency, provisional, or temporary certification or licensing are being targeted.

Without the help of the ISDs providing the teachers for the program and, in many instances allowing teachers to be out of the classroom to attend professional meetings, the program could not be highly successful. Space to conduct some of the activities has been offered and in the past provided to allow the teachers to reduce the distance of travel. These "contributions" to the program are most helpful in implementing the program activities and leading to its success.

The staff chosen to implement the program is highly qualified and each has a track record that is outstanding. We anticipate that this expertise will be invaluable in making the program achieve its desired objectives.

Part of the training will take place in 15 days of activities with over 90 contact hours during summer 2008. These activities will be preceded with activities in the fall of 2007 in Saturday class meetings of 6 hours each for 40+ hours with mandatory attendance at fall 2007 CAST meeting. The program is continuing into spring 2008 and will be finalized in summer 2008. At that time a full accounting can be made of the implementation of the total program.

Most of the teachers who participated in the program earlier expressed a change in the way they approach science teaching. Follow-up sessions with the group in fall 2006 indicate that a renewed interest exists in the teachers as evidenced by better participation and sharing of new ideas generated in their classrooms after the intervention. A web site has been set up to share ideas across the group and with anyone else who wants to access the site. Some teachers who previously had made no contributions have provided modules and activities that can be included on the web sites.

The knowledge gained in earlier phases will be used to build a better set of program activities for future activities. New insights exist among the staff concerning the needs of K−12 teachers and students through the experiences in the present program.

The higher education personnel who have participated in the program now show a better appreciation of what the needs are to produce qualified teachers of science in the area who can understand better vertical integration of the sciences and to guarantee that lower and higher grade levels can appreciate what each group is doing and what each group's needs are.  These previous “vertical integration” of the sciences seems to provide a smoother transition for the teachers in the lower to upper grade levels.

Goals and Objectives:

• Skills will be developed in the physics experiments

• Data gathering and analysis using a number of experiments will be taught.

• The scientific method will be stressed in all activities.

• Students will learn conceptual science and physics at heightened levels.

• Skills will be developed in correlating the TEKS with what is to be taught.

• The participant teachers will be taught the preparation of special experiments that will motivate and inform the students with an emphasis on the use of information located at web sites on the Internet.

• Outcomes of significantly enhanced teacher practices customized in Physics for high school students of distinct pedagogical needs due to economically, culturally, ethnically, and linguistically distinct characteristics of students.

• Teachers teaching out of field will be encouraged to enter the program

• Earth science and its role in enhancing the knowledge base and understanding of our environment will be promoted.

The program will consist of meetings on Saturdays for 7 meetings of six hours each during the fall 2007 and spring 2008. During summer, 2008, the program will meet for 15 days with 6 hour sessions each day for at least 90 hours in the summer and 85 hours during the regular sessions. In addition, each participant is encouraged to attend area meetings such as miniCAST held yearly in the area and a statewide meeting such as CAST to gain the latest information about activities in the teaching of science available to each teacher. Select topics from the menu below will be incorporated into the activities as determined from the needs expressed by the participating teachers.

• TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM: Calculators/graphing, data analyzers, technology to collect data , voltage, light levels, temperature probes, use of pH meters, etc.
• Digital cameras, data storage, computer interface, network access, electronic information sources, image capture, storage and retrieval.
• Multimeter, voltage, resistance, current, power supply construction/use
• Light waves and sound projection, light kit experiments, sound velocity in air.
• Concepts of motion, Newton’s laws of motion, free fall, gravity.
• Motion of the Moon, tracking the Sun, rotation of Earth, properties of magnifiers, construction of a telescope (refracting and reflecting) and the use of lenses and other magnifying devices to view earth materials.
• Properties of prisms, lenses, and plane and curved mirrors.
• Force, energy and motion for the use of mankind.
• Chemical processes in soil water and the atmosphere.
• Simple machines and efficiency of such devices.  Reduction in pollution of the environment.
• Sources of power, water, wind, gravity, nuclear, for the use of mankind.

This is a general description.  A detailed program will be available soon.  We will meet at lease six meetings in the fall of 2007 and at least six meetings in the Spring of 2008 and for 90 hours in summer 2008.  All sessions will be six or more hours with provisions for meetings such as CAST and miniCAST.

Materials, travel costs and a small stipend will be paid.  The amount of the stipends depend upon the level of funding obtained. Bold dates are meeting dates for the program.

APPLICATION FORM

NAME_________________________________________________________________

HOME ADDRESS_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

ETHNICITY: 

(  )  African-American (  ) Asian-American (  ) Caucasian (  ) Hispanic (  ) Native American (  ) other                                                                          

     (   )  MALE (   ) FEMALE

EDUCATION LEVEL:

(  )  High School   (  ) Bachelor    (  ) Master    (  ) Doctorate    (   ) other

E-MAIL ADDRESS: Office____________________Home____________________

TELEPHONE:________________________(H)_____________________________(O)

SCHOOL:______________________________________________________________

PERCENT UNDERREPRESENTED POPULATIONS AT YOUR SCHOOL______

YEARS TAUGHT_________________SPECIALTY___________________________

COMPUTER ACCESS:   (  )  HOME       (  ) OFFICE    TYPE_____________________

Have you enrolled at UNT before?  (  )  YES   (  ) NO   WHEN?____________________