Redesign Curriculum Redesign Curriculum
Elementary/Middle
School – curriculum goals and objectives, and instructional goals and objectives,
have been designed in detail. Innovations include: a combined certification program
for elementary (1-6) and middle school in science and mathematics, education courses
starting in the first semester of the freshman year, early teaching experiences,
integrating the use of technology, and comprehensive performance-based assessment. An
elementary/middle cohort of students was selected.
Secondary – due to small numbers and
continuous entry into program during undergraduate years or post-baccalaureate entry, a
small group of specialized science content and methods courses have been designed to
augment the Unified Science certification.
Results: Pilots of both areas were initiated in the Fall of 1998.
Early Teaching Experience
Several instructional activities for
beginning preservice majors were developed and implemented. These ranged from assisting in
the instructional process to actually initiating instruction to students. Preservice
students used these activities at the Springfield Discovery Center (a hands-on teaching
museum), Strafford elementary and middle school, Nixa science club, Greene County Public
Library’s Science Odyssey, home school presentations, Springfield YMCA’s
Adventure Club, Greenwood Laboratory School, Interface, several conference Science Fairs,
Ozarks Science and Engineering Fair, Science Olympiad, Junior Academy of Science, and
Expanding Your Horizons.
Results: Over 80 students
were involved in 70 teaching and presentation activities with very favorable reviews from
student participants and participating teachers.
Technology
Integrating current and emerging applications of technology to the instructional process were
promoted to faculty and students. Faculty and students have increased the use of
technology by the evaluation, observation, participation, and use of palmtop computers,
laptop computers (30 now purchased for student use), videoconferencing (with systems
purchased for Missouri State, Strafford, and Lebanon), PowerPoint presentations, and a digital
camera for students to use in their classrooms and to document project activities. In
addition, a combined math/computer literacy class was conducted for preservice students.
Results: As a result of
the activities cited above, faculty and staff have demonstrated an increased awareness of
some of the many applications of technology to classroom instruction and preservice
preparation.
Professional Development
Development activities in technology
sponsored for faculty and students included the use of videoconferencing, web page
construction, and image processing analysis. Additional professional development
activities for the faculty included attendance at the following conferences: Science
Teachers of Missouri (STOM), Conference on Environmental Education, DESE Technology
Conference, Interface, Southwest Regional Consortium for Educational Technology (RCET),
National Science Educator Leadership Association (NSELA), National ASTC Conference,
Developing Critical Thinking Workshop, National Image Processing Workshop, the
NSF-sponsored Shaping the Future Conference, the Salish Chautauqua, and re-scoring the new
state MAP Test.
Results: Faculty and
students are more aware of issues that need to be addressed for, and techniques to be used
in, preservice science training programs.
Consultants
Consultants were brought in for the
following activities: a technology evening with Al November (a nationally
recognized speaker), University of Arkansas’ 5-year MAT program that could serve as a
model for this project, a model elementary science inquiry activity by Dr. Dean Zollman
from Kansas State University, a model science inquiry activity by Dr. Jonathon Mills from
the University of Indiana, Missouri’s mentoring programs for new teachers by Dr. Jim
Joliff from Missouri State’s College of Education, a model science inquiry activity by Frank Lojko who is the Science Supervisor for the Springfield School System, and a presentation,
defining the role of a teacher of science, by Dr. John Northrip, who is a professor of
Physics at Missouri State.
Results: All these
activities were favorably reviewed by the participants.
State
Resources
An initial group of students and faculty
took a trip to St. Louis to discover, first hand, a few of the many science resources that
exist in Missouri. Visits were made to the Missouri Botanical Garden, the St. Louis
Science Center, the Wolf Preserve, Cahokia Mounds, Locks and Dams at Alton, FFA Weather
Service, and Shaw’s Arboretum.
Results: Students and
faculty recommended continued excursions of this nature.
Collaborations
A number of activities were conducted during
the year to improve the collaboration between teacher preparation programs in science and
institutions offering K-12 education. These involved students, faculty, and teachers and
included: a number of visits to schools; teleconferencing between teacher groups; working
with the Springfield Discovery Center, YMCA Adventure Club, and Greene County Public
Library; and working with partner schools on technology.
Elementary, middle, and secondary teachers came to the Missouri State campus in the Summer of 1998
to work on new curricula for preservice teachers of science, aligned with the ShowMe
Standards and appropriate to the Missouri Science Frameworks. A culminating collaborative
activity for the year was a retreat conducted over three days on the Missouri
State-West Plains
campus that included over 14 specific activities. Twenty-four people attended this
activity, and gave it excellent reviews at the end.
Results: A number of
collaborations have been established, and will continue to be used as the project
progresses.
Research and Evaluation
A
An outside evaluation of the program as of
August, 1998, was made by Dr. Lloyd Barrow, Professor of Science Education at the
University of Missouri at Columbia.
Results: Evaluation
criteria have been established. A continuing program of baseline data collection and
analysis has been established.
Early in the project, a number
of dissemination efforts were made to publicize this activity. These included
presentations describing our Goals 2000 project to:
Area Professional
Development Committees at Fair Grove, Strafford, Nixa, and Lebanon;
Missouri
State Science Departments,
Professional Education Departments, and Deans;
The Frisco League
superintendents;
The West Plains area superintendents;
The Missouri Academy of
Science;
The Missouri Physics
Teachers Association;
The Fall Science Teachers of
Missouri (STOM) Conference;
The Missouri Science Leaders
Workshop;
The Summer meeting of the
National Science Education Leadership Association (NSELA).
In addition, project members
have:
Participated in a Chautauqua conducted by the Salish Study
conducted two workshops at Interface
Wrote an invited article for
the SW Professional Development Center’s newsletter
Wrote two articles for
publication in STOM newsletters
Conducted a pre-conference
activity at the annual Regional Consortium for Educational Technology-Southwest (RCET-SW)
meeting
The College of Natural and
Applied Sciences added this Goals 2000 site to theirs.
Results: Many
dissemination efforts were made and these efforts will continue.
