The Massachusetts Higher Education Coordinating Council has funded 25 projects in the 1996-1997 cycle (September 1996 - August 1997). This directory includes:
The Moakley Center/CityLab Connection Project will provide real-life science research applications for professional development to educators in the Brockton and Bridgewater- Raynham Public School Districts. The teachers will become facilitators of this knowledge of their classrooms, and the students will become participants in the City/Lab experience.
The Goal of the Moakley Center/CityLab Connection Project is to continue this outreach by making this professional development experience available to twenty-five educators from the Brockton and Bridgewater-Raynham Public Schools. Additionally, the professional development will allow for more intensive experiences in the CityLab facilities as well as exposure to additional CityLab explorations.
The Moakley Center/CityLab Connection Project has the following objectives:
For more information, please contact:
Sue McCombe
Office of Grants and Sponsored Projects:
Bridgewater State College
Bridgewater, MA 02325
Email: smccombe@bridgew.edu
Placing Environmental Education Resources in Schools on Cape Cod(P.E.E.R.S.C.C.) is a comprehensive program of the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension in collaboration with the Cape Cod Environmental Education Resource Center at Cape Cod Community College. In this second year of receiving DD Eisenhower funds includes:
For more information, please contact:
Mr. William Clark
Deed & Probate Building, P.O. Box 367
Barnstable, MA 02630
Voice: (508) 362-2511, ext.585
The project involves the continued development of a fully collaborative and comprehensive K-16 model of professional development, focused on a set of four schools, three of which are in the "south quadrant" of Worcester, socially and ethnically the most diverse area of the city, and arguably in greatest need economically.
Expanding a process launched this year, the project will concentrate over the next 2-3 years on building and understanding, in both concept and practice, of curriculum frameworks and related assessment practices, as well as the principles of effective teaching. The expanded process will entail identifying and supporting the development of new teacher- leaders, together with Clark liberal arts and education faculty. These colleagues will form expanded (from the original teams established in January 1996) multi-level (K-16) curriculum study and planning teams responsible for planning and facilitating summer 1997 "Curriculum and Knowing" professional development in the arts, humanities, mathematics, physical and national sciences, and social sciences. Members of these teams will also support, on-site and in quarterly seminars, the development of teachers' practice in light of the priorities of educational reform, mentor Clark masters students and contribute to the evaluation and development of the collaborative "Ways of Knowing" courses for teacher preparation students. These activities reflect the overall effort of the Collaborative to unite the strengths and resources of each institution in building a comprehensive and self-sustaining professional development program which fulfills the goals of educational reform in Massachusetts and the country.
The project objectives are:
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Thomas DelPrete
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610-1477
Voice: (508) 793-7222
Email: tdelprete@vax.clarku.edu
Cooperative education and inquiry-based curricula are important ingredients of improved science and math education, but they are not in and of themselves adequate solutions, especially in urban schools where teachers face special challenges. Their classrooms are heterogeneous and often multilingual. They have a wide set of academic achievements and preparation; many students are unable to read at grade level. Therefore, when teachers use activity based and student centered curricula they face problems of implementation. Teachers often receive little preparation, organizational or scientific support for these attempts. In heterogeneous classrooms it is necessary to address the issue of equity in groups and to provide multiple opportunities for learners to grasp difficult concepts. We feel that Complex Instruction provides an important link between content and pedagogy which can enhance the ability of teachers to provide high quality science and math education for today's increasingly diverse school populations.
The Complex Instruction (CI) Project is a five year long collaboration between the Hiatt Center for Urban Education at Clark University and the Goddard School of Science and Technology, a Worcester Public elementary school. This innovative project features sustained staff development and support for teachers to implement and become expert in teaching science and math using a hands-in curriculum that supports high level conceptual learning for all students in a diverse urban population. During the 96-97 year, we will offer staff development to 1) further disseminate this intervention by supporting experienced CI teacher-researchers, working closely with an environmental scientist, to develop, adapt, pilot and assess curriculum units which are closely tied into state and national frameworks so that the many teachers whom we have trained over the course of the last three years will have adequate curriculum; 2)create a collaborative project with experienced curriculum developers from Stanford University who have devised a model of advanced professional development through curriculum work; 3) provide supportive classroom feedback to newly trained teachers.
For more information, please contact:
Maureen Reddy
Clark University
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610-1477
Voice: 508-793-7222
Email: mreddy@vax.clarku.edu
Webpage address: http://www.clarku.edu
Greenfield Community College and the Hitchcock Center for the Environment will be sponsoring ScienceWorks, a two part series professional development workshops focusing on the physical sciences. This year the topic will be electricity and magnetism. A total of 40 teachers from grades 4-6 will be recruited to attend one of two seminars consisting of 8 workshops for a total of 30 hours. Participants will receive a stipend or graduate credit from North Adams State and materials to build curriculum kit.
The ScienceWorks Seminars seek to facilitate implementation of the Science and Technology Frameworks by increasing the competency of teachers in the domain of the physical sciences. In order to achieve this goal the ScienceWorks curricula will follow a three-pronged approach that focuses on high quality content, inquiry based methodology, and the production of curriculum kits to assist teachers in applying inquiry-based activities in their classrooms. Kits will include demonstration materials to be used by teachers in their classrooms. Teachers will be expected to provide in-service training at their home schools.
To address issues of gender equity, The Gender Equity Center of Western Massachusetts will present a workshop on the inclusive classroom. The major topics will include strategies for increasing the comfort level of female teachers and students in the physical sciences and ways to better understand gender bias in the classroom.
For more information, please contact:
Karen Green
Greenfield Community College
1 College Drive
Greenfield, Mass. 01301
Voice: 774-3131 ext. 334
Fax: (413)-773-5129
Email address: Green@gcc.mass.edu
Webpage address: http://www.gcc.mass.edu
The Partnership/Eisenhower Project reflects the recommendation of the National Science Education Standards, the Massachusetts State Professional Development Plan, the Massachusetts Common Core of Learning, the Curriculum Frameworks in Mathematics, Science & Technology, and the school and college faculty participating in the previous project.
There are four components to the project:
The project evaluation will include participant information on goals, indicators of success and general suggestions as well as follow-up evaluations to determine impact in the classroom. The follow-up evaluation will focus primarily on the summer 1996, fall 1996, and winter 1997 earth science workshops.
For more information, please contact:
Sue Thrasher or Donna Dorrell
Five College/Public School Partnership
Five College Center, 97 Spring Street
Amherst, MA 01002
Voice: 413-256-8316
Fax: 413-256-0249
Email: partner@k12.oit.umass.edu
Webpage address: http://k12s.phast.umass.edu/~partner
Phase I is a 10-day Institute , occurring on alternate Wednesday from January to May (1997), which helps approximately 40 Boston teachers of science, grades 6-12 understand and critically appropriate for their own practice the recommendations of science teaching and learning that appear in the Commonwealth's Common Core and Science and Technology Curriculum Frameworks, the National Science Education Standards, and the new draft Science Learning Standards (SLS) of the Boston Public Schools. Activities include 1) large and small group discussions of science reform documents, 2) participation in hands-on science designed to illustrate inquiry science teaching, 3) presentations by practicing scientists and science educators from the Harvard University School of Medicine, Graduate School of Education and Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and 4) composition of personal professional development plans for further work in reformed science teaching and learning.
Phase II includes 1) a one-day call back session for 60 graduates of last-year's Institute and of the PALM/Museum of Science Mini-Sabbatical Program to study the new draft SLS and 2) a series of 8 afternoon workshops during January through May where 24 of these graduates will study and pilot in their classrooms select Student Product Protocols which are required by the SLS.
The success of Phase II will be demonstrated by teachers who 1) say they are confidently knowledgeable about the ideas of science and science education embedded in the science reform documents and 2) have developed an individualized professional development plan for their use in science education reform.
The success of Phase II will be demonstrated by teachers 1) who say they are well informed about the content and methods of the SLS and 2) have piloted the Student Products of the SLS and reported on their experience with them.
For more information, please contact:
Ann Hamadeh
Science Program
Boston Public Schools
Campbell Resource Center
1216 Dorchester Avenue
Dorchester, MA, 02125
Voice: (617) 635-8750
Fax: (617) 635-7939
Dr. Robert Traver
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Read House, Appian Way
Cambridge, MA 02138
Voice: (617) 496-4285
Email: rob_traver@harvard.edu
(rob_traver@harvard.edu)
A series of five professional development workshops will be conducted for Fall River middle school teachers during 1996-97 school year. These workshops will immerse teachers in strategies, techniques and activities to assist them in teaching life and earth sciences in a non-traditional setting (Tattapanum Forest Trail) ideally suited for PALMS learning. Professional environmental staff will assist teachers in refining and implementing the Fall River Forest Ecology curriculum in grades 6-8.
Objectives:
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Patricia Sheppard
P.O. Box 87037
South Dartmouth, MA 02748
Voice: (508) 990-0505
In response to widespread interest in the new Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and constructivist theory, The Massachusetts Audubon Society has developed the Environmental Frameworks Project. While many teachers and administrators have a working knowledge of both the Frameworks and "constructivism" as a pedagogical theory, few grasp how to apply either in an elementary classroom setting. The Environmental Frameworks Project has two goals:
The Project is designed to work with eighteen schools in five school districts. We will provide professional development services for teachers in Melrose, Hudson, Cambridge, Medford, and Norton. The students in these schools will immediately become more engaged in learning mathematics and science.
Each school system will receive services tailored to meet their perceived needs. The different services include a summer institute, workshops, classroom "modeling" sessions, and field trips to a variety of natural sites. All of the activities will be tied together by their emphasis on the use of natural resources such as a school yard or a local park for the teaching of mathematics and science. The first goal of these lessons will be to apply the curriculum frameworks to outdoor science and mathematics using an inquiry based, learner directed approach. The second goal will be to facilitate the creation of interdisciplinary lessons and projects that have practical applications in the classroom.
For more information, please contact:
Cleti Cervoni, Director of Education
Massachusetts Audubon Society
208 South Great Rd.
Lincoln, MA 01773
Voice: 617-259-9500 ext. 7251
Fax: 617-259-8899
Email: ccervoni@massaudubon.org
Natural History of the Schoolyard: Thematic Curricula will provide a professional development program for 48 teachers, grades K-12, from throughout the Connecticut River Valley which includes Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire Counties.
In this second year, we are taking the next logical step in the learning process and are helping teachers to take the information they've learned and develop tangible products. We are facilitating a process in which teachers will apply Curriculum Frameworks, implement the PALMS approach, use the medium of environmental education (as recommended in the Common Core of Learning), and generate integrated thematic units which will emphasize math and science, but also integrate portions of the five remaining Frameworks (Social Studies & History, English/Language Arts, World Languages, The Arts, and Health). Specifically, each focus group, will be made up of 3-4 teachers, will create an age/ability appropriate thematic unit that will be printed and distributed to all participants for use in their schools and for sharing with their colleagues. We hope in this way to reach educators far beyond those that are participating in this grant program.
At the completion of this program, 48 teachers will have created up to twelve, 30-50 pages, integrated thematic units that will be reproduced by a commercial printer. Each participant will receive a full set for use and sharing with their colleagues as examples of teaching under the 1993 Education Reform Act.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Douglas Kimball
793 Main Street
Hampden, MA 01036
Voice: (413) 566-8034
This project pairs pre-service art education students and in- service teachers of special education together for the purposes of designing and implementing arts-infused, interdisciplinary curriculum. The proposal came about at the request of MCA students engaged in pre-practicum hours at the site and the teachers/administrators of McKinley, a Boston Public School servicing students presenting severe emotional/behavioral/social issues. It is a dynamic model which is founded upon collaboration amongst teachers and involves actual implementation with McKinley students.
This program funds opportunity. The professional development structure provides for specific exchange between pre- service and in-service teachers on-site as well as the integration of expertise from school-based administrators, college faculty and visiting artists. Authentic assessment tools are utilized by students, pre-service teachers and in-service teachers in hopes of modeling best practice for reflection, responsibility and lifelong learning.
In addition to weekly work with McKinley students, two all day, whole community art-making events are planned. Professional development for both pre-service and in-service teachers will occur both semesters and a final exhibition of all student and teacher work will open in June.
For more information, please contact:
Maureen Kelly, Associate Professor of Art Education
Massachusetts College of Art
621 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
Voice: 617-232-1555, ext. 407
Fax: 617-566-4034
Email: mokelly@cybercom.net
The Massachusetts Corporation for Educational Telecommunications (MCET) proposes the development, production, distribution, and assessment of a distance learning series for science teachers, titled High Seas. High Seas will offer teachers: an opportunity to advance their students' knowledge through participation in interactive broadcasts; statewide interaction on MCET's Mass Ed Online LearnNet computer network; content and curriculum materials designed to meet national standards and statewide curriculum frameworks; access from every school district in the Commonwealth; Professional Development Points (PDPs) toward state recertification. Science teachers and administrators serve as advisors to MCET, providing "customer input" in MCET's development of new teaching resources for improvement of students' core science curriculum learning.
The future scientific research, and the resulting advances in knowledge it spawns, depends directly on how successfully the nation cultivates its human resources. This project seeks to serve this understanding by increasing teachers' and students' science interest and aptitude. MCET technologies, with their power to deliver quality professional development opportunities equitably statewide, offer new promise to traditionally underserved communities and students.
MCET builds youth and adult learning communities by using combinations of technologies to link schools and community groups from diverse ethnic, economic and geographic locations. MCET develops and distributes programming targeting the needs of underserved populations in rural and urban communities, using new telecommunication and instructional media to involve learners in a variety of subjects and to promote career interests.
For more information, please contact:
Cardie Texter
Massachusetts Corporation for Educational Telecommunications
One Kendall Square
Building 1500
Cambridge, Mass 02139-1562
Voice: 617-252-5700
Fax: 617-252-5709
Email: Cardie@MCET.edu
Webpage address: http://www.mcet.edu
This project presents a seminar series for elementary school teachers in Lawrence, MA, to provide them with the technical guidance needed to produce a developmental, integrated science curriculum for grades K-6. The goal is to create a model for enhancing science education by providing classroom teachers with practical, non-textbook science training and support, and an ongoing source of appropriate resources. Training is provided in Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Mathematics experiments to 22- 24 teachers.
The program helps children develop systematic observation, recording, measuring, and predicting skills. After the teachers perform the experiments in the seminar, they replicate them in their classrooms with materials and equipment provided by the college. They return with student responses. Teachers also develop new experiments based on supplementary materials distributed in seminars.
Approximately 500 students a year perform between 15 and 25 experiments through this program. An additional 200 students participated in experiments conducted by Merrimack College Faculty.
During the summer, a week-long science camp for 45 students is held on the Merrimack campus. Six of ten of the teachers who have been through the training conduct hands-on experiments with students under supervision of college faculty in Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Mathematics.
In 1996-97, the project is contributing more systemic change through collaboration with the Lawrence School Department and other outside providers to integrate external programs with the new science curriculum and with available Windows on Science Technology.
For more information, please contact:
A. Patricia Jaysane
Merrimack College Urban Resource Institute
65 East Haverhill Street
Lawrence, MA 01841
Voice: (508) 837-5468
Fax: (508) 682-1749
Through Learning Mathematics Teaching Mathematics, SMT will offer two content courses for teachers and a series of seminar meetings for administrators.
Conceptual Foundations for Teaching Elementary Mathematics
Summer Math for Teachers is offering a course designed to allow teachers to explore the mathematical content of the elementary curriculum. CFTEM meets weekly from 4 to 7 on Tuesday evenings starting in mid-September and ending in mid- December. Mathematical topics to be addressed include
The course will be taught in a manner which is consistent with the instructional approaches being suggested by the mathematics reform movement and will award four graduate credits in mathematics education. Course Instructor: Jill Lester at 413-538- 2654 or jlester@mhc.mtholyoke.edu
Conceptual Foundations for the Teaching of Calculus
Using small group instruction, computer program explorations, and writing as a tool for learning, the course Conceptual Foundations for the Teaching of Calculus (CFTC) provides the means for teachers of grades 7 -12 to investigate the mathematical ideas underlying the concepts of calculus. While the text, Calculus in Context (developed through the NSF-funded Five Colleges Calculus Project) serves as curriculum, the course is responsive to the needs and backgrounds of the participating teachers. The class will be taught in a manner which is consistent with the instructional approaches being suggested by the mathematics reform movement and will award four graduate credits in mathematics education. CFTC meets twice a month throughout the school year (September to May) on Tuesdays from 4 to 7. Course Instructor: Virginia Bastable at 413-538-2071 or vbastabl@mhc.mtholyoke.edu
The Mathematics Education Reform Administrators' Seminar
SummerMath for Teachers continues to offer administrators the opportunity to meet and discuss topics related to staff development and the teaching of mathematics. The Mathematics Education Reform Administrators' Seminar meetings for the 1996-1997 school year will be held on the second Friday of each month during the academic year from 9:30 to 12.
For more information, please contact:
Virginia Bastable and Jill Lester
SummerMath for Teachers
302 Shattuck Hall
South Hadley, MA 01075
Voice: 413-538-2071 (Virginia Bastable), Email: vbastabl@mhc.mtholyoke.edu
Voice: 413-538-2654 (Jill Lester), Email: jlester@mhc.mtholyoke.edu
Fax: 413-538-2002
The Merrimack River Valley Investigations in Science (MRVIS) is a project designed by Northern Essex Community College (NECC) in collaboration with the Amesbury, Dracut, Georgetown, Haverhill, Lawrence, Methuen and Newburyport Public School systems and the Masconomet and Pentucket Regional School Districts. This project will conduct professional development short courses and workshops for local teachers which empower the teachers to infuse into their classrooms the units of hands-on science developed in Year One through Year Three of MRVIS as well as other appropriate science and mathematics materials such as GEMS from the University of California at Berkeley.
New to this year's grant will be a workshop on an interdisciplinary approach (involving geography, history, government and science) to a local bog and help for participating school districts in building partnerships with local businesses. The units were designed to utilize the unique resources of the Merrimack River Valley as the site for a series of laboratory and field experiences for grades five through nine dealing with the Earth, Physical, Chemical, Life and Environmental Sciences. The work done under this year's requested grant will be disseminated to the participating schools and teachers. The units and the experiences gained using the units in the classroom will be shared by way of the telecommunications capabilities of the Mass LearnPike and a series of meetings, workshops, and conferences.
NECC is the higher education partner for the PALMS Northeast Regional Provider in the Merrimack Valley and embodies the PALMS philosophy an all hands-on curriculum units and training workshops conducted in math, science and technology. All professional development workshops and short courses support the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for Math, Science and Technology.
For more information, please contact:
H. Henrick Holden, Jr.
Department of Natural Sciences.
Elliott Way .
Haverhill, MA 01830-2399.
Voice: (508) 374-3891.
Email: hholden@necc.mass.edu
HealthNet is an inquiry-based health education enhancement program which uses the Internet as a means for engaging elementary students in learning about health behaviors and their consequences, sharing data, and gathering health information. HealthNet's mission is twofold: to enhance health education at the elementary school level through the use of telecommunications and inquiry-based learning, and to develop working partnerships between teachers and school nurses.
The Eisenhower Program is providing funds to support the participation of eleven to twelve new schools in HealthNet in 1996- 7. Each of the schools will send two teachers and the school nurse to a series of intensive workshops at Simmons College. Two pre- service teachers from the Simmons College Education Program and two students from the Simmons College Graduate Program in Primary Health Care Nursing will also attend. All participants will receive training in telecommunications and in the HealthNet Monitoring Projects (Attendance, Food For Thought, Sweet Tooth, Rest & Relaxation, Exercise, and Hygiene). Each of the monitoring projects have applications to multiple strands from the math, science, and health Frameworks. After the initial training at Simmons, training will continue online throughout the year through the use of a special listserv, which will be facilitated by Simmons College faculty members in the Departments of Education, Biology, Psychology, and Nutrition.
For more information, please contact:
Randi Lite, Program Director
Kathleen Dunn, Program Coordinator
300 The Fenway
Boston, MA 02115
Voice: 617-521-2660 (Randi Lite)
Voice: 617-521-2554 (Kathleen Dunn)
Email: rlite@VMSVAX.SIMMONS.EDU
Webpage address: http://whale.simmons.e
du/healthnet
The Integrated Preservice Inservice Model Project will provide elementary school teachers, especially those in the Springfield Public Schools, with innovative ways to implement the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for Science and Technology in their classrooms, and in coordination with Springfield's new Student Outcome goals. Springfield College faculty worked with Springfield Public School personnel to design the project, consistent with the requirements of the Eisenhower Professional Development Program. Year 2 continuation will allow the Model Project to be implemented over an entire school year, building upon knowledge and experience gained from initial activities in Year 1.
Ecology will again be used to model the content and pedagogy of the Frameworks in preservice and inservice teacher training. Student teachers from Springfield College and veteran teachers from the Springfield Public Schools will be given the opportunity, in this inquiry based approach, to be learners, to reflect upon that experience and then to collaborate in translating that experience into their elementary classrooms. The five objectives for Year 2 are:
Inservice teachers will attend a two-week summer workshop. Through prepracticum course work and practicum experience in elementary classrooms, preservice teachers at Springfield College will receive comparable training and practice in using the Ecology model. The project will facilitate the development of College and Public Schools teachers to support one another after the integrated preservice-inservice professional training.
For more information, please contact:
Bob Barkman
Springfield College
273 Alden Street
Springfield, Mass. 01109
Voice: 413-748-3734
Fax: 413-746-3236
Email: rbarkman@spfldcol.edu
Project will address identified training needs of Springfield Public School faculty designated to teach in the new High School of Science and Technology. The project will provide training to 30 teachers in the following: a) utilizing the Interment, b) responding to the needs of diverse learners and extended class periods through alternative teaching strategies and classroom management techniques, and c) connecting math and science through integration of project-based and group activities in Probability and Statistics. A 14-hour INTERNET LIVE! workshop-to include Internet basics, specific tips for educators, and follow-up trouble-shooting-will be offered between September and June. In Summer '97, a week-long Institute and accompanying handbook for math and science teachers will help them to:
increase the quality rather than quantity of instruction provided in
For more information, please contact:
Patricia Crosby, Director of Special Projects
Springfield Technical Community College
One Armory Square
PO Box 9000
Springfield, Massachusetts 01101
Voice: 413-781-7822
For the second year, TIOBEC, in partnership with Northeastern University's Center for Innovation in Urban Education, the Boston Public Schools, Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound, and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority will run the Outward Bound Summer Institute for Interdisciplinary Science-Base Learning. The program is a professional development program for Boston teachers which has, in conjunction, an academic summer school for Boston middle-school students.
The goal of the program is to improve the teaching of science by developing interdisciplinary teaching skills. Targeted are science, math and humanities teachers. Using Thompson Island and Boston Harbor as an example of a field site, 30 Boston teachers (inservice, preservice and induction), with the guidance of Outward Bound professionals, will develop and deliver interdisciplinary science-based curriculum for use in their classrooms. The 60 Boston middle school students in the program are instructed by teams of the teachers who practice their curriculum on the students.
The pedagogy and methods in the Institute are based on the work of Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound, a nationally established school reform initiative where teachers become guides in the design and delivery of 'learning expeditions'. The Institute opens with a three-day Outward Bound Research expedition on board TIOBEC's sail and motorized vessels in and around Boston Harbor. It is followed by a five-day component which focuses on curriculum/learning expedition development prior to student contact. Once the students have arrived, teams of teachers and students practice the curriculum. At the end of each day, time is devoted to evaluation, documentation and planning.
The curriculum is interdisciplinary using the Boston Harbor as a central theme, and science as a focus. Teachers will receive instruction and on-going coaching and support throughout and beyond the program. As an outcome, teachers are able to apply the expeditionary learning methodology to create additional learning expeditions which utilizes the areas urban, historical, cultural and natural resources.
For more information, please contact:
Larry Childs
P.O. Box 127
Boston, MA 02127
Voice: 617-328-3900, Ext. 51
The STEM-ED Project: A Multiple Strategy Approach to Professional Development in Science Education is a joint effort of the University of Massachusetts and the Amherst, Franklin County, Hadley, Holyoke, and Northampton schools. It will offer a coordinated program of professional development science workshops and courses for teachers at all K12 grade levels and for preservice teachers that stresses inquiry-based learning while presenting science content designed to implement the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. In accordance with the Massachusetts Department of Education professional development standards and its emphasis on multiple strategies, there will be three components designed to address different target audiences and needs:
The curricula for the courses and workshops employ a problem-solving approach, emphasizing exploring material in depth rather than rote memorization of facts. Participants will pose and learn how to answer their own questions in order to discover scientific relationships. Emphasis will be placed on asking questions, making hypotheses, gathering information, analyzing data, and defining new questions and improved hypotheses.
The Internet will be used to provide support to the participating teachers during and after the project. It will help to bridge the gap between higher education institutions, inservice teachers, and learners. It will enable the teachers to communicate with each other, the project staff, and other professionals around the world, and to use the global information resources of the information superhighway.
For more information, please contact:
Morton Sternheim
P.O. Box 34525, Lederle GRL
Amherst, MA 01003-4525
Voice: 413-545-1908
Fax: 413-545-4884
Email: mms@k12.oit.umass.edu
Website:http://k12s.phast.umass.edu/
We propose to provide a series of opportunities for professional growth for secondary school mathematics teachers in the Chicopee, Easthampton, Hampshire Regional, and Holyoke Public Schools. Specifically, we will plan and present in-service workshops and training sessions during the academic year 1996- 1997 and a two-week seminar during the summer of 1997-the theme will be the implementation of the TI-92 calculator throughout the secondary mathematics curriculum (algebra, geometry, trigonometry, probability and statistics, and calculus). Woven throughout will be the threads of applications of mathematics and statistics to the social and physical sciences. Problem recognition, formulation, and solving will be stressed and elementary mathematical modeling will be employed whenever possible. The Curriculum and Evaluation Standards and the Professional Standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) will be very much in evidence as well as the Commonwealth's Curriculum Frameworks for Mathematics and Science. A byproduct of the project will be the production and distribution of materials for use by mathematics teachers in the Commonwealth and cross referenced with the NCTM standards and the Commonwealth's Curriculum Frameworks. These materials will be suitable for use by preservice secondary school mathematics teachers.
For more information, please contact:
Edward Connors
University of Massachusetts Amherst
1521E Lederle GRT
Amherst, MA 01003-4515
Voice: 413-545-2282
Email: connors@math.umass.edu
Harbor Explorations is a professional development science program focusing on the marine environment as a learning lab. Located in the Institute for Learning and Teaching at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Harbor Explorations is a collaborative program with Massachusetts Marine Educators, Project Oceanology of Groton, CT, The National Marine Sanctuary, Stellwagen Bank, WhaleNet and Environet
Harbor Explorations supports a wide range of programs dedicated to the goals of:
Activities include Programming aboard Enviro-Lab III, a 65 foot research vessel for both teachers and students; a two week, intensive Summer Institute for Teachers, and direct cooperation in planning with teachers when they bring their classes to Harbor Explorations for on-the-water programming. Other activities include support of Massachusetts Marine Educators Annual Teacher Meeting at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the High School Marine Studies Symposium at UMass Dartmouth.
For more information, please contact:
Mike Borek
Harbor Explorations
Institute for Teaching and Learning
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Moresby Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393
Voice: 617-287-7666
Fax: 617-287-7664
Email: borek@umbsky.cc.umb.edu
This is a program for 40 regional middle school teachers of mathematics and science from eight school districts; urban and rural. In addition to professional development, the participants also have the opportunity of earning up to nine graduate credits in the UMass Dartmouth MAT program. The areas of professional growth will be as follows:
Work in these three areas will be interwoven throughout the program, but in each section of the program, there will be a different primary focus. The first course is entitled "The Guiding Principles of the Frameworks" and will focus on pedagogical strategies that help teachers to fulfill the principles. The second course is "Authentic Assessment in Mathematics and Science". During the third course, "Systems in Nature, Refining Our Understanding", participants will have the opportunity to home their understanding of science and mathematics concepts and will become familiar with exemplary software and electronic probes.
For more information, please contact:
Katherine Stygall-O'Sullivan
The Education Resource Center
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
285 Old Westport Road
North Dartmouth, MA 02747
Voice: 508-984-1414
Fax: 508-984-1412
Email: kosullivan@UMassD.edu
The Professional Development is based on mathematics as its core discipline , but will address the integration of mathematics with other disciplines, including Science, Social Studies, and educational Research, and will focus on enhancing of both content and method.
Seven teacher leaders and thirty Lowell middle school teachers will gain experience in and change their practice in
The project is timed specifically to assist Lowell's Middle Schools in responding to the new Massachusetts Mathematics Curriculum Frameworks. This project utilizes the unique resources of the Lowell Public Schools, UML, Lowell National Historical Park, and Tsongas Industrial History Center to create experiential staff development experience for searchers and problem-centered, interdisciplinary investigations for students.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Regina M. Panasuk
University of Massachusetts Lowell
College of Education
One University Avenue, West Campus
Lowell, MA 01854
Voice: 508-934-4616
Fax: 508-934-3005
Email: panasukr@woods.uml.edu
This project intends to support the Boston Public Schools' new learning standards in science by providing two PALMS- trained teachers at each elementary grade level (K-5) with exemplary commercially produced science curriculum units which address those standards. Participating teachers will be asked to implement the units in their classrooms, and document how children interact with the units. The teachers will then write up their experiences in the form of grade-level guides to be distributed to all BPS teachers at that grade level. Each guide will thus include examples of student work as well as teachers' impressions of the units.
The specific objectives are to:
For more information, please contact:
Jeff Winokur
Wheelock College
200 The Riverway
Boston. MA 02215
Voice: 617-734-5200, ext. 215
Fax: 617-734-7103
Email: whe_winokur@flo.org
The Eisenhower Professional Development Program (Title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1995 (ESA) as amended) was enacted in 1994 as part of the Improving America's School Act of 1994 (IASA). The Title II Program is the largest Federal program supporting professional development activities to improve teaching and learning of all students.
The program funds institutions of higher education and other non-profit educational organizations to provide intensive, high-quality professional development for various groups of educators, including preservice teachers, inservice teachers, school administrators, and professional staff. In the Reauthorization Act of 1994, the Eisenhower Program was expanded to include professional development in all core academic subjects. The legislation requires, however, that 85% of the 1996-97 program funds be used for projects in mathematics and science.
Under the Eisenhower Professional Development Program, the Board of High Education makes competitive grants to Massachusetts public and independent degree-granting institutions of higher education and non-profit organizations (such as museums, science centers, educational partnership organizations) with records of demonstrated effectiveness. A record of demonstrated effectiveness means that the organizations must have documented successful experience in implementing professional development programs that conform to state curriculum frameworks for content disciplines and/or national standards. In September of 1996, the Board awarded $768,279 to 25 institutions as a result of a competitive review process. Fifty-two proposals were submitted.
The highest priorities for Massachusetts professional development initiatives for the 1996-97 funding cycle were:
The latest work from Washington suggest that the program will be funded for the coming year (1997) at approximately the same level as the current year. If this occurs, a RFP should be available in the spring. If you are interested in getting on the Eisenhower mailing list, send your name, position, institution, and address to:
Lynette Robinson-Weening
Eisenhower Program Director
Massachusetts Board of Higher Education
One Ashburton Place, Room 1401
Boston, MA 02108-1696
Voice: 617-727-7785 (ext 246)
Fax 617-727-6397
Email: lrobinson@mecn.mass.edu
The 1996-1997 Directory was prepared for electronic and print publication by the Five College/Public School Partnership as part our effort to support a network of resources in mathematics and science in the Commonwealth. Special thanks to Donna Dorrell, Partnership Assistant, and Nicole Campbell, Amherst College Class of 2000, for their work on this directory.
The electronic version was designed as text-only so that those with minimal web viewing capabilities could have full access to the information. It was published as a single document so that readers could search easily on topics of special interest (calculus, biology, interdisciplinary, etc.)
The Partnership/Eisenhower Project is funded by a grant to Hampshire College from the Massachusetts Higher Education Coordinating Council and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development Program. Approximately 58% ($34,170) of the funding is provided by federal Eisenhower funds. Of the remaining, 7% ($4,000) comes from other federal funds and 35% ($20,101) comes from nongovernmental sources.
As of April 1998, the address (URL) of the 1996-1997 directory and the 1998 directory (coming soon) is http://www.umassd.edu/SpecialPrograms/ArtsLinks/k12/dde9697.html