Dec. 13, 2004
Contact: Rita Mitchell, University Editor
UT Martin receives Tennessee math and science partnership grant
Martin, Tennessee - Over the next three years, the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences and the College of Education at the University of Tennessee at Martin will partner with 11 school districts in West Tennessee to offer the Institutes for Middle Grade Science Education in West Tennessee (IMEGS). The total cost of the program is $1,095,769 and is funded through the Tennessee Department of Education.
Dr. Michael Gibson, professor in the Department of Geology, Geography and Physics, will serve IMEGS as project director. Dr. Brenda Gulledge, assistant professor and chair, Department of Educational Studies, and Marcia Coleman, eighth grade science teacher, West Carroll Junior/Senior High School, will serve as co-project directors for the project.
Dr. Tom Rakes, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, said, "UT Martin regards this initiative as beneficial to the science teachers of West Tennessee, particularly at the middle school level. This initiative will enable science teachers from grades 5-8 to improve their content knowledge of science and to accrue graduate credit as a feature of the experience."
IMEGS will offer two-week summer institutes with supporting follow-up throughout the following year. A potential total of 108 teachers will receive instruction from eight science faculty and two education faculty spanning life sciences, earth and planetary science and physical science designed to help teachers reach content proficiency in all of these areas. The content also will stress inquiry-based learning techniques. Participants can accrue up to nine hours of graduate science credit and six hours of corresponding education graduate credit.
Teachers also will participate in at least one follow-up content workshop at the annual Tennessee Science Teachers Association (TSTA) meeting as part of the program and will receive Teaching kits for their classrooms. Field and laboratory learning is stressed using facilities associated with the UT Martin campus, the Reelfoot Biological Station and Coon Creek Science Center.
Dr. Rakes also pointed out that "through this initiative, UT Martin faculty will become more aware of the academic standards and expectations of the middle school environment, thereby enabling the university an opportunity to better address the needs of the science and education communities beyond the life of this grant."
Post-institute instruction will include asynchronous online content delivery and intensive daylong sessions run in conjunction with the TSTA annual meeting. Emphasis of IMEGS is increased content knowledge of teacher participants as demonstrated through teacher performance in the program and increased student achievement.
Eric Williams, director of West Carroll Special School District, said, "The initiatives provided in this grant address issues of professional development for us that we could not provide to our teachers ourselves. The collaborative nature of this project is noteworthy for our rural systems, which can be somewhat isolated."
The Tennessee Department of Education Mathematics and Science Partnership grant program, authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, is intended to enhance content knowledge and teaching skills of mathematics and/or science classroom teachers of grades 5 - 12. Activities associated with the TN MSP Program include providing programs that directly relate to the curriculum and academic areas in which the teacher provides instruction and enhance the ability of the teacher to understand and implement challenging State academic content standards for mathematics and/or science. Programs provide opportunities for teachers and prospective teachers with opportunities to work under the guidance of experienced teachers and college faculty as well as instruction in the use of data and assessments to inform and instruct classroom practice..
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