This project, sponsored by Congressman Holt through a grant from FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education) provides high school mathematics and science teachers with opportunities to work, for a stipend, with other professionals in a variety of scientific disciplines during the summers, starting in 2000.
At this point, teachers have completed their practicum projects and are beginning a new school year. All of the projects appear to have been successful, several beyond our original expectations. There will be a Symposium on Saturday morning, September 16 at Monmouth discussing the results of the practicums; any interested potential sponsors or school administrators are strongly encouraged to attend. Please contact Assistant Dean John Tiedemann, 571-3421, jtiedema@monmouth.edu by September 8 if you'd like to attend. An overview of the program is also available as a PowerPoint presentation.
We received 35 applications from high school teachers in 20 different high schools in New Jersey. Most of the teachers were extremely well qualified, and it was hard to decide which 12 teachers to include in this pilot project. We aimed for as wide a variety as possible in terms of subject matter taught, length of teaching experience, experience or lack of it with working in a science field other than as a teacher, geographic distribution, etc. We received 11 proposed practicum projects from 7 different potential sponsors. We choose 6 projects, from 5 sponsors, and placed two teachers on each project. Each project also has a Monmouth University mentor.
The primary objective of the program is to enrich classroom teaching by giving teachers practical experience (a practicum), in collaboration with local businesses and industries, in solving current problems in science and technology. An additional objective is to improve teacher retention as a result of the added summer stipends and increased involvement in the region’s community of scientists, mathematicians and engineers. During summer 2000 (the pilot), a support system of University faculty and staff was provided to advise and assist the high school faculty in both the conduct of the practicum and the integration of the experiences into the classroom.
Monmouth University is proximate to several major high technology organizations, most of which have senior managers serving on Boards of the University and its Schools. The practicum topics, and ongoing support, came from these organizations, as well as a variety of environmental organizations.
A corps of Monmouth University faculty supported the teacher teams during the execution of the practicums in summer 2000. The faculty met regularly with the teachers, advised them and delivered seminars on various topics, as appropriate. Faculty from the School of Science, Technology and Engineering monitored practicum progress and support the teacher-teams in the development of solution approaches. Faculty from the School of Education assisted with the translation of the practicum experiences into learning modules, case studies, lectures and laboratory exercises for the teachers to use in their classes. An electronic collaboration environment for the project, using WebCT, was also developed.
For more information, see our PowerPoint
presentation on the project or contact:
Dr. Charles Pack
Dr. Bonnie Gold
Co-Director, 21st Century Science Teacher Skills Project
Co-Director, 21st Century Science Teacher Skills Project
Monmouth University
Monmouth University
West Long Branch, NJ 07764-1898
West Long Branch, New Jersey 07764-1898
(732)-571-3530, cpack@monmouth.edu
(732)-571-4451, bgold@monmouth.edu