TEA Collaborative Learning Group
FINAL Report

King

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Overall, in what ways did your collaboration with your team impact your professional growth? (e.g., how did this work impact your approach to and understanding of: content knowledge, pedagogy, process of science, teaching standards, use of technology, etc.)?
When I initially chose my team, I was looking for three dedicated teachers who had an understanding of inquiry-based learning. It was important to me to be able to work with three teachers who were committed to education at three different grade levels. I intentionally sought out an elementary teacher, a middle school teacher, and a high school teacher. This proved to be an asset as we worked together to connect learning across grade levels. Over the past three years, Sue Smartt went from being a third grade teacher, to a fourth grade teacher, to a media specialist. Terry McDonald changed from teaching sixth grade science to teaching seventh and eighth grade math. Over the past three years, Bob King has taught math, computer science, and physics to high school students (freshmen- seniors). These changes turned out to be a plus because it enabled our team to integrate and teach across the curriculum. This added a new dimension to our collaboration as our focus changed to making connections for students by integrating disciplines to pull students into science.

Bob and I developed an inquiry-based ice investigation, Cold Hard Facts…What Inquiring Minds Will Know. This activity was successfully pre-tested in my fourth grade class, Terry's seventh grade math class, and an honors biology class that Bob had arranged to teach during his planning period. By teaching at three different levels, we were able to gauge how the different groups were processing science through the inquiry-based approach. The fourth grade students that were already accustomed to inquiry-based lessons easily worked in groups to come up with a question to lead to their own inquiry-based investigation. Their investigations far exceeded the initial inquiry-based ice investigation that led into their ice investigations. The honors biology students had trouble thinking beyond the box. They were more concerned about their grade, and what the teacher wanted them to do. One thing that became apparent as the fourth graders worked through their ice investigations was that each phase of this inquiry process moved them to a higher level of learning. Phase one: The students gained by working in groups to come up with their own question to investigate, as well as deciding on the materials and supplies that they would need to do their investigation. The students learned that they could only change one variable and the teacher reinforced this concept by being a facilitator whose main role was to keep the students focused on their question. Phase two: The students moved to the next level as they worked through their investigation with the whole class. By presenting to their classmates, they had to verbalize what they were thinking, and it was essential that they come into the presentation organized and prepared. Phase three: They made predictions and recorded all data (measurements, observations, and results), that also included input and observations from their involved classmates. The students learned that writing down measurements and other data would prove to be useful in their final paper. Two groups contacted a physicist at the Exploratorium to answer questions that came from their investigations.

Unexpectedly, my students began to teach me as they gave me insight into the learning process. Working through this investigation with my students made me realize that the higher order thinking skills began to emerge as the students became actively involved with their own learning. In phase four, I noticed that the greatest learning took place when the students sat down as a group with the teacher to discuss, reflect, and re-examine their notes, measurements, and observations. When the students took the time to reflect over what they did, and what they would have done differently, they moved into a higher level of learning. This not only gave the students the opportunity to see the project come together, but it also enabled them to take pride and ownership in their learning. When my TEA Associates and I met to discuss what we each observed with our students, we were surprised by the outcomes, and the lessons that the students taught us. In today's world of education, teachers find it harder to give the students the needed time to reflect, absorb, and think over what they learned from their lessons. By seeing the impact that this made on my students, and by working with my TEA Associates to compare the outcomes at each level, it encouraged me to continue to bring the inquiry-based approach to students. It helped to instill and reinforce the belief that students learn best by doing, but more importantly, it gave me the chance to see first hand that students build understanding, make connections, and move to higher levels of thinking when they are given the time and opportunity to reflect, write, and verbalize their learning.

My TEA Associates and I have presented the inquiry-based ice investigations at NSTA and TSTA (Tennessee Science Teachers Conference). Bob and I attended the inquiry-based TEA transfer workshop in New York in June 2003. This workshop gave us an even greater understanding and appreciation of inquiry learning, and it helped us to refine and polish the ice investigations to put on-line at the TEA Web site. My TEA Associates and I have gained tremendously by presenting at state and national conferences. It has given us the opportunity to work together to share activities, the TEA experience, and to encourage teachers to bring Polar research into their classrooms. In order to present, we had to first learn how we could best bring this transfer experience into the classrooms. Our goal was to start with the hook; then introduce the science. When we presented "Living Sands" to groups, both statewide and nationally, the teachers and students came to learn about sand, but they left knowing about foraminifera and my P.I.'s Antarctic research. One of our greatest learning experiences was a project that personally affected each of our classrooms by connecting science to literature, math, research, and technology. Our goal was to hook students by connecting learning with a common theme: Life beneath the Antarctic Ice. My fourth grade reading students did research on the characteristics, diet, locomotion, habitat and distribution, life cycle, and predators of penguins, Weddell seals, Orca whales, starfish, krill, and foraminifera. The students used resources, such as books, web sites, and emails with a scientist or TEAs to research their marine animal/ organism. Terry, Bob, and I worked with Sue to compile a list of resources that we previewed for students. The students gave feedback about the resources that they chose to use for their research. Terry's eighth grade math students also did research by using the Web sites to find information to create graphs on the speed and depth of Orca whales vs. Humpback whales; Weddell seals vs. leopard seals, Adelie penguins, vs. Emperor and Chinstrap penguins; and starfish (tropic vs. polar regions). Bob's computer class did similar research, but he had his class develop computer-generated graphs. In each case, we found that the students were enthusiastically engaged in their own learning as they combined research and technology to their own discipline of study, whether it involved a math, computer, or reading class. Sue collated the bibliography for this of study, and we presented this activity, Life beneath the Ice, to teachers at NSTA and TSTA. We also met with the Wilson County Board of Education on September 30, 2004, to make a presentation in which we showed this project, as well as informed them of how we have worked to transfer the TEA Antarctic experience to the classroom. As we worked to transfer the TEA experience, polar research, activities, and learning to classrooms, we found that it moved our learning and growth forward, as well. We have all grown professionally and personally over these past three years as we shared ideas, resources, activities, and encouragement to try new things. This collaboration has been and will continue to be an inspiration.

In what ways do you think your colleagues were impacted by being a part of this collaborative team?
My goal for my TEA Associates was to give them the opportunity to grow and learn along with me. It has been an honor to work with them, especially as we worked together to put ideas into action. Our brainstorming sessions, the time we spent to find resources to use with our students, and the suggestions to guide each other's teaching was invaluable to all of us. We all felt free to bring ideas to the table, and as we discussed plans, new ideas would emerge. One idea led into another, as we each added our expertise and knowledge of pedagogy and what worked with today's students. Our goal was to get the students excited about learning by bringing in Polar activities. In doing so, we learned new teacher strategies, content, and technology. Terry said that after seeing how the TEA mentoring helped and added to her teaching and networking, she applied to be a mentor to help new teachers at her own school. I have seen a lot of growth with Terry as she pre-tested activities and worked to bring science and technology into her seventh and eighth grade math classes. Terry gained by making presentations at the state and national level (NSTA and TSTA science conferences) over the past two years. She met with my P.I. twice in the past three years, and she encouraged her students to go to the TEA Web sites, especially Kolene Krysl's, as a valued resource for their project involving the science, research, and math connection. Terry learned science content, as well as learned and later presented the Living Sands activity to introduce teachers to foraminifera. I will continue to involve Terry in presentations, as well as continue to collaborate with her to connect math and science.

Sue has a wonderful understanding of inquiry-based science. When she became a media specialist, she brought her background as a hands-on elementary teacher and her expertise as a reading teacher to our team. Sue was, and still is, a great asset in working to find resources for children. I worked with her to compile the bibliography for our Science to Literature Connection activity. I feel that our collaboration, especially with this project, encouraged Sue to bring a science to literature connection to students at her school. I saw Sue grow as she worked to bring science into the students' library time. Although, Sue did make presentations with our team, her focus as an educator was tailored more to learning the science content, working in the field to learn hands-on science, and to bring science and learning into the library, the media center of the school. Sue was actively engaged with other Tennessee teachers at the TEA Regional Workshop and the subsequent field trip to Coon Creek in West Tennessee. Sue increased her science knowledge base, learned to process foraminifera in the field, and prepared forams to view under the microscope. Sue also met my P.I, Sam Bowser, on two different occasions. Although my contracted hours with Sue have been reached, Sue is currently helping me to build resources for my fifth grade reading students' research on major volcanic eruptions in history. One group of students has chosen to research Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica. Sue has an interest in the Polar Regions, so without a doubt we will continue to collaborate.

Bob, my TEA Associate, husband, and partner in learning has experienced Antarctica through my eyes. He has taken an active role from the start. He set up the audio broadcasting conference calls to my students while I was in Antarctica. He helped develop and pretest activities. He parcticipated in transfer workshops, presentations, met scientists, attended classes, and even went to a Polar Region in April 2004. We flew to Fairbanks and Barrow and met with scientists. We walked on the Arctic Ocean, and he even experienced the minus 10 degrees F and minus 40 degrees wind chill in Barrow. He gained a lot by making presentations, visiting classrooms, and parcticipating in guest lecture presentations with universities. We taught a three-hour lab for a professor's Science in the Elementary for pre-service teachers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in October 2004. We went out with TEA Tim Buckley's students in Barrow as they collected data at the transects on the frozen lake. We also visited a high school biology class, as well as elementary classrooms while we were in Barrow. We went out with a native Inupiat, who is a member of a whaling crew. He talked to us about his experience of hunting bowhead whales with harpoons from a small seal-skinned umiaq whaling boat, as well as gave us insight into his culture. Bob has made presentations with me to bring Polar research into classrooms at state and national science conferences for the last three years. We recently made two presentations at the Alaska Math and Science Conference in Fairbanks in October 2004. Bob and I learned science content as we visited scientists, went into the Perma Frost Tunnel, visited the Tsunami Center, or went into the field. Bob and I both have a passion for science and education, so every vacation is based on these components. Bob has learned about foraminifera to the point that he could make my presentations on foram research. He was invaluable in putting together the TEA Regional Workshop in Nashville on May 1, 2004. We truly work as a team, and we often use each other as a sounding board as we brainstorm ideas and new activities. Bob is involved with our geological dig at my school. One of the strengths of our marriage is that we both love to learn. We both feel that students should connect learning. We work to bring Earth science, foraminifera (micro study), and Polar research into classrooms. He's the president of the Middle Tennessee Gem and Mineral Society. He teaches math and computer science, yet he brings science into his classroom as often as he can. We recently taught his Algebra One class about ratios and percentages by connecting it to the Living Sands activity. The students learned about abiogenic and biogenic sand, as well as foraminifera during the course of this math lesson. Bob has been impacted by the TEA Collaboration through networking with teachers and scientists, developing activities, making presentations, working with teachers and students of all ages, and connecting his disciplines to science. He has gained tremendously from the TEA collaboration because he has put so much of his time and effort into connecting the Polar Regions with education. We will continue to work to connect the Polar Regions with educators and scientists. I believe that the Polar Regions has become a part of him, in much the same way as it has become apart of me. I don't think a day has gone by in the past four years that I haven't brought the Polar Regions into my life, and I know it will always be a part of my life and learning. Bob has also been impacted through all the opportunities to collaborate with our TEA Associate team, with scientists from across the country, and with other TEAs, teachers, students and TEA Associates. The TEA program and the collaboration with our team has facilitated his learning and in the process moved his learning forward. He parcticipated in the TEA transfer workshop on inquiry-based science, which helped him gain a better understanding of how to teach students with this approach. It also enabled him to put his high school version for the ice investigations on-line. He has collaborated with me for 650 + hours, and I know it will continue for years to come.

When I first began this mentoring process, I told my TEA Associates up front that this experience would not be focused on the hours, but rather on what I could do to help their learning. I never saw this as my mentoring them, but rather as a collaboration to improve all of our learning, and it did just that. My goal was for this collaboration to help them to grow both professionally and personally as we worked to transfer the Antarctic experience. From the beginning, I told them that the number of hours would take care of itself as we worked to bring quality learning to our students and to other teachers. Our contracted hours have been fulfilled, but I don't see this as the end of our collaboration. Over the past three years, I have gained an even greater respect and admiration for each of my team members. They are exemplary teachers who have made a difference in my learning. As a team, I think we have affected each other's learning by bringing the best to each meeting, to each activity, and to each presentation or workshop.

How does this experience compare to / contrast with other professional interactions you have had with your colleagues?
Working together collaboratively to bring activities to others has been a wonderful learning experience. Having the support and opportunity to share with other teachers at NSTA, TSTA, and the TEA summer workshop have been one of the best professional interactions that my colleagues and I have had in teaching. Meeting with other teachers from across the state and country at these conferences and workshops were most helpful in bringing polar experiences and activities to other teachers. Each gathering encouraged growth and facilitated new learning as they pushed teachers to stretch and go beyond their own boundaries. The TEA program pushed teachers to grow by having teachers respect and challenge the other through networking with an amazing group of highly energetic teachers.

Overall, what were the most significant outcomes of the mentoring experience?
Our TEA collaboration has pushed us all to grow as we worked to bring the Antarctic research and experience into classrooms across the country. The activities that we developed and pre-tested with our students gave us a greater understanding of how children learn as we compared the outcome of our lessons across grade levels, or across the curriculum. The Science to Literature Connection was significant because it not only gave our students a math, science, reading, research, and technology connection, but it also connected our teaching. In the process, it made us better teachers, and it gave us the opportunity to see how children respond when they are actively involved with their own learning. This type of learning made us remember why we became teachers. It was a joy to see the enthusiasm and interest all the students took to research and prepare their data or information for group presentations. It brought out the best in the students, and it made us realize that today's students need to integrate their learning by including technology and by understanding that science is applied math or applied learning. The TEA Regional Workshop that we hosted in Nashville and the subsequent field trip to Coon Creek brought us full circle with my P.I. Sam Bowser's Antarctic research. This workshop and field experience enabled my TEA Associates and me to connect the modern-day foraminifera in Antarctica to the fossilized forams in Tennessee. The theme of the workshop, a Paleo to Modern Connection, led the 30 teachers at the workshop (including the TEA Associates and myself) to gain an awareness of the importance of knowing how to read the environment, whether it is today's environment or the paleo-environment. This regional workshop and field trip was significant to each one of us because it added to our science content and knowledge base, and it connected our learning. As we learned, it gave us a greater opportunity to share new ideas and activities with other teachers and students. I think we all came away from our TEA collaboration feeling that we grew from this experience, and that it was time well spent. It also left us with the feeling that we would continue our collaboration to encourage each other's growth. The greatest significance of this collaboration has been the learning that took place each time we met, whether we were previewing resources, preparing for presentations, making presentations, or pre-testing activities. Our collaboration made a difference to our leaning, as we began to make connections. When we reflect back over the last three years, we will think of how the ideas that first took root seemed to spread out and connect with each meeting. It encouraged us to build on each other's ideas, and like a puzzle on a table, each piece seemed to help us see a clearer picture of what we needed to do, and where we needed to go next.

What do you believe are the key elements to a successful mentoring experience?
I believe the key elements to a successful mentoring experience would be giving teachers the chance to grow and learn, as well as to make the experience relevant to each teacher's area or need. By doing so, the teachers will find new approaches and ideas that will add to their classroom and learning. By keeping teachers up-to-date and current in education and research, the teachers gain new knowledge and a positive energy to transfer to their students.

What recommendations do you have for other TEAs who are working with colleagues to transfer their TEA experience?
The TEAs should try to meet the needs of the TEA Associates and their students by making this experience relevant to their area. In this way, the TEA will best facilitate and promote growth and development for their TEA Associates. It's also important to help expand the TEA Associate's world by providing networking and new experiences to seek learning opportunities together. Teachers will be better able to give to their students and transfer new knowledge if their own growth and development is affected.

What, if any, resources/products were created by your team? How can we best make these available to the broader TEA community?
I think one of our most successful and eye-opening activities was our joint project to develop a science-to-literature connection. We learned a lot as we progressed from one level to the next with our students. It allowed us to work together as a team to bring something to our own students, as well as to our own learning. We gained insight into how children learn, and what is needed for today's students. We presented this at a local, state, and national level. I think it would be helpful to put the resources that our students found to be helpful on-line in a student-choice bibliography for Polar Regions. It would be nice to have a Polar Web site with a section from children linked from the NSF Polar Program's web pages. The ice investigation activity was tested successfully in the classrooms for elementary, middle school, and high school, and submitted on-line on the TEA web page. Changing from slides to PowerPoints gave us more flexibility for presentations, as well as to develop PowerPoints to utilize as a resource and teaching tool to teach certain concepts to our students. I found it helpful to developed PowerPoints on foraminifera to help my fourth grade students who chose to do research on foraminifera, especially since they couldn't find books or Internet sites geared to their level. I used Dr. Bowser's photos and tried to present forams on a level that my students could understand. These fourth grade students then edited my PowerPoints to bring it down a little further. Their final project, a research booklet on forams, was wonderful. It is worth sharing with others. If we can find the means to convert their research with drawings, photos, and text on-line, I think it would helpful to other students and teachers. PowerPoints are wonderful in changing presentations to meet the needs of different groups, which is wonderful when adapting to different age groups and knowledge levels, whether it is for elementary students, a college biology class, or senior citizens. It allows us to teach to a group dependent on their needs. A user-friendly web site would be helpful in keeping activities, TEA web sites and classroom activities on-line for future use. A lot of experiences, time, and work went into developing materials and information with today's students in mind. It would be beneficial to keep an avenue open to students who are interested in the research in which we were involved, so that TEAs and TEA Associates can continue to be an active resource. Contact with the people who developed the activities are a resource, as well as the activities and literature available. It would also be helpful for teachers who would like to pull an inquiry-based activity off-line to use in their classroom. The networking made possible by a web site should stay alive, so that students and teachers have access to this resource when questions arise, or further investigations need to be expanded. Bob King and I developed several activities that are still being pre-tested: A Soil Aquarium, Tracking Dinosaurs, and CSI Sundance. My TEA Associates and I have adapted a math lesson with a Living Sands activity developed by Lynn Margulis and Lois Brynes to teach students and teachers about forams and the components that make up the sand.

What are your recommendations for improving or modifying the mentoring experience?
I think it would be less overwhelming if the hours were reduced and the focus was placed on the quality of the time spent with the TEA Associates. Instead of requiring a certain number of hours for each TEA Associate, I think it would be less intimidating and more productive to have teachers commit to specific projects and requirements. By having a time frame, teachers would see the commitment as an easily attainable goal to fulfill, and the focus would be on specified results instead of a large number of hours.


Our suggestion: Give the specific requirements up front, so teachers have guidelines and a time frame before they begin the mentoring process.


1.) First year: