|
St. Louis Missouri Meeting Notes Attendees Peter Amati, Holliston High School, Holliston, Massachusetts Lynn Arnold, TEA Associate, Academia Cotopaxi American International School, Quito, Ecuador Gordon Bain, Executive Officer, Australian Antarctic Division, Tasmania, Australia Arlyn Bruccoli, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York Besse Dawson, Pearland High School, Pearland, Texas Elissa Elliott, Rochester, Minnesota Kim Giesting, Connersville High School, Connersville, Indiana Marvin Giesting, Connersville High School, Connersville, Indiana Sharon Harris, Mother of Mercy High School , Cincinnati, Ohio Todd Hindman, Anvil City Science Academy, Nome, Alaska Joanna Hubbard, Hanshew Middle School, Anchorage, Alaska Paul Jones, Montezuma Community Schools, Montezuma, Iowa Richard M. Jones, Billings Senior High, Billings, Montana Tina King, West Elementary School, Mt. Juliet, Tennessee Susan Klinkhammer, Lincoln School, Corvallis, Oregon Cathi Koehler, Manchester High School, Manchester, Connecticut Sandra Kolb, Poulsbo, Washington Kolene Krysl, Millard Central Middle School, Omaha, Nebraska Karina Leppik, Choate-Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, Connecticut John Nevins, Crandon High School, Crandon, Wisconsin George Palo, Gig Harbor High School, Gig Harbor, Washington Jean Roberts Pennycook, Bullard High School, Fresno, California Janice Rosenberg, Belmont Public Schools, Belmont, Massachusetts James (Jay) Schauer, Wilsonville High School, Wilsonville, Oregon Stephanie Shipp, Rice University, Houston, Texas Bruce Smith, Appleton North High School, Appleton, Wisconsin John Sode, TEA Associate, Lebanon Senior High School, Lebanon, Missouri Steven Stevenoski, Lincoln High School, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin Kathryn Stevens, Farragut Primary School, Knoxville, Tennessee Rolf Tremblay, Goodman Middle School Betty Trummel, Husmann Elementary School, Crystal Lake, Illinois Hillary Tulley, Niles North High School, Skokie, Illinois  TEA Janice Rosenberg and Lynn Arnold discuss the TEA Program. BoothBetty Trummel, Janice Rosenberg, and Todd Hindman organized the booth, which was hosted by TEA teams of two from Thursday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. The booth goals were to share the opportunity to bring the TEA research experience into the classroom through TEA Web pages, resources, activities, on-line dialog, parcticipation in the Associates Program, and application for the TEA program. A booth briefing was held at the Presentation Practice Session. The booth housed less equipment and presented a neater, less cluttered, appearance. A LCD projector, provided by Joanna Hubbard, projected an off-line version of the TEA Web page and TEA PowerPoint presentations onto a small screen. A VCR/TV was determined to be unnecessary, as tapes often were not monitored in the past. The ECW gear and penguin continued to attract the attention of visitors. Approximately 1500 NSTA attendees visited the booth. TEA booth hosts reported that there appeared to be an increase in "name recognition" of the TEA Program and that the booth host teams were kept busy answering questions by visitors for the duration of the meeting. The Associates Program and classroom resources continue to be of interest to the public. Approximately 200 visitors signed on as TEA Associates. Presentations In an effort to continue to increase the quality of the content and presentation style of TEA presentations, a Presentation Practice session was held Wednesday evening prior to the opening of NSTA. This session was mandatory for all TEAs giving presentations. The objectives of the session were to:
Fourteen workshops and one short course were presented at the convention with the objectives of sharing of the TEA experience to expand the impact of the TEA program. The workshops typically included an overview of the TEA Program, presentation of the research experience, and a question/answer session. Several offered the opportunity for workshop attendees to parcticipate in a hands-on activity. Kim Giesting organized the "Swat Teams;" groups of TEAs to attend each presentation to assist with organization, demonstrations, and discussion. An added advantage of having TEAs attend other TEAs presentations is that they are exposed to new research projects and classroom transfer ideas. Short Course "Bringing Polar Science into the Classroom: Teacher Research Experiences," organized by Sharon Harris and Joanna Hubbard, was attended by 19 non-TEA parcticipants on Friday, 23 March from 8 am to 1 pm. Eighteen TEAs parcticipated in the presentations. The course was arranged as a series of grouped and break-out sessions. The two breakout sessions featured four concurrent research/classroom materials presentations. Steve Stevenoski hosted a teleconference call from TEA Kathie Stevens, aboard the USCGC Polar Sea. An evaluation has been sent to all short course attendees. Thursday Bring Polar Research Experience Into Your Classroom! Sandi Kolb Parcticipants were be guided to classroom ready hands-on student learning activities based on teachers’ polar research experiences and their authentic data from the field. Antarctic Antics Steve Stevenoski, Peter Amati, John Nevins, and Besse Dawson Polar activities currently used in the classroom were presented. Science and Education from the Bottom of the Earth Karina Leppik and Richard Jones The presentation provided an overview of South Pole research and discussion of the TEA Program goals and opportunities for involvement. Friday Polar Studies Connections for Middle School Sandi Kolb and Rolf Tremblay Parcticipants learned to make connections with the polar learning community and about ready-to-use hands-on student activities and resources for their Middle School classes. Professional Development in the Extreme Richard Jones Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic -- Science on the Ice!! Betty Trummel and Hillary Tulley Parcticipants were acquainted with the TEA Program goals, professional development opportunities, classroom resources, and community of polar learners.  TEA Bruce Smith and short course parcticipant examine hands-on activities for the chemistry classroom.
Penguins at the North Pole? Polar Bears in Antarctica? No Way! TEA Kim Giesting helps short course parcticipants bring Antarctic reserach into the classroom.
From Pole To Pole Sunday Research Cruise in the Arctic: A Virtual Tour Janice Rosenberg, Jay Schauer, Susan Klinkhammer, Todd Hindman, Sandra Kolb Audience parcticipants learned about the research aboard the USCGC Healy and the TEA Program. Presenters shared the opportunities to use real data to map the ocean floor, test the properties of seawater, and examine ice core samples. TEA Program Meeting The TEA Program meeting was held Friday 23 March from 3:00 to 5:00. TEA Program News Thanks to the NSTA Organizers!! Short Course: Sharon Harris, Joanna Hubbard, with technical assistance by Steve Stevenoski Presentation Swat Teams: Kim Giesting Presentation Practice Session: Besse Dawson NSTA Dinner: Sandra Kolb This was the first year with a new format of TEAs being responsible for organization. The outcomes were very positive with new ideas being put into place (e.g., LCD projector at the booth, format for the short course, etc.) Two Orientations were held last year; one in the traditional format at NSF (2000/2001 TEAs) and one in an expanded week-long format at CRREL (2001/2002 TEAs). The expansion was made based on feedback from the TEA community and the evaluation team. The week-long format offered a better chance for new TEAs to get to know each other, prepare for the upcoming research, and plan for classroom transfer. TEA is pleased to welcome 16 new teachers; 8 Arctic and 8 Antarctic for the 2001/2002 field season. Arctic research assignments have been made; most Antarctic PI/TEA teams have been identified. A one-page flyer, available on the TEAs Only page as a PDF file, describes the upcoming Arctic projects and parcticipants. Please use these at meetings to supplement the use of the brochure. Note that the flyer may be more pertinent than the brochure for some audiences (e.g., parent, community, or home school groups where most of the attendees are not eligible to apply). Applications are available on the Web site. The due date is 1 May. The application reflects comments of the community and evaluation. There are fewer letters, shorter essays, a less anxiety-raising health statement, and a mentoring certification. TEAs will develop a detailed plan to collaborate with local colleagues at the Orientation. Evaluation is ongoing, under the direction of Dr. Maritza MacDonald at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Working with her are Dr. David Silvernail (University of Maine), Dr. Clarice Yentsch (AMNH) and Arlyn Bruccoli (AMNH). The first year is complete; TEAs have and will continue to parcticipate in the evaluation. An executive summary of year 1 will be available on the Web in early summer. The evaluation is formative; it provides recommendations over the grant period. Year one focused on the challenges of mentoring, journaling, and matching TEAs and PIs. The TEA Advisory Board is active and in place; they can be contacted through the TEA Web page. Sharon Harris is the newest member. Sharon and Tim Conner are representatives of the TEA teachers. Please contact Sharon, Tim, or any Advisory Board member if you have concerns or questions. The TEA Web site had moved into a mode of maintenance. The major components are in place and we will continue to work to update and polish.
Real Audio will be used from the field in the 2001/2002 season.
The number of TEA Associates is growing. Check out the TEA Web page - the map link on the Meet the TEAs page lists TEAs, PIs and Associates by state. TEAs are strongly encouraged to connect with local Associates. Consider hosting a polar science workshop over the summer, having a TEA session at a local science meeting, arranging an informal "get-together" etc. This is a way to multiply the TEA experience and to get good, current, exciting polar research into the classroom.  TEA Peter Amati helps short course parcticipant learn about ECW Gear.
Nine sets of ECW gear are now available across the country, thanks to Val Carrol and Elaine Hood of Raytheon Polar Services, Corporation. Gear tenders (also to be thanked!) are listed on the Web site. Gear is on a "first-come-first-served" basis (within the limits of reason). Gear users will pay the cost of shipping. At this point in time, the gear is the standard Antarctic field issue; no ship-based or Palmer gear is available (we'll tackle that one more time at a later date!). One Arctic set is available through Tim Conner (also on the Web). Arctic patches will be sent to each gear tender to sew (neatly, carefully, and with reverence) on the arm of the coats. Elissa Elliot with Betty Trummel, and Hillary Tulley have prepared two Arctic and two Antarctic resource trunks for travel within the TEA community. The trunks contain books, videos, etc. that can be used to leverage the TEA experience and to bring polar science into the classroom. Elissa will request volunteers from the community to act as "Trunk Monitors." More details will be available in the near future. Mr. Gordon Bain, of the Australian Antarctic Division in Tasmania discussed his collaboration with Betty Trummel. Betty has submitted a proposal to the Australian Humanities Division to visit Australia and work with Australian teachers to help them leverage their Antarctic Program. The proposal also includes an opportunity for Betty to parcticipate in an upcoming Australian Antarctic cruise. Gordon hopes to leverage his knowledge of the TEA Program to initiate a similar model within the Australian program. He plans to stay in communication with, and to solicit ideas from, the TEA community.  TEA Joanna Hubbard shares her Antarctic marine research experience with short course parcticipants.
Joanna Hubbard shared her research into attending the upcoming Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) meeting in China in the summer of 2002. Joanna hopes to acquire funding to attend the meeting and present TEA as a model for other countries to develop similar programs. Joanna invited communication from other TEAs interested in the opportunity.  Accountability Individually, and as a community, TEA is under increasing scrutiny to ensure that program responsibilities are met. This is part of the Government Responsibilities Act (GPRA), passed by Congress, that mandates that federally funded programs demonstrate impact. Each TEA teacher from 1998 on, agreed to responsibilities to the program. These responsibilities include mentoring, activities development, community presentations, etc. All of these responsibilities are designed to multiply the impact of investing a significant amount of federal funding into one teacher. By mentoring three colleagues, you are multiplying the experience 3 times. If we do not demonstrate the impact of the program through meeting the responsibilities, the program will not get future funding. Each TEA will be held accountable for meeting his/her responsibilities in a timely manner. This means that funding and other programmatic support will be available only to those TEAs who have met their responsibilities. For the TEA who is one year out of the field, they are expected to have met 1/3 of their mentoring responsibility and have completed at least one activity. For TEAs who have met their responsibilities, they must stay active to continue to apply for travel grants and program support. As a community, how do we ensure accountability? Do we want to have individual and programmatic success? Do we want to reach the end of a 5 year grant and conclude that this program had no impact in the eyes of NSF and therefore is not a funding candidate? Mentoring As a community, and within the Year 1 evaluation, mentoring has been identified as a challenge. Concerns focus on having a limited number of interested colleagues, getting colleagues to commit and stay committed, and having models for mentoring. Questions arise as to "what is the desired outcome?" As a community, we face the question of how to make mentoring successfully occur and fall within the "pinning points" of:
Activities Activities development offers a path to share the experience of research with others within and beyond the TEA community. It also offers each TEA an opportunity to re-evaluate the research experience, the process of science, and the content knowledge they acquired. The existing TEA activities vary tremendously in presentation, content, quality, and completeness. This results partially from evolving objectives and frameworks for the development of activities, and from differing visions of "inquiry." While the TEA parcticipants note the value of the Activities Workshop as a professional development opportunity, more effort needs to be undertaken to leverage the strengths of individuals, collaborative aspects of the community, and the interaction with pedagogy specialists. The workshops will be restructured to focus on 3 to 4 bi-polar content themes each year that reflect the best of the authentic field experience. The community will define the topics; applicants will rank the polar science topics of interest and applicability in the classroom. Workshop teams will focus on preparing inquiry based classroom units for each topic (e.g., background content material for teachers and students, real data sets, activities, resources, etc.). Each team will consist of 4-6 TEAs, an external pedagogy specialist, and, for part of the session, a researcher. The teams will produce the materials for the topic within the timeframe of the workshop; these will be accessible through the TEA Activities Web site <../tea_classroommaterials.html>. Topics proposed by NSTA Attendees:
Future activities workshops will be held at different polar research institutions. The University of Wisconsin-Madison will host the 2001 workshop. Discussion is underway with Byrd Polar Research Center in Columbus, Ohio for the 2002 workshop. These venues provide access to technology and to researchers involved in current polar investigations. The workshops will leverage access to the researchers to expand the content knowledge and polar resource base of the TEA teachers. Community Comments on Accountability, Mentoring, Activities TEA Associates Lunch An informal TEA Associate Lunch was held on Saturday, 24 March. Attendees included TEA Associates Bob King and Lynn Arnold. TEA Associate John Sode was unable to attend due to an illness. Also attending were Arlyn Bruccoli, Tina King, Stephanie Shipp, and Rolf Tremblay. Programmatic discussion included models to leverage the TEA experience in the classroom and questions and concerns over the application process. Next Steps
Back to: TEA Information Front Page |
