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NSTA Meeting Notes 27 to 30 March 2002 San Diego, California Parcticipant
List Arlyn Bruccoli, American Museum of Natural History, New York,
New York Mary Ann DeMello, John W. Rogers Middle School, Rockland,
Massachusetts Chris Donovan, Desert View High School, Tucson, Arizona Robin Ellwood (TEA Associate), Rye Junior High, Rye, New
Hampshire Deborah Ennis
(TEA Associate), Wheeling Park High School, Wheeling, West
Virginia Judy Filkins (TEA Associate), Hanover Street Elementary
School, Lebanon, New Hampshire Ethan Forbes, Butterfield School, Orange, Massachusetts Jan French, Cincinnati Country Day School, Cincinnati,
Ohio Kim Giesting, Connersville High School, Connersville,
Indiana Marvin Giesting, Connersville High School, Connersville,
Indiana Sharon Harris, Mother of Mercy High School , Cincinnati, Ohio Alan Hayes (TEA Associate), Genoa Central High School,
Texarkana, Arkansas Jerri-Lynn Hollyfield, McElwain Elementary School, Birmingham,
Alabama Richard Jones, Billings Senior High, Billings, Montana Bob King (TEA Associate), West Elementary School, Mt.
Juliet, Tennessee Tina King, West Elementary School, Mt. Juliet,
Tennessee Sandra Kolb, Poulsbo, Washington Kolene Krysl, Millard Central Middle School, Omaha, Nebraska Kevin Lavigne, Hanover High School, Hanover, New Hampshire James Madson (AMANDA), University of Wisconsin, River Falls,
Wisconsin George Palo, Gig Harbor High School, Gig Harbor, Washington Mary Phillips (TEA Associate), Lake Waco Montessori Magnet
School, Waco, Texas Marge Porter, Woodstock Academy, Woodstock, Connecticut Shauna Roberson (TEA Associate), Garden County High School,
Oshkosh, Nebraska Cathy Roberts, W.E. Waters Middle School, Portsmouth,
Virginia Jean Roberts Pennycook, Bullard High School, Fresno, California Larry Rose (TEA Associate), Pleasanton Middle School,
Pleasanton, California Juanita Ryan, Toyon Elementary
School, San Jose, California Stephanie Shipp, Rice University, Houston, Texas Bruce Smith, Appleton North High School, Appleton,
Wisconsin Dena Rosenberger,
El Capitan High School, Lakeside, California David Silvernail (TEA Evaluation Team), University of Southern
Maine, Portland, Maine Wendy Slijk, La Costa Canyon High School, San Diego County,
California Steven Stevenoski, Lincoln High School, Wisconsin Rapids,
Wisconsin Rolf Tremblay, Goodman Middle School, Gig Harbor, Washington Betty Trummel, Husmann Elementary School, Crystal Lake,
Illinois Hillary Tulley, Niles North High School, Skokie, Illinois Mike Weiss, Yarmouth High School, Yarmouth, Maine Andre Wille, Basalt High School, Basalt, Colorado Julie Wille (TEA Associate), Basalt Elementary School,
Basalt, Colorado Betsy Youngman, Phoenix County Day School, Prairie Valley
Arizona NSTA
Events
Meeting
Notes Welcomes We have
several returning TEAs - Betsy Youngman, Chris Donovan, Dena Rosenberger, Ethan
Forbes, Jan French, and Tina King ... And
new TEAs - Jerri-Lynn Hollyfield , Mary Ann DeMello Thank
You's Dinner
- Dena Short
course - Sharon Harris Booth
set up and take down - All parcticipating TEAs! Presenters Introductions Topics ·
Program
Announcements ·
Mentoring
Resource Groups ·
Brainstorming
ideas for the Activities Workshop Format ·
Program
Documentation ·
TEA
Resources and Future ·
Q/A Program
Announcements Welcome
Marge Porter, a TEA who has taken on the role of Co-PI in place of Clarice
Yentsch. Marge accompanied Martin Jeffries as a TEA in 1995 to Antarctica. She
is an active classroom teacher and a certified mentor in the state of
Connecticut. Marge will continue to be in the classroom, which adds
considerable value for TEA as a reality check! Having a teacher actively involved in the leadership of the
TEA Program is an exciting development. Clarice
has retired as a PI for personal reasons, and has shifted to role of advisor. We look forward to hearing
from her as TEA continues to grow. As we
spoke about last NSTA, the structure of TEA has been defined as two primary
components, research and transfer. Transfer includes the important ingredients
of mentoring and sharing the research experience - and the process of science -
with classrooms, colleagues, and community. The TEA
Program has been focusing on the transfer component in last year and for next
two years; how can we best facilitate the required transfer? The outcomes are
important! Several exciting developments have occurred, such as Mentoring
Resource Groups and a revised transfer workshop. Mentoring
Resource Groups (MRG's) What
are MRGs? Groups
of 3 to 4 TEAs that discuss mentoring challenges and successes, as well as
other ideas and strategies for sharing the TEA research experience. The primary
mode of communication is a group conference call every two months. The groups
are grade-level specific, with a mixture of Arctic and Antarctic TEAs. This is one support path for meeting
the mentoring requirement of TEA (140 hours, 3 colleagues, over 3 years). While
mandatory for the 2001/2002 and 2002/2003 cohorts, the TEA evaluators and the
TEA Program staff recommend that all TEA parcticipants join a group to stay
connected with the community, investigate ways to share the experience, and to
have access to new resources. The
mentoring requirement is part of the NSF mandate; this helps to multiply the
NSF investment in a TEA parcticipant. However, it is recognized that individual
TEAs have unique academic environments, therefore, each mentoring plan will be
unique by definition. Some
examples of mentoring include working with mentees to: ·
Plan
and implement content workshops, science fair, associate's workshops, etc. ·
Host
scientists ·
Connect
with local museums ·
Develop
curriculum, etc. Activities
Development Workshop The 2001
workshop was hosted through the University of Wisconsin. Thanks to Steve
Stevenoski for being the on-sight host and for helping to organize this event. Teams of
teachers and researchers were organized into three topic groups that
encompassed sea ice, climate change, and subduction-recycling. The teams, guided by TERC Curriculum Specialist Sally
Crissman, focused on understanding inquiry, evaluating effective paths and
resources for bringing research into the classroom, and preparing inquiry based
classroom units. The activities are accessible at
<../tea_classroommaterials.html>. Each activity has been
reviewed by the Ms. Crissman and the researcher, and revised by the TEA teacher
parcticipants. The
TEA staff and evaluators felt that the workshop model was a success and that it
supported the parcticipants in their professional development by helping them to
further explore the nature of scientific inquiry and paths to effectively bring
it into the classroom. The evaluation strongly encourages this model is
repeated for the 2002 Activities Workshop. An
alternative model has been proposed for future workshops that involves the
identification, exploration, and use of existing polar curriculum materials,
rather than the creation of materials. This model will be incorporated into the
2002 model with the overarching goal of professional development. Parcticipants
can spend time investigating and evaluating curriculum materials, and can work
with a curriculum specialist and researchers to begin development of individual
or group activities that will be completed over a specified time frame. This
workshop is mandatory for cohorts beginning with the 2003/2004 group; it also
will serve as a time to share research experiences and revisit mentoring and transfer
plans. What are
some other models or aspects that you feel will make the TEA workshop a more valuable professional
development experience, will connect with the broader Polar Learning Community,
and will help you meet your TEA responsibilities? ·
Tap
researchers for ideas that tie to classroom application ·
Work
with scientists at workshop for first part of the week ·
Have
more research talks; scientists provide he depth - teachers translate ·
Ideas
from the researchers about what they think are the fundamental concepts ·
Connect
with local K-12 teachers ·
Focus
on depth of
content ·
Focus
on the process
of science; inquiry as the basis for activities. ·
Get
content from process approach ·
Inquiry
based projects; develop 2-3 week units that are content driven ·
Get
REAL DATA into the activities; have students collect and manipulate data. ·
Explore
the environment modules page from the University of Arizona ·
Thematic
approach to TEA Website (teacher pages) - topical investigations ·
Meet
with other TEAs who teach same discipline ·
Update
Web site, make it more searchable by thematic activities ·
Conduct
the workshop at an institution with polar research (e.g., Scripps, ·
Work
with existing resources - improve / modify resources so that they are ready for
classroom use ·
Identify
existing resources and examine them with respect to inquiry. Have parcticipants
(and broader community) walk away with user-friendly, pertinent, inquiry rich
resources, ready to take into the classroom. ·
Look
at activities that are not overly complex in terms of equipment.
Program
Documentation Annual
reports are due 15
January and need to have all activities reported: ·
Over
the past year, how have you used your TEA experience? ·
Is it
because of TEA that you are doing something? ·
How
are you sharing TEA? Mentoring
reports are due 15
January for the summary report (cohorts 2001/2002 and more recent). Many of
the file reports are not comprehensive; we hear activities in which TEAs are
involved that never are documented on the annual report. Documenting your experience is
something only you can do! If you do not document it (e.g., visit by
researcher, continued interaction with team, presentation, workshop), it did
not happen as far as TEA and NSF are concerned. The
Annual reports are important because they help: ·
The
TEA Program determine where to invest resources to meet TEA parcticipant needs ·
Inform
the field of science education ·
Inform
the evaluation (are the experiences having impact in the classroom?) ·
Form
the basis on which NSF determines the value of funding the TEA Program Recommendations:
·
We
know you are busy, however, plan to invest more time in documenting your TEA
activities on-line. Do not wait for the last minute and place yourself in the
position where you do a poor job. ·
You
can update your annual report and your mentoring report at any time! Updates
will be saved! ·
Keep a
log or calendar of your TEA activities that is comprehensive enough to
completely reconstruct your involvement. ·
Report
it! Use bullets if time is a consideration. Examples
of activities to relate on your annual report (in addition to those
specified on the report): ·
Polar
material you are teaching in your classroom ·
Curriculum
materials you have developed or altered as a direct consequence of your TEA
experience ·
Content
or research courses you have designed based on your TEA experience ·
Meetings
with your research team, presentations you have given with your team, visits by
your team. ·
Etc. Cost Share Cost
share needs to be reported to demonstrate investment by other programs in the
TEA experiences. Cost share includes any expenses explicitly related to the TEA
program that you access from other sources - district, school, local company,
personal. This does not cover funds from a governmental source. This can
include donations of (or funds for) substitute costs (or release time - one or the other),
computers, video cameras, digital cameras, polar clothing for the expedition
meetings, grants for resource trunks, etc. Mentoring
reports are due 15
January for the summary report. While required for cohorts 2001/2002 and more
recent, it is recommended for earlier cohorts. Like the
Annual Reports, the Mentoring Reports are important because they help: ·
The
TEA Program determine where to invest resources to meet TEA parcticipant needs ·
Inform
the evaluation (are the experiences having impact in the classroom?) ·
Inform
the field of science education ·
Form
the basis on which NSF determines the value of funding the TEA Program as
mentoring is the main path through which TEA teachers multiply the research
experience in a long-term and meaningful way. There
are three main parts to the mentoring reports: ·
Overview
- what you want to accomplish, team members, game plan ·
Annual
report - summary of activities, outcomes, hours ·
Meeting
reports - there is considerable flexibility here. ·
Can be
updated each mentoring team meeting, or after several. ·
This
aspect of the report may not be a format that works for you - if not, include
the meeting info you need to document the times and outcomes in the annual
report - ·
However,
DO NOT just say "oh 100 hours this year." Provide data about how
those 100 hours have been used. There is
a $1000 stipend for completing the TEA Mentoring responsibility.
Responsibilities must be completed and documented within three years of
returning from the field (the funds cannot be maintained beyond this time
period) TEA
Resources and Future NSF's
model for Teacher Enhancement grants is one of seeding ideas and having them
become self sustaining. The TEA grant is structured so that the PIs hours
decline, number of parcticipants increases, and the learning community assumes
responsibility. Numerous learning communities are dealing with this issue - and
some are making recommendations that this is not a feasible structure; to
sustain a learning community a support structure must be established and
maintained. Naturally, this is a learning process for all involved. Because
Stephanie, Deb, and Marge are <20% time each, and Arlyn is the sole 100% TEA
Program Staff, we are streamlining our efficiency. This means we are very
thoughtful about the projects in which we invest time. There are many aspects
of TEA that have to occur (Orientation, NSTA, annual reports to NSF, Advisory
Board Meetings, preparation and follow up for each meeting, interactions with
research PIs and TEAs in the field, support to other TEAs in meeting their
responsibilities, etc.). Communication is a key component of any community. We also
are trying to streamline the communications. Arlyn is the point of contact for
much of the day-to-day (brochure needs, press letters, RealAudio sessions,
etc.). There
also are many GREAT ideas for TEA from the TEA parcticipants, but they do take
investment - and those time / $ investment demands are greater than the
personnel hours on the TEA program. This is why the TEA Program is looking to
the TEA learning community to assume ownership of newly generated ideas. Examples
include: ·
Real
Audio. Steve Stevenoski's investment in RealAudio. He thought we should have it
as an aspect of TEA. He proposed it, researched it, wrote up a short
"proposal" that Stephanie submitted to NSF with the annual report.
Once funding was approved, Steve implemented his plan, got the software and
hardware, and is interfacing with Arlyn to run it. TEAs in the field now use
RealAudio broadcasts to share their research experiences with classrooms across
the nation. ·
TEA
Patch. Louise Huffman, Mary Ann DeMello, Kim Hanisch, and Jerri-Lynn Hollyfield
decided that TEA needed a logo / patch. They researched it, found a company,
connected with the TEA Program for approval to use the Web logo, and moved it
forward. The TEA patch provides a common identifier for TEAs. ·
NSTA
Short Course. Sharon Harris organized the NSTA short course. She applied to
NSTA, arranged for TEA speakers, put together the agenda, got the equipment,
and facilitated the course. The workshop drew 18 parcticipants, many of whom
have expressed an interest in applying for TEA, and shared a variety of
resources and research experiences with the attendees. ·
Polar
Learning Trunks. Elissa Elliott, Betty Trummel, and Hillary Tulley acquired
funds for developing resource trunks. The trunks, available for use by the TEA
community, contain book, activity, map, video, etc. resources. Information
about the trunks is available on the TEAs Only Web site. ·
Getting
graduate credit for the TEA research experience - and for the time invested by
mentees - is a great idea! Unfortunately this cannot be arranged by the TEA
program (issues of monitoring of the "course" within credit-granting
institution, cost, different requirements by states - professional development
hours vs. graduate credit, etc.)
but can
be arranged by the TEA through their local university or through their research
PI's institution for the specific needs of the TEA and their mentees. Future
of TEA TEA
is closing the third year of a five-year grant. At that point in time,
Stephanie Shipp will no longer be involved in the TEA Program. The roles of Deb
Meese, Marge Porter, and Arlyn Bruccoli are not determined at this time. Based
on what we have learned, the successes and the challenges, what could the TEA
Program Staff propose a few components and models for the future TEA Program: · The first-hand research
experiences are a crucial component to changing the way science is taught in
the classroom; many teachers are teaching science without having experienced
science! The research experience provides the energy and focus around which
much of the TEA community builds. Given limited resources, perhaps this aspect
of the program does not increase, but its presence is fundamental. ·
The strong learning community centered around TEA could be better
leveraged to have a broader and deeper impact. Leveraging could include: ·
Expanding local meetings through increased TEA teacher leadership ·
Teaming with a formal science education network (e.g., NSTA) may
increase access to a larger community and diversity of learning resources ·
Developing formal online learning communities with lectures by
researchers, classroom implementation discussions, and course credit The
TEA Advisory Board has recommended that OPP, ESIE, and TEA work together to
determine the future of the TEA Program, and that these discussion take place
before the close of the grant to ensure a smooth transition if necessary. Much
of this determination may take place internally within NSF, depending on how
much of the TEA Program management will be within NSF in the future. Notes
from the Community Applications
are on line and due in mid-April. Please encourage eligible colleagues you
would like to see involved to apply. TERC has
a series of on-line polar resources that Ethan Forbes has been involved n
reviewing. Betty
Trummel has examples of the TEA patch and information on how to order it. This
information will be sent to the TEA community by e-mail. Holy Cow Sports: 630-852-9001. |