Integrated Science Summer Institute

Integrated Science Curricula Development

Student interest in the sciences will be enhanced through an integrated, inquiry-based approach, emphasizing personal contact with the University of Miami faculty and graduate and undergraduate students.

The aim of this component is to:

Provide middle school science teachers and their students with
on-site science specialists for integrative curricular development
Facilitate research experiences in the classroom
Give UM undergraduate education majors novel teacher-training experiences.
We propose to create Science Teams each consisting of 1 graduate student and 1 undergraduate science-education double major from each of the four science disciplines - biology, chemistry, geology and physics. These teams will rotate through middle school science classrooms and will develop an interdisciplinary approach to major science themes. These Science mentors will help middle school science students with hypothesis development and problem based learning.

Each team will participate 2 hours (2 class periods) per day for two weeks with each of the 12 selected middle school science teachers in their classrooms over the course of the year. The middle-school year consists of four 8-week quarters. In each of the first three quarters, each of the four Science Teams will rotate through four teachers' classrooms. In the second and third quarters, the Science Teams with work with two additional sets of four teachers. In each 8-week quarter, a science theme (e.g., energy) will be presented from a biological, chemical, geological and physical perspective. In the fourth quarter, the middle school students will undertake science research projects. In this quarter, the Science Teams will visit the classes of each teacher two times to provide additional guidance and comment to the classes on the research projects. Thus, within each year, the Science Teams will cycle through the classes of 12 middle-school science teachers. If each teacher has 4 science classes of 30 students each, over 1440 students per year will benefit.

Information technology will be used for information entry and retrieval, data analysis and presentation. Teachers and students in different classes will communicate via electronic bulletin boards.

Description of Integrated Science Summer Institute

A Summer Institute will be offered for K - 6 grade science teachers participating in the K-12 Component.

The aim of the institute is to:

Prepare these teachers with the philosophy and methodology of our curricular innovation
Have Lead Teachers who have previously participated in the program return to share
their experiences with the new teachers
Science Teams and faculty will work with teachers to formulate their curricula for the upcoming school year. The Summer Institute will give teachers the opportunity to preview some of the hands-on activity that we will use in their classes. We will also emphasize how computer technology can be used effectively in teaching science. Lead teachers will serve as advisors. Thus, the teachers will be full partners in curricular reform.

Project SUCCEED - Science In-service program

The goal of this program is to improve the appreciation for and understanding of science in the middle school system. A two-week, intensive Succeed Science - Summer Workshop (SS-SW) dates to be announced for 12 seventh grade science teachers (2 from each of 6 schools) to enable them to understand and teach 8 weekly integrated science modules, using the theme "Global Change". Four UM Succeed Science Student Teams (each consisting of a graduate student and an undergraduate student from one of the science departments) will assist each of these SS-SW teachers in the classroom to teach these 8 science modules to two of their science classes in an 8-week term this coming academic year.

SUCCEED Science Pre-service program

The Freshman Science Program (FSP) is an innovative integrated program for UM freshmen double majoring in Education and one of the sciences. The goal of this FSP is to enable the students to see the interrelationships of the sciences in daily, global issues through lecture, discussion, lab and field experiences. This FSP, consisting of a 2-semester (9 or 10 credits each semester, 18-20 total credits) integrated science sequence of courses, will replace the current 28 credits of the combined freshmen courses in each of Biology, Chemistry and Geological sciences, and provide an introduction to Physics. The FSP will enable students to continue into the advanced courses required of a major in Biology, Chemistry, or Geological Sciences. This freshman science program was introduced in fall semester, 2001, and will be offered annually thereafter.

Project to Increase the Recruitment and Retention of Preservice Science Teachers

There is a growing need for well qualified teachers nationwide. Many strong students who are potential candidates do not consider teaching as an option until they have reached their junior or senior years. At that point, their curricula are often too full to include classes needed for certification. Some of these students do gain temporary certificates due to the critical need and enter the classroom. However, without any preparation in educational practices, their attrition rate is very high.

To assist strong science students in gaining training and certification at the secondary level, we propose to offer a suite of 3-4 courses during the summer. Two of these courses; 304 Content Area Reading and Learning Strategies and TAL 444 Instruction in Secondary Science would be team taught by faculty from Biology and Marine Science and faculty from the School of Education. Students would take an additional 6 credits of introductory courses during the academic year and would student teach during their senior year. Because of the critical need, funding is available to pay student teachers approximately 14,000 for that semester and an additional 20 scholarships of 1,000 each may be awarded to students enrolling in the summer.

We hope to attract 20 students for next year and offer the courses beginning next summer. We would also like to develop a plan to have TAL 101 approved as a social studies for the 20 students who participate in the program.

Schedule

July 5 - 9, 2004 or July 26 - 30
From 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Contact Information

University of Miami
Blase Maffia
Project SUCCEED
College of Arts and Sciences
305-284-4313

Integrated Science Summer Institute 2004 Application
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