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Kim Brown, who teaches grades 9-12 at Northeast High School
in Cairo, Mo., demonstrates open pipe wind chimes, a science
project that explores sound waves. She developed the project
during MU’s 2002 physics summer institute. Photo by
Meera Chandrasekhar
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Professors
Tutor Middle
School Science Teachers
MU Professors Help Boost Science
Achievement
By Cheri Ghan
While the current focus in the No Child Left
Behind Act arena is reading and math, science scores will be emphasized
in the 2007-08 school year. A group of University of Missouri-Columbia
professors hopes to improve middle level students’ science
achievement by spending three weeks this summer teaching their
teachers. With topics ranging from simple circuits to chemical
compounds, they will strive to increase the teachers’ knowledge
and offer tips on how to bring science alive for young minds.
The Physical
Science Summer Institute for Middle Level Teachers (grades
6-9) targets school districts with poverty levels of more than
20 percent and Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) scores that need
improvement. MU physics
Professor Meera Chandrasekhar coordinates the institute. She said
the schools accepted for the institute send more than one teacher,
and the information they receive is a valuable teaching aid.
“They learn new content, add
to their knowledge and increase their skills,” Chandrasekhar
said. “They receive a ready-to-use kit to take back to their
school so they don’t have to reconstruct the materials.
Teamwork within the institute is really a key to learning so much
new content. An individual learner can get bogged down by taking
in so much material.”
The institutes are taught in a three-year
cycle with different course materials offered each year. Ideally,
a school will participate in the institute for a full cycle. Chandrasekhar
has taught at the institutes for 10 years and said there is evidence
linking it to improved student achievement.
“We have anecdotal data from
teachers giving us some good feedback,” Chandrasekhar said.
“One teacher who came to all three institutes saw her MAP
scores in the physical sciences go up each year.”
Other MU professors teaching at the institute
are Bruce A. McClure, associate professor of biochemistry;
Steven W. Keller, associate professor of chemistry
and Mark J. Volkmann, associate professor of science
education. The Coordinating
Board for Higher Education is funding the institute.
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Last Update:
November 15, 2007
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