Valparaiso University, the School City
of East Chicago, and the Challenger Learning Center
of Northwest Indiana have formed a partnership to plan
and implement the Initiative for Schools, Industries
and the Sciences for Elementary Teachers (ISIS–ET).
The project is three years in duration and will provide
high-quality, standards-based professional development
and on-going support to two cohorts of 20 K-6 teachers.
Each cohort will participate in 15 training days (116
hours) that includes one ten-day summer institute,
two school-year follow-up sessions, and one three-day
follow-up summer session. Follow-up activities will
also include in-service training days for 15 additional
elementary teachers each school year. These in-service
days will extend the project beyond the two cohorts
of teachers. A total of 70 teachers will be involved
in the program.
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1. Enhance their
content knowledge in science,
2. Improve their skills in using inquiry based
learning approaches that incorporate sophisticated technology in
teaching science,
3. Ensure their use of Indiana’s academic
standards and curriculum frameworks to improve instructional practices
and student achievement.
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Valparaiso
University - VU provides professional
development along with the course materials. VU
delivers equipment to SCEC teachers and provides
technical and instructional support in their classrooms.
School City of East Chicago - The SCEC recruits
participants, provides release time to teachers,
and collects and analyzes data for the evaluation process. SCEC is the fiscal
agent for the grant.
Challenger Learning Center of Northwest Indiana (CLC) - The CLC
provides training using a multi-disciplinary approach emphasizing educational
content, cooperative learning, problem solving and responsible decision-making.
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Sixteen teachers attended
the first summer workshop held on July 19 to July
30, 2004. Based on the program evaluations, the program
was a tremendous success. As part of the program,
all teachers were required to develop interdisciplinary
inquiry based projects to fulfill the graduate course
requirements. The teachers are also expected to implement
these projects during the current school year. The
ISIS interactive website has also been modified to
include activity particularly for this program. The
program website may be viewed at www.valpo.edu/organization/psme.
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The
following is a sample of teachers' responses to
this question on the two-week evaluation: What
would you tell your colleagues about this program?
That it inspired me to be a better, more thoughtful teacher.
I would tell them that it was very well organized and more than helpful! It will
make you a better teacher and provide you with fantastic resources.
I would tell my colleagues to definitely sign up for next year's program. The
information taught was beyond my expectations and so useful to me as an educator.
The course eased feelings of being unsure about science teaching. There is classroom
support from the staff and they can get ideas for lessons that they may already
work on in class. It is a good opportunity for all teachers.
It sparks an interest in increasing professional knowledge about science so that
a teacher can improve his/her planning and instruction.
To sign up! It's great!
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