News
KinderFrogs/Starpoint School expansion fulfills education needs
The Morris Foundation Academic Wing, a new classroom and gym for KinderFrogs and Starpoint School, has expanded opportunities for our students, thanks to a $750,000 expansion supported by the Morris Foundation, the parents association and fundraising events.
“The desire for more space came three years ago when we realized the need to separate the age groups of students,” said Marilyn Tolbert, director and Jean W. Roach Chair of Laboratory Schools.
When KinderFrogs first started, there were two classrooms: one for children ages 18 months to three years and the other for three to six year olds. The developmental gap between the three to six year olds made it challenging for teachers to focus on everyone’s needs.
“Splitting the kids into groups of three to four year olds and five to six year olds was much better for their development and achievement,” Tolbert continued.
Architects suggested turning the existing gym into a classroom and therapy room and then build a new gym with more storage space. The new classroom accommodates 12 students and the therapy room has an observation window for parents.
“Our new classroom will be used as a model for early childhood classes in the Metroplex,” Tolbert said. “We’ll be inviting schools to see how classrooms can be set up to work with kids who have special needs.”
Construction began in June 2008 and students were able to use the gym in mid-October. A dedication for the new addition is set for February 2009.
College of Education launches revamped Web site
Come visit the College of Education’s updated Web site at www.coe.tcu.edu. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, visit the revamped site and see all the new tools and information. We hope you like what you see!
Grant aims to promote knowledge, interest in science
A $170,000 grant from the Sid Richardson Foundation awarded a two-year grant (2007-2009) to TCU’s College of Education and the College of Science and Engineering.
“The grant focuses on physics, math and engineering concepts in an effort to develop teachers in those areas and create an interest for students,” said Janet Kelly, associate professor for curriculum and instruction in science education.
Professional development of teachers is a primary component of the grant, which extends through 2009. This past summer, workshops at TCU were held for 19 math and science teachers from Dallas/Fort Worth school districts. Science and mathematics content was presented during morning sessions and in the afternoon sessions, teachers participated in applied activities related to the workshop content. All hands-on sessions were designed in a way that teachers could perform the experiments themselves, and then take the activities into their own classrooms.
“Our hope was that teachers would apply what they learned in the workshop activities in their own classes,” Kelly said. “Feedback from several teachers indicates that they are doing just that.” Incoming high school freshmen also attended workshops on campus taught by TCU faculty and staff assistants. Students were introduced to the steps in product development and fabrication. (more)
State Board for Educator Certification changes standards
The State Board for Educator Certification has changed the standards from early childhood to grade 4 (EC 4) to early childhood to grade 6 (EC 6) in an effort to make it easier to assign teachers to upper elementary grades. This change in state certification means those who are certified will be able to teach early childhood classes through to the sixth grade instead of just through the fourth.
“The reason for the change came when personnel directors were having a hard time filling teachers in upper grade levels as student populations shifted,” said Dr. Jan Lacina, associate professor in the TCU College of Education.
“In the long run, this will benefit our students,” she said. “The reality is that you’ll be moved around in a school based on where teachers are needed. You need to be flexible and have more content knowledge.”
The College of Education has been planning for the EC 4 to EC 6 change for the last two years. The first set of new classes will begin for juniors this fall.
In order to adjust to the state’s new requirements, Lacina said the content areas of English, science, math and social studies have been reevaluated in order to better prepare TCU students for educating in upper elementary grades.
A new science course will be offered in the program; the math and fine arts departments are designing new courses for College of Education students to take.
“Our students will be ahead of students from other universities because they will have stronger content knowledge,” Lacina said. “The stronger science and math content knowledge, and teaching strategies, provided by our program will better prepare TCU graduates for teaching grades Pre K to sixth grade.”
TCU offers research opportunities to high school students
The TCU physics department is offering high school students the chance to participate in journal-worthy research projects through its Research Apprentices Program (RAP).
“I was fortunate enough to participate in a similar program when I was an undergraduate,” says Dr. Yuri Strzhemechny, assistant professor of physics and astronomy and director of the program. “During that time, our collaboration produced a number of publications in scientific journals.
The high school students gained experience in conducting research before they entered college.” The program targets strong achievers who are high school sophomores, juniors and seniors. The synergistic activity benefits its participants on both sides, by creating a direct link between the high school science curricula and research performed at TCU. Additionally, the program’s creators hope it will create a link with the Fort Worth community, the program participants, as well as their parents and peers, so all may re-discover TCU with its diverse and vibrant environment.
Another important target audience for the program includes bright students in low income communities. “Generally, in our lab and our department, we aim to attract a diverse body of participants, paying special attention to groups underrepresented in math and sciences,” says Dr. Strzhemechny. “We hope that their participation in our program will spark some interest in science and in TCU.”
Funding for the program was made possible through a VIA grant and in part by support from the Andrews Institute for Mathematics, Science & Technology Education. For more information, contact the TCU physics and astronomy department at 817-257-7375.
What makes science "science?"
Turns out a lot of our middle- and secondary-school science teachers aren't really sure.
Lucky math teachers. There's nothing controversial about square roots or solving for X or even right angles.
Not so with science. Middle and high school science teachers find themselves confronting controversial topics such as stem cell research, cloning and evolution in the classroom.
For his dissertation, Mark Bloom, assistant professor of science education, surveyed middle school and high school science teachers in several groups beginning with a group of 23 teachers participating in a workshop in 2005. He found the teachers appeared to have a significant deficiency in content knowledge related to evolution theory and they reported a significant amount of uncertainty regarding how to teach it.
Some participants indicated the need for more evidence that would give them firm confidence in evolution theory. Other teachers underestimate the strength of scientific evidence and are willing to present evolution as "just a theory," which shows a lack of understanding of what scientific theory actually entails.
The original intent of the research was to measure the understanding that teachers had regarding content knowledge of evolution theory. What the researchers found, instead, were deep-rooted misunderstandings about evolution and even deeper misconceptions about the nature of science.
These findings reveal that teachers' lack of understanding of the nature of science can impact their confidence in what they teach, allow non-scientific material to infiltrate the science classroom, and undermine long-supported, well-tested scientific theory.
"Many teachers described that they were unsure what was appropriate or even legal to teach their students, and others described discomfort in addressing this topic because of its controversial nature," says Bloom.
Bloom also discovered that educating teachers about the definition of science and what distinguishes it from philosophy and faith considerably eases educators' misgivings about teaching these hot-potato subjects.(more)
