Goals and Plans

Collaborative for Excellence in Teacher Preparation in Pennsylvania (CETP-PA) at Slippery Rock University (SRU)

The first SRU goal for this CETP-PA project is to increase cooperation, communication, and understanding between higher education faculty who teach pedagogy courses and those who teach content courses in the hope of spreading use of effective pedagogical techniques and attention to issues of equity. Initially emphasis will be placed upon cooperative learning, inquiry-based instruction, hands-on/manipulative activities, and authentic assessment in both pedagogy and content courses. Research in teaching and learning will be the foundation for course improvements.

Change will be accomplished through faculty reading groups, other professional development activities, and team teaching. SRU faculty already have experience with these things, but the proposed project would broaden and deepen the current opportunities for professional development and team teaching. The level of commitment by the participating faculty will vary from attending reading groups three times a semester to team teaching a course that meets three times a week. Each person paid for team teaching will be expected to continue to learn from and coordinate efforts with the other person in that pair during subsequent semesters.

One result of this project should be an increase the amount of constructivist teaching that students experience in their content and pedagogy courses at SRU. It is not appropriate to tell students how to teach without modeling those techniques. Also, students should increase their understanding of the connections between teaching methods and science/mathematics/technology content. Therefore, this project will have a major emphasis on team teaching of content courses and pedagogy courses by pairs consisting of a professor from the College of Education and a professor from the College of Health, Environment, and Science.

Faculty will examine the syllabi for SRU courses taken by pre-service teachers -- both content courses (from the mathematics, biology, chemistry/physics, geology, geography, environmental education and allied health departments) and methods courses (from the elementary and secondary education departments). Faculty will determine whether or not the cumulative course work required for elementary and secondary education majors encompasses all of the content in Pennsylvania's Academic Standards for Mathematics, Proposed Academic Standards for Environment and Ecology, and Proposed Academic Standards for Science and Technology.

Faculty at SRU participating in this project probably will see the need to change some of what is taught to prepare teachers. Existing courses will be revised and new courses will be developed in accordance with the university curricular process. Some improvements may not require formal curricular revisions. Courses most likely to be impacted are Liberal Studies courses taken by elementary education students and by secondary education students outside of their field(s) of certification. Also affected will be majors' courses taken by prospective secondary school teachers.

The second SRU goal for this CETP-PA project is to establish a collaborative relationship with Butler County Community College (BCCC) in order to use similar approaches to teaching introductory science and mathematics courses. Faculty with nonteaching responsibilities, such as counseling new or transfer students, will be included with faculty whose entire assigned load is teaching. Connections thus should be built between these two types of faculty on each campus as well between faculty at SRU and BCCC. Faculty reading groups and other professional development activities will help develop a shared vision of what should be taught and how that content should be taught.

Other community colleges in Western Pennsylvania will also be invited to participate in SRU's teacher collaborative activities even though their locations are farther from SRU than is BCCC's location. Electronic communication should allow participation in some activities without extensive travel time.

The third SRU goal for this CETP-PA project is to strive for consensus with cooperating teachers about what really are best practices in mathematics and science education. New opportunities will be created for higher education faculty to study and work with the cooperating teachers who guide SRU students during their field experiences and student teaching. The end result should be increased implementation of constructivist classroom environments in which all people are encouraged to reach their potential.

National and Pennsylvania standards for mathematics, science, and technology education will be used in these professional development activities. In-service teachers will gain assistance in teaching the content recommended in these standards. A more important aim of this project will be to help teachers prepare lessons in which students recognize mathematics, science, and technology as the creative, exciting, and ever-evolving fields they are. Long after the facts have been forgotten or have grown outdated, students' understanding of the real nature of scientific and mathematical processes will help them be informed citizens and professionals. As cooperating teachers become more proficient in teaching to the standards, these teachers will simultaneously become better role models for SRU students.

Basic and higher education faculty members will volunteer to read reports, articles, and books provided by the Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education. They will meet about once a month to discuss the readings at a variety of sites. In addition, Internet chat groups about these readings will be implemented. Current practices will be compared to recommendations from these readings. Participating in reading groups will enhance professional dialogue among the various groups involved in the preparation of teachers. Also, reading groups will help form a foundation of shared education philosophy and techniques for the faculty who later choose to participate in team teaching.

SRU faculty will check if students preparing to be teachers have ample opportunities to use graphing calculators, computers, laser discs, and other devices commonly available in schools. Faculty will also consider if pre-service teachers are adequately prepared at SRU to apply appropriate teaching methodologies for infusing the study of technology into K-12 education. Because these students need to see their college instructors and cooperating teachers model current best practices, faculty at K-12 schools, community colleges, and SRU will be offered professional development about technology similar to the experiences provided to SRU education majors. Opportunities will be made available to these faculty to help them improve their competencies in teaching technology content and in using technology to teach mathematics and science content.

Other professional development opportunities will be offered that involve collaboration in which both basic and higher education faculty are enriched by learning about the experiences of the other group. Participation by inservice teachers will make them more likely to be chosen as cooperating teachers for SRU students in field experiences and student teaching. Participation by community college instructors will help them align the courses they teach with those that will later be taken by students at SRU. Through this professional development, more consistency should be obtained in the actions and expectations of faculty involved in the preparation of teachers.

Programs will be offered by this teacher collaborative project for basic and higher education faculty with the following emphases:

SRU undergraduate and graduate students will be able to participate and assist in some of these professional development programs. For some of these programs, a model will be adapted that is now used in a week-long course to teach a new manufacturing system to a significant part of the workforce at Alcoa. Participants are introduced to a concept. Then, in rapid succession, they construct for themselves that concept and apply it to several real world situations.

The fourth SRU goal for this CETP-PA project is to recruit prospective mathematics and science teachers for grades K-12. Activities will be open to all interested young people. Extra efforts will be made to encourage the participation and facilitate the success of women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities.

One recruitment measure will be after-school science/math clubs in middle schools and junior high schools led jointly by higher education and basic education faculty. Another recruitment measure will be SRU students and faculty giving presentations and conducting hands-on/manipulative activities in secondary schools. Also, high school students will visit the university campus to observe mathematics, science, and education classes and to listen to faculty and guest speakers.

Professional development for in-service teachers will include career information that they, in turn, can share with their students. As mentioned above, teachers will be helped in the preparation of lessons that generate excitement about mathematics, science, and technology. In this way, more students will be inspired to pursue careers related to these disciplines -- including teaching in grades K-12.

Poorly designed and taught introductory college mathematics and science courses can cause students to abandon any inclination to be teachers of these subjects. Making curricular changes at SRU and collaborating community colleges should help recruit K-12 teachers. Revised constructivist courses can inspire students to develop or build on a willingness to consider a teaching career.