Texas Regional Collaboratives Announce Professional Development in Preparation for Teaching the New Texas Earth and Space Science Capstone Course

The Texas Earth and Space Science (TXESS) Revolution is a rigorous, high-quality, 5-year geoscience professional development program for 8th – 12th grade minority-serving science teachers and teacher mentors in Texas.Sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s Opportunities to Enhance Diversity in the Geosciences and augmented with support form the Texas education Agency and the Jackson School of geosciences, the project will prepare teachers for Texas’ new capstone Earth and Space Science (ESS) course. The innovative program is offered by The University of Texas’ Jackson School of Geosciences and Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, TERC (a not-for-profit company in Massachusetts with 30 years experience in designing science curriculum), and the Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence In Science and Mathematics Teaching. Who Should Participate?Minority and minority-serving teachers who would like to teach the new Earth and Space Science capstone course, or their mentors.

Requirements, Responsibilities, Benefits

Teacher participants will:

• Attend 4 professional development academies (PDAs) over a 2 year academic period (2007 – 2009) as part of a two-person TRC instructional team.
• Receive 24 hours of training during each PDA, requiring absence from the classroom for a maximum of 3 days for each PDA (total of 12 days over 2 years).
• Present the training to at least 25 other TRC teachers.Participate in the online “virtual café” (resources, idea and materials exchange, personal blogs, and communication channel to project investigators and evaluator).
• Assemble a portfolio to chart progress and demonstrate competence to teach ESS.
• Take tests to demonstrate proficiency and gains in knowledge and skills.

Participants will benefit by/ from:

• Competency in ESS.Receiving Certificates of Participation from the Jackson School of Geosciences and the Texas Education Agency.
• Earning SBEC credits.
• Opportunities to become a leader in ESS implementation and training.
• Opportunities to meet and establish professional relationships with scientists.
• Receiving rigorous training materials.
• A professional portfolio that can be used for career advancement.
• Chances to participate in optional summer institutes, PDAs and field programs.

School administrators will:

• Be able to offer ESS as an option for the 4th year of science at their schools.
• Have a teacher on staff who is a leader in ESS implementation and training.
• Be able to reach out with a rigorous and relevant science curriculum to minority students who are typically underrepresented in the sciences.

For more information and to apply, visit: http://thetrc.org/trc/calendar.html

or contact:

Marsha Willis , TRCPD Coordinator marshawillis@mail.utexas.edu
Dr. Kathy Ellins, JSG kellins@ig.utexas.edu