Professional Development/Outreach

QUEST: Quality Elementary Science Teaching is an elementary teacher professional development program as well as a summer science academy for elementary-age students. The project focuses on promoting success for ALL learners in science, through the use of formative assessment, inquiry-based instruction, and principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

Lawson Elementary, Walker Elementary, and Brown Elementary in the Hazelwood School District have been funded through the MU Partnership for Educational Renewal to form teacher study-groups to implement formative assessment in science. Workshops were held during the 2007-2008 school year.

Pierremont Elementary School in the Parkway School District received funding for the 2008-2009 school year through the MU Partnership for Educational Renewal. Workshops with teachers focus on implementing "seamless assessment" in science instruction.

The Math and Science Institute for Beginning Teachers is designed to give teachers in their first few years of teaching the support and resources they need to remain in the teaching profession and improve the teaching and learning of mathematics and science in Missouri.

Research

Improving Undergraduate Non-Majors' Understanding of the Nature of Science
This study, funded through the MU Research Council, is focused on developing faculty expertise in teaching about the nature of science and improvement of scientific literacy.

An Exploratory Study of Integration of Explicit and Reflective Nature of Science Instruction in a Physical Science Content Course for Teachers
This study, funded in part by a Research Council Grant, investigates nature of science instruction in a large-enrollment lecture-and-lab course designed for preservice teachers.

Examining Assessment Practices in a Physical Science Content Course for Preservice Elementary Teachers
This action research project, funded by a Dr. Richard Wallace Research Incentive Grant, focuses on the use of classroom assessment techniques to guide instruction and improve student learning. Members of the action-based research team include two faculty members of the course, two graduate teaching assistants, and an undergraduate researcher.

Enhancing Preservice Elementary Teachers' Understanding of the Nature of Science: An Intervention Study
This study, funded by a Research Council Grant, investigates integration of instruction on the nature of science across Phase I and Phase II of the Teacher Development Program at MU. Preservice teachers' understandings of the nature of science are assessed during both their content and pedagogy courses.

Preservice Secondary Science Teachers Views of Evolution and the Nature of Science
This study, supported by the Southwest Bell Center for Science Education, investigates the relationship between preservice teachers' understandings of the nature of science and their concerns about teaching evolution.

Preservice Elementary Teachers' Field Experiences With Science Specialists
This study, conducted as a research internship with graduate student Tina Varma, is a naturalistic inquiry designed to explore the perceptions of prospective elementary teachers in a field experience with elementary science specialists.