HR: 16:00h
AN: ED24A-01    [Abstracts]
TI: The TXESS Revolution: A Partnership to Advance Earth and Space Science in Texas
AU: Ellins, K K
EM: kellins@ig.utexas.edu
AF: Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, PRC, Bldg. 196, 10100 Burnet Road, Austin, TX 78758, United States
AU: Olson, H C
EM: olson@ig.utexas.edu
AF: Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, PRC, Bldg. 196, 10100 Burnet Road, Austin, TX 78758, United States
AU: * Willis, M
EM: marshawillis@mail.utexas.edu
AF: The Texas Region Collaboratives for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching, The University of Texas at Austin Center for Science and Mathematics Education, 1 University Station, Austin, TX 78712, Austin, TX 78712, United States
AB: The Texas State Board of Education voted in 2006 to require a fourth year of science for graduation from high school and to authorize the creation of a new senior level Earth Systems and Space Science course as an option to fulfill that requirement. The new Earth Systems and Space Science course will be a capstone course for which three required science courses(biology, chemistry and physics)are prerequisites. Here, we summarize the collective efforts of business leaders, scientists and educators who worked collaboratively for almost a decade to successfully reinstate Earth science as part of Texas' standard high school curriculum and describe a new project, the Texas Earth and Space Science (TXESS) Revolution, a 5-year professional development program for 8th -12th grade minority and minority-serving science teachers and teacher mentors in Texas to help prepare them to teach the new capstone course. At the heart of TXESS Revolution is an extraordinary partnership, involving (1) two UT-Austin academic units, the Jackson School of Geosciences and the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering; (2) TERC, a not-for-profit educational enterprise in Massachusetts with 30 years experience in designing science curriculum; (3) the University of South Florida; and (4) the Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching, a statewide network of teacher mentors and science teachers. With guidance from the Texas Education Agency, the state agency charged with overseeing education, the TXESS Revolution project will provide teachers with access to high quality materials and instruction aligned with the Texas educational standards for the new capstone course through: a program of eight different 3-day professional development academies offered to both teachers and teachers mentors; immersive summer institutes, field experiences, and a Petroleum Science and Technology Institute; training on how to implement Earth Science by Design, a teacher professional development program developed by TERC and the American Geological Institute with National Science Foundation (NSF) funding; and an online learning forum designed to keep teachers and teacher mentors in contact with facilitators and fellow project-participants between and after training, as well as share best practices and new information. The new capstone course promises to be a rigorous and dynamic change to the way Earth and Space Science has been presented previously anywhere in the U.S. and will provide many opportunities for professional development and the dissemination of suitable Earth and Space Science curriculum. The TXESS Revolution project welcomes opportunities to collaborate with geoscience consortia, programs, organizations and geoscience educators to advance Earth and Space Science in Texas. NSF's Opportunities to Enhance Diversity in the Geosciences program, the Shell Oil Company and the Jackson School of Geosciences are together funding the TXESS Revolution project.
UR: http://www.txessrevolution.org
DE: 0805 Elementary and secondary education
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
DE: 0825 Teaching methods
DE: 0855 Diversity
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting