Future of technology bound closely to educating youth today
For two years, President Clinton and Congress have provided for schools to hire 100,000 new and qualified teachers in order to lower class sizes in kindergarten through 12th grades. During his presidential address to the State of the Union last week, Clinton took it further to ask Congress to "make sure all teachers know the subjects they teach" and to "give all teachers the training they need."
In a society where that training deals more and more with the rapidly developing technology of computers in the classroom, schools and educators are looking for professional development programs that show them how to do more than search and surf with the computers in their classroom.
The Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education at Stevens Institute of Technology is prepared to aid schools and educators in receiving that training. CIESE collaborates with schools to provide professional development and technical expertise to promote improved teaching and learning in science and mathematics for K-12 educators through the integration of technology in their curriculum.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, recent studies and reports have found that new teachers are not entering the classrooms well prepared to use technology. Most new teachers graduate with limited knowledge of the ways technology can be used in their profession, with less than a quarter of new teachers feeling they are well prepared to integrate technology into their curriculum.
"One of the important aspects of our materials is that they go way beyond simple technology skills and really demonstrate how the technology can be used as a teaching and learning tool," said Josh Baron, manager of Curriculum Development and Training for CIESE.
By infusing the curriculum with unique hands-on and real-world projects, the faculty at CIESE hopes to educate teachers on how to instill a passion for science and technology in their students.
"We believe that technology can be a powerful catalyst in improving K-12 education by providing teachers and students with enriched opportunities to experience and understand scientific and mathematical concepts," said Beth McGrath, deputy director for CIESE. "We strive to increase problem-solving and critical thinking abilities through participation in authentic, interdisciplinary projects."
Through the K-12 Partnership Program, CIESE promotes meaningful integration of Internet-based resources in science, mathematics and other subjects on its web site at ciese.org. Through the site, educators can access materials for projects and interact with students and educators around the world who are working on those same projects.
Upcoming CIESE online classroom projects are as follows: "The Global Water Sampling Project," where students from around the world are teaming up to test fresh water and compare the water quality of their local water sources with other fresh water sources around the world; "The Global Sun/Temperature Project," where students try to figure out how proximity to the equator affects average daily temperature and hours of sunlight; "International Boiling Point Project," where people from all over the world discover which factor in the experiment (room temperature, elevation, volume of water or heating device) has the greatest influence on the boiling point; "Worldwide Human Genetics Project," where students ask people from all over the world which traits they have and use the information gathered on the physical characteristics to determine those traits that are controlled by a dominant gene; and "Square of Life Environmental Project," where students tap into some of the exciting and new applications of the Internet in education by having primary students from around the world collaborate on an investigation of the planet they live on.
The CIESE web site has been recognized for its dedication to science and math education by such resource centers as StudyWeb and Web Feet, two of the premier subject guides to web sites for students, researchers and the general public; Science NetLinks, a comprehensive web site for science educators created by the American Association for the Advancement of Science; The Chronicle of Higher Education; the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse’s Digital Dozen, which collects physical and virtual resources that are useful to math and science educators; and the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, Calif.
CIESE is implementing programs in five states, including a $9.3 million U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant, to train more than 10,000 teachers in the use of technology resources to improve teaching and learning in science and mathematics.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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