High school teachers become Cyber Savvy through CIESE

HOBOKEN, N.J. – What do navigational vectors, math statistics, marshes, and thermodynamics all have in common? These are just some of the topics presented recently by a group of Savvy Cyber Teachers at The College of New Jersey.

Thanks to a grant partnership between Stevens Institute of Technology’s Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) and the New Jersey Statewide Systemic Initiative (NJSSI), in collaboration with The College of New Jersey, twenty lucky high school teachers from schools across the state of New Jersey were able to attend a 10-week graduate level course using the Internet to teach complex secondary science concepts. The teachers hailed from seven counties and 15 schools throughout New Jersey.

Teachers participated in 30 hours of hands-on Internet-based training, which culminated in the creation and presentation of dynamic online inquiry-based science and mathematics projects. During the “Cyber Poster Session,” teachers shared exactly how they planned to implement their enhanced curriculum unit with their students next year.

“ It was clear from watching and listening to the teachers’ presentations that they not only ‘got it’ in terms of the learning objectives covered in the course, but were able to speak knowledgeably and passionately about what they had learned,” said Meg Turner, the Program Manager.

“ I greatly enjoyed the course,” said Amrish Garg, a ninth-grade physics teacher from South Brunswick High School. “The Internet will play an increasingly important role in education and the course provided an opportunity to explore the endless possibilities.”

CIESE offers the Savvy Cyber Teacher® course during the school year to teachers of K-12 math and science; and this July and August will be holding the Savvy Cyber Teacher Summer Institute, a week-long immersion program in how to effectively integrate the Internet and the latest in online curricula into the classroom. Teachers earned 30 hours toward their professional development requirement, along with three graduate-level credits.

About Savvy Cyber Teacher

Savvy Cyber Teacher is a 30-hour graduate-level course enabling teachers to use Internet-based resources to engage students in quantitative, inquiry-based science and mathematics projects in which they gather, download and analyze real-time and collaborative-based data in order to draw conclusions, discover scientific principles and, in effect, become real scientists.

For further information about this in-district program, or the Summer Institute, please contact Meg Turner at 201-216-5655, or visit www.savvycyberteacher.org.

About CIESE

CIESE was founded in 1988 to improve K-12 science and mathematics education through the use of technology. Drawing upon Stevens’ years of experience as the first college in the country to require students to own a computer (1982), early programs utilized mathematics “tool” software for exploration of mathematical concepts at the high school level.

Since 1988, programs and activities have reached more than 20,000 educators worldwide, received grants and contracts totaling approximately $20 million, and have received accolades from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Science Teachers Association, and others.

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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