School of Science

Southwest Texas State University - School of Science  The SWT Science/Math/Technology Education Institute A Foundation Proposal

 Southwest Texas State University (SWT) is a multipurpose university with about 23,000 students located in San Marcos almost midway between San Antonio and Austin. SWT offers 110 undergraduate degree programs and 74 graduate degree programs, and has an active research and teaching faculty in science, mathematics, and technology. In addition, SWT is nationally known for its preparation of primary and secondary school teachers. This combination of attributes makes SWT uniquely qualified to offer a program that will strongly impact science and math education in Texas.

The Science/Math/Technology Education program was created by Drs. Dana García and Joe Koke of the Biology Department, and Ms. Teresa Taylor of Smithson Valley High School, who believe that science and math professionals have much to offer K-12 teachers. Because of their efforts, the National Science Foundation has committed $728,952, in part because of SWT's commitment to match this grant for a total budget of $2.4 million over the next 5 years. The program began June 1,1998, and we project the direct participation of 150 teachers during the first 5 years of program operation. Many of these participants belong to ethnic minority groups and will be from San Antonio and South Texas.

 The program's goals match those of any foundation with an interest in improving education, since the program's emphasis is on collaborations with K-12 organizations that improve teacher preparedness, expand education technologies, promote excellence in math, science and engineering, support minority student success and further education reform approaches.

Many secondary school teachers have no research experience and thus are unable to communicate the excitement and necessity of scientific endeavor to their students. Consequently, fewer American students are choosing to pursue careers in science and technology. One result of this is that our graduate schools and industries are offering positions to more and more foreign applicants. Our project addresses this problem in a simple and direct fashion. By placing teachers in research laboratories under the supervision of mentors who are scientists, the teachers become part of the research team. In so doing, they learn how science is done in their subject area, and they learn the content necessary to do that science. Moreover, they learn with enthusiasm as they become vested in the project, and this enthusiasm is conveyed to their students when they return to the classroom.

As stated by the National Science Foundation, "the integration of research and education is a powerful paradigm for Science, Mathematics, and Technology education...." Through this program, teachers will establish long-term associations with the research community, which will allow continuing interactions with researchers and access to up-to-date information in their subject area. Additionally, teachers will develop materials to use in their own teaching based on their summer research experience.

 Budget Goals

Figure 1 illustrates the four sources of funding for the program and how the various funding sources change with time. The dark blue represents funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF), which will provide the majority of funds in the first two years. Funds provided by the SWT School of Science are shown in maroon, and the light blue represents other funds needed to endow the program. Our goal is to build this endowment to the point where it supports the entire program by the eighth year of operation. However, our immediate need is for operating funds (shown in yellow). These funds are required to allow us to offer meaningful incentives for teachers and mentors and to sustain this program as NSF funds are reduced.

Expenditure of Program Funds As shown in Figure 2 (left), the majority (83%) of these funds go to the teachers (as stipends, maroon) and the teachers schools (as transfer funds, yellow); program costs are less than 20% of the total. The main benefits are to teachers in the form of stipends and subsistence fees, tuition, and materials and supplies. In addition, the teachers' schools benefit as the teachers bring supply money back to their schools to support new classroom and laboratory exercises in the schools.

 The Summer Research Experience for Teachers will transpire each year between June 1 and July 31. Teachers are placed in labs of mentors with whom their interests match. Preparation of both teachers and mentors will make the teachers' experience as similar as possible to that of other researchers supervised by the same mentor. We regard this as an essential element of the Summer Teacher Research Experience program and as the element with the most powerful effect on teachers' ability to convey the excitement of science to their students.

The Project Staff meets with the teachers as a group each week to entertain questions, comments, suggestions, discuss research progress, and discuss ways the experiences can translate to classroom teaching. The group meeting is also important to encourage interaction and collaboration among the participating teachers. In addition, the Project Staff visits all teachers in their respective labs at least once each week. The purpose of this visit is to 1) monitor the teacher and scientist/mentor interactions and to initiate adjustments that may be necessary to assure a mutually successful research experience; and 2) to assist in formulating plans for the practical implementation of new teaching exercises.

During the academic year following the research experience, communication among the teachers, the scientist/mentors, and the Project Staff will be established and maintained using the Internet. Both E-mail and an interactive Web site will be used. This connectivity will allow daily interaction and problem solving to occur. A key part of the transfer and follow-up plan is to establish and maintain Web access for the participants in their classrooms.

Follow-up visits will be scheduled for the scientist/mentors to visit the teachers' schools during the academic year subsequent to the research experience. The purpose of these visits will be to assist the translation process (which may include direct interaction with the teachers' students) and to help assess the effects of the new exercises.

Travel funds are budgeted for teachers to attend a relevant, research-oriented, national or international-level meeting (for example, teachers of biology might attend the Experimental Biology meeting) with their scientist/mentor during the academic year following the research experience. Commitments will be obtained from the teachers' administrators to provide substitute teachers and release time to enable the teachers to attend such a meeting.

The SMTEI and Secondary Students. While the SMTEI does not directly admit students into the summer research program, it still has an enormous reach by having strong positive effects on the students teachers. In Texas, a typical high school teacher will teach about 150 students or more each years. During the first 4 years of the SMTEI, 70 teachers have participated and returned to the classroom. These teachers will teach 70 x 150 or 10,500 students each year! Thus supporting this program is an extraordinarily efficient way to reach many students with a modest investment - to get the most "bang for the buck."