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Preparing Tomorrow's Science and Math Teachers Summer
2003 |
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Pellissippi State Technical Community College's team - Meg Moss, Jim Kelley, Maggie Phelps, and Gary Pennycuff - has made great progress in developing a teacher education program in collaboration with Tennessee Technological University (TTU). During summer 2002, the articulation agreement between Pellissippi State and TTU was formalized, along with a commitment from the two institutions to bring the TTU junior and senior years of their K-8 licensure program to the Pellissippi State Main Campus beginning in fall 2003. There have been many excellent meetings and conversations between people from PSTCC and TTU, which has created a great collaborative relationship. Several information sessions were held both at the main campus and the branch campuses of Pellissippi State to educate students about the new opportunities in teacher education. We created an advising code for elementary education. As of January 2003, there were 111 students who had identified themselves as heading into the TTU education program, and 85 who had chosen the elementary code. Meg Moss did yet another television appearance on a local morning show to promote the program, which aired live at 6:15 am! Several new courses for teacher education have been developed and are beginning to be offered, with very full class sections. These include a teacher education science course sequence (Chemistry, Earth Science, Biology, and Physics), two math courses, an instructional technology course, and an early field experience course. During early registration for spring, the first section of the field experience course closed on the third day of pre-registration, a second added section closed on the seventh day, and a third section is very full. Much to our delight, the proposal that our team submitted to NSF/ATE was funded! This project immerses PSTCC/TTU pre-service teachers in the exciting world of math, science, and technology, as well as provides student support and mentoring as they progress through the teacher education program and into their careers. This NSF/ATE grant project creates two Math And Science Teacher Education Resource (MASTER) hubs, one on the main campus and one at our Magnolia Avenue campus, which serves a high percentage of the African American population in the Knoxville area. Conversations are underway with the Knox County school system to create a program for their para-professionals. Pellissippi State has also hired an early childhood education faculty member to develop that program in collaboration with Head Start and area universities. The Pellissippi and TTU team greatly enjoyed participating in this PTK/NSF project and found the experience educational and helpful. The spring and fall conferences were excellent, and working with colleagues from across the country was inspiring. The team also benefited from our reverse site visit to meet with Dr. Pat Cunniff and her colleagues at Prince George's Community College, Maryland. Jim Kelley:jkelley@pstcc.cc.tn.us
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