Among the
partnerships of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Math and
Science Partnership (MSP) program, there is a growing practice of
K-12 teachers temporarily leaving their school positions to serve in
residence on college and university campuses. During the
2002-2003 academic year, MSP projects reported 18 K-12 teachers in
residence on six higher education campuses in four partnerships; by
the most recent reporting year, 2005-2006, this practice had grown to
398 K-12 teachers in residence on 30 higher education campuses in 13
partnerships. Most typically, this strategy helps build bridges
in the relationships between K-12 schools and institutions of higher
education (IHEs), while also functioning as a form of professional
development for the K-12 teachers and for higher education faculty.
At
the MSPinNYC project based at the City University of New York, K-12
teachers have profoundly impacted university professors. For
example, a chemistry professor in a partner institution states, “What
I, as a college professor, learned from high school teachers in MSP
is not a quick fix on faulty teaching methods at the college level,
but it provides instructors with a starting point to plan or to
reevaluate a course from the learner's perspective. The method
requires that I prepare and conduct my lesson in a manner that I had
not used at the college level. The NYC [New York City] high
school teachers that I worked with in the MSP program have given me
wonderful instructional advice, and so I have learned a valuable
lesson in the form of a method that I have applied to teaching
chemistry at the college level.”
The
Math and Science
Partnership of Southwest Pennsylvania designed its
teacher fellow experience to build intentional feedback loops between
the K-12 participants and the IHE participants to tap the
discipline-based expertise of IHE, and to improve the mathematics and
science learning experiences for all undergraduates. Together,
IHE mentors and K-12 fellows revise IHE courses with the ultimate
goal of improving undergraduate education and preparing pre-service
students. The fellow deepens content knowledge through
participation in IHE courses and the IHE mentor receives assistance
in course revisions and pedagogical practice. By the summer of
2006, 32 K-12 teachers representing 27 school districts had
participated in the teacher fellow program. To date, 74 college
courses have been revised through this process. This revision of
courses has resulted in greater success for undergraduates in IHE
courses. By 2005, in at least 75 percent of revised courses, more
than 80 percent of the students were attaining proficiency of a grade
of C or above. For some faculty, the work with K-12 teachers has
resulted in the adoption of different teaching strategies. Indeed,
IHE deans interviewed by the project’s independent, external
evaluator were quick to point out that the “professional
development” faculty are receiving is one of the major benefits of
their participation in MSP.
In
the University of Pennsylvania Science
Teacher Institute, high school teachers co-teach
graduate level courses with chemistry faculty in the Master of
Chemistry Education Program. The secondary teachers serve as
pedagogical experts while the IHE faculty members serve as content
experts, with their combined expertise enhancing the learning
experience for all parties.
