Western Washington University has recently received notice of two grants that will help science instruction: a $138,000 grant from M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust for equipment and science student summer stipends, and a $2.9 million National Science Foundation grant for studying the university’s elementary science teacher preparation program.
The NSF grant, one of the largest grants the university has received in awhile, will fund a five-year study of K-6 teachers in the elementary science program and their success as teachers in the classroom.
The M. J. Murdoch Charitable Trust grant is for the university’s Advanced Materials Science and Engineering Center and will help purchase a turntable laser. The grant also allowed the university to offer stipends to eight students on five research teams this summer. The university is matching the grant with $150,000, which will be used to create an interdisciplinary microscopy center.
The press releases from the university are below the jump.
A new $2.9 million grant awarded to Western Washington University by the National Science Foundation will fund a five-year study of the impact of Western’s innovative elementary science teacher preparation program.
The grant, “Model of Research-based Education for Teachers (MORE for Teachers),” will explore elementary teachers’ development of important knowledge and skills that studies have shown promote students’ deep understanding of important science concepts.
This longitudinal study will follow future K-6 science teachers as they complete their science content courses and instructional methods courses at WWU and comparison institutions. The researchers will also follow a group of graduates of the innovative teaching program during their first few years in the classroom to determine the impacts on their science instruction and students’ understanding of science.
“This grant is a great example of the deep collaboration between the College of Sciences and Technology and Woodring College of Education,” said George Nelson, director of the Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education Program at WWU and chair of the grant’s advisory board. “Our unique structure enables us to innovate beyond the cutting edge of current thinking in teacher preparation and do the careful research necessary to create new knowledge that can inform the nation.”
This research will produce understandings about specific components of Western’s research-based teacher education program for elementary science teachers and K-6 schools that contribute to high-quality instructional practices in elementary science classrooms. This study will help the WWU researchers continue to make refinements to the program, which is currently a model for universities across the country. Findings from this research will also help the broader K-12 education community understand how teachers apply their knowledge, skills, and beliefs in school settings that support effective science teaching and learning.
“University teacher educators rarely have the opportunity to follow their students into their teaching careers. In this study, we will not only track our students into their first years of teaching but we will also be able to isolate specific elements within our program to see what the impacts might be on teaching” said principal investigator, Chris Ohana. “This research promises to improve the quality of teacher preparation at Western and across the country.”
Western Washington University’s Advanced Materials Science and Engineering Center (AMSEC) has received a $138,500 grant from M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust with matching funds from WWU for equipment and student summer stipends; as a result of this award, five interdisciplinary materials-science research teams have been awarded eight student stipends this summer.
With the funds from this grant plus funds from two National Science Foundation grants, AMSEC is purchasing a tunable laser which will be used for further interdisciplinary research such as the development of luminescent solar concentrators for efficient, inexpensive renewable energy, as well as a range of studies of wavelength-dependent optical properties of materials.
The University’s matching funds in the amount of $150,000 will be used to develop an interdisciplinary microscopy center in its Environmental Studies building.
And more, Twitter’s action in giving up posters’ details regarding libelling the officers of a British local council has been spoken of as being “a warning shot to people that they cannot post things online with impunity”. Seeing as it cost ?￡75,000 in court costs to get Twitter to release the names, I’d suggest it illustrates more that you can post what you like about poor people, but not about rich people who can afford court action. One law for the rich and one for the poor, same as ever.
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