University of Arkansas - Math Science Partnership Grant

Primary Investigator - Dr. Gay Stewart

Partnership Coordinator - Stephen R. Skinner 

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• A 40 hour week-long intensive hands-on summer workshop 
• Two 10 hour weekend follow-up meetings in the Fall and Spring semesters
• A highly competitive stipend with travel expenses
• Room and board on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
• Partnerships with other teachers around the state
• Expert guidance in curriculum development
• Expert guidance in instructional technology.

Please take a moment to fill out a partnership application or to ask for more information at MSP-Application.

Grant Abstract:

The Professional Development Opportunities in Physics & Physical Science (PDO in PPS) Project at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (UAF) with participating teachers from AR high schools will provide high quality professional development opportunities for high school science teachers to gain physics content knowledge, develop their teaching strategies, integrate instructional technology into their teaching, and attain the “Highly Qualified” status as outlined in the No Child Left Behind federal legislation. The ultimate goal is to enhance student achievement in Physics and Physical Science.

             This inquiry-based and active-oriented Physical Science professional development project is modeled after the nationally-proven successful program of the Physics Teaching Resource Agents (PTRA) developed by the American Association of Physics Teachers.  A unique feature of PDO in PPS is mentoring and tutoring by University of Arkansas Physics and educational professionals as well as PTRAs trained by AAPT.  The project will support a cohort of 25 Teacher Scholars primarily from rural communities from around the state for a sustained professional development of 36 months using the curriculum developed by AAPT.  Each year instruction will be given in 5-day residential intensive workshop at the University of Arkansas including evening educational and mentoring activities.  There will also be two one-weekend “follow-up” session so participants can share experiences in the implementation of workshop activities, technology, and concepts in the participants’ classrooms.  Each participant will be expected to not only develop or revise a lesson based on the summer institute, but also evaluate the lesson.

        The AAPT/PTRA Program has developed several assessment instruments that will be used to track teacher improvement in the areas of content, learning progress, and to identify areas of improvement.

1.      Pre, Post and Retention Content Assessment Instruments for teachers. 

2.      Pre and Post Content Assessment Instruments for students. 

3.      Formative assessments. Formative assessments are used either during the Summer Institutes for participants or with students during instruction to determine the learning progress, assess conceptually resistant ideas, determine areas that need to be re-addressed, etc.