Enlist, Equip, and Empower (E3): An Integrated Program for Middle School Science Teachers

与全国其他地区一样，密歇根州面临着合格的中学科学教师的严重短缺。这种短缺反映了一系列复杂的相互关联的问题，涉及招募新人进入这一专业，使他们做好准备，满足青少年的需要，并在他们职业生涯的关键头几年为他们提供足够的专业支助。该项目示范了中学科学教师培养方面的卓越表现，并通过开发包含这些问题的综合解决方案的计划来满足当地需求。西密歇根大学、密歇根湖畔学院、卡拉马祖谷社区学院以及卡拉马祖、波蒂奇和维克斯堡校区的教职员工正在共同努力，追求几项旨在实现以下目标的独特战略：1)通过推广西密歇根大学、密歇根湖畔学院和卡拉马祖谷社区学院的教师教育计划，招募有积极性和合格的未来中学科学教师，并将这一信息传播给参与校区的K-12辅导员；2)深化和扩大这些学院提供的科学内容课程计划，以此来培养未来的中学教师，这些课程将示范有效的教学策略，并满足他们的独特需求。该项目还创建了中学科学辅修课程，由面向小学教师的具体探究性科学课程和面向主修和未成年人的科学学科课程组成，以及3)通过提供专业指导和为新手教师开发适当的课程来增强中学科学教师的能力，以满足他们对额外内容背景和探究性学习策略的需求。在合作地区举行专业发展会议和讲习班，以支持新手教师及其导师，是该项目的一部分。还提供了通过现有组织提供毕业生学分的讲习班。在短期内，这一计划的实施将导致创建新的中级科学辅修课程、增强科学内容的课程以及专业发展会议和研讨会。来自本科生和研究生课程的课程材料，以及专业发展会议，可以通过书面材料、研讨会和万维网在全国范围内获得。从长远来看，目前的研究表明，这种综合方法可以提高教师认证考试的分数，增加教师在地区和国家会议上的参与度，降低教师流失率，并提高学生在地方、州和国家标准化考试中的分数。

Michigan, like the rest of the nation, faces a critical shortage of qualified middle school science teachers. This shortage reflects a complex set of interrelated problems associated with recruiting new individuals into the profession, preparing them to meet the needs of young adolescents, and providing them with sufficient professional support during the crucial first few years of their careers. This project models excellence in middle school science teacher preparation as well as addressing local needs by developing programs that comprise an integrated solution to these problems. Faculty and staff at Western Michigan University, Lake Michigan College and Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Kalamazoo, Portage and Vicksburg school districts are working together in the pursuit of several distinct strategies aimed at:1) enlisting motivated and qualified prospective middle school science teachers by promoting teacher education programs at Western Michigan University, Lake Michigan College, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College and disseminating this information to K-12 counselors in participating school districts, 2) equipping prospective middle school teachers by deepening and extending the program of science content courses offered at these colleges that model effective teaching strategies and meet their unique needs. This project is also creating a middle school science minor, composed of specific inquiry-based science courses for elementary teachers and science discipline courses for majors and minors, and 3) empowering middle school science teachers by providing professional mentoring and developing appropriate programs for novice teachers that address their needs for additional content background and inquiry-based learning strategies. Professional development meetings and workshops in the cooperating districts to support novice teachers and their mentors are a part of the project. Workshops for graduate credit through existing organizations are offered as well. In the short term, implementation of this program is resulting in the creation of a new middle science minor, enhanced science content courses, and professional development meetings and workshops. Curricular materials from undergraduate and graduate courses, as well as professional development meetings, are available nationwide via written materials, seminars, and the world wide web. In the long term, current research suggests that this comprehensive approach leads to improved scores on teacher certification exams, increased participation of teachers at regional and national meetings, lower teacher attrition rates, and improved student scores on local, state, and national standardized exams.