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

密歇根州和全国其他地区一样，面临着合格的中学科学教师严重短缺的问题。这种短缺反映了一系列复杂的相互关联的问题，涉及招聘新人进入这一职业，使他们做好准备以满足青少年的需要，并在他们职业生涯的关键头几年向他们提供充分的专业支助。该项目在中学科学教师的准备，以及通过开发包括这些问题的综合解决方案，以满足当地的需求卓越模型。西密歇根大学，密歇根湖学院和卡拉马祖山谷社区学院以及卡拉马祖，波蒂奇和维克斯堡学区的教职员工正在共同努力，追求几个不同的战略，旨在：1）通过在西密歇根大学，密歇根湖学院和卡拉马祖山谷社区学院推广教师教育计划，并将此信息传播给参与学区的K-12辅导员，2）通过深化和扩展这些学院提供的科学内容课程计划，为未来的中学教师提供装备，这些课程是有效教学策略的典范，并满足他们的独特需求。该项目还创建了一个中学科学辅修课程，包括针对小学教师的特定探究式科学课程和针对专业和未成年人的科学学科课程，以及3）通过为新手教师提供专业指导和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式学习策略的需求。在合作地区举行专业发展会议和讲习班，以支持新教师及其导师，是该项目的一部分。还通过现有组织提供研究生信贷讲习班。在短期内，该计划的实施导致创建一个新的中等科学未成年人，增强科学内容的课程，以及专业发展会议和研讨会。从本科和研究生课程的课程材料，以及专业发展会议，可通过书面材料，研讨会和万维网在全国范围内。从长远来看，目前的研究表明，这种综合方法可以提高教师资格考试的成绩，增加教师在地区和国家会议上的参与，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成绩。

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.