Campus Connection

UWL Physics faculty earn grant to help area K-12 teachers improve student achievement

UW-La Crosse’s Physics Department continues to partner with K-12 teachers to improve student achievement in Wisconsin — particularly in math and science. Physics Department faculty earned a nearly $395,000 national Math and Science Partnership Grant that will allow UW-La Crosse to offer workshops over a two-year period for area K-12 teachers on integrating technology, engineering, arts and mathematics with science. The first-year of workshops will run March-June 2017, called the “iTEAMS” project. “In the U.S. student achievement in science and math lags behind other countries — especially in middle school and high school,” notes Jennifer Docktor, UWL associate professor of Physics. “In order to better prepare for a globally competitive workforce, we need to start with improving STEM education in elementary and middle school.” Docktor and Gubbi Sudhakaran, in UWL’s Physics Department, earned the grant from the U.S. Department of Education and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Docktor says the benefits are mutual when universities form partnerships with local school districts. “Teachers gain new skills and confidence in teaching science, and higher education faculty learn more about how subjects are taught in K-12,” she says. Docktor gets new ideas to improve her UWL courses for future science teachers after talking with local teachers. Her established relationships with teachers also help when UWL students begin their field experience and student teaching, she says. UWL Physics and Mathematics faculty will help instruct the workshops, along with instructors from several other schools and organizations. K-12 teachers will gain content knowledge and ideas for activities for their classrooms while developing networks with other K-12 teachers to potentially form professional learning communities. They’ll also form connections with faculty instructors and learn what resources are available at local institutions of higher education. Docktor is excited to begin. Among the planned workshops, K-12 teachers will use Lego® Mindstorms robotics kits to explore principles in technology and engineering design. They’ll build roller coasters to explore force and motion, create model wind turbines to understand alternative energies and participate in several field trips including a trip to an amusement park and a wind farm. “If teachers are excited about science, they will pass on that excitement to their students,” says Docktor. “In the long-term, we could see students coming to UWL who are better prepared for math and science classes or more students choosing to pursue STEM careers as a result of their enhanced K-12 preparation.” This isn’t the first K-12 partnership Under the leadership of Gubbi Sudhakaran the UWL Physics Department has run several workshops in the past since at least 2000. From 2011-2014, UWL Physics Department faculty provided professional development in physical science to 30 teachers in grades 3-10 in the districts of La Crosse, Onalaska, and Tomah through a project called “A LOT of Science.” More on the grant The goal of the Mathematics and Science Partnerships program is to improve student achievement in science and math by enhancing teachers’ content knowledge and teaching skills. Another focus is aligning curricula with national standards, such as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in mathematics and English-language arts. Right now there is national and statewide focus on standards-based education, so professional development in this area is needed, says Docktor. Sign up UWL’s Physics Department is recruiting 30-40 public and private school teachers in grades 5-10 in the CESA 4 region (the local Cooperative Educational Service Agency), which includes 26 school districts. They will target school districts which have a high population of under-represented students. Out of the 26 school districts, 19 of them are considered “high needs” by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Teachers can receive a stipend for their time and have the option to receive graduate credits at a reduced rate. Teachers can still sign up for the workshops through early December by contacting Nicole Cooksey, ncooksey@cesa4.org. For more information about the workshop contact Jennifer Docktor, UWL Physics, at jdocktor@uwlax.edu.