Tuesday, September 15, 2009

STARS (Science Teachers Achieving Real Success)



September 2009

The UTC Challenger Learning Center, in partnership with UTC and the Memphis City School System, was awarded the Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s (THEC) Improving Teacher Quality grant STARS (Science Teachers Achieving Real Success) in the Classroom. In June 2009, thirty participating science teachers from across Tennessee learned to integrate and deepen their knowledge of science, learning, and pedagogy through hands-on, inquiry-based learning using the ARIES curriculum.

Developed at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, ARIES is an astronomy-based physical science program closely aligned with the National Science Education Standards (NSES).

During the week-long summer seminar, STARS facilitators modeled inquiry-based instruction in two ARIES modules, “Exploring Energy” and “Exploring Light and Color”. Each participating teacher built and used several apparatuses to observe natural phenomena in order to construct a deeper understanding of science concepts. At the end of the seminar, teachers received a classroom set for each module that includes one teacher manual, 30 student science journals, and one apparatus bin that contains the materials students need to conduct their explorations for the 2009-2010 school year.