LESSONS LEARNED - K-12 EDUCATOR AND UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS: INCREASING TEACHER COMPETENCY IN TEXAS ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS (TEKS) STANDARDS

In summer 2015-2106, Baylor geoscience faculty and staff partnered with approximately twenty four secondary educators from central Texas as part of the Texas Regional Science Collaboratives for Excellence in Science and Math (TRC). 71% were certified in secondary education (6-12), while 29% were certified in elementary education (PK-5). 49% had less than six years’ experience in the classroom. The focus of the collaboratives is to provide sustained professional development in specific content areas that enhance teacher competency and improve student engagement. Baylor personnel designed and lead hands-on activities and local field trips to address commonly missed state TEKS standards each year, in addition to providing resources for associated classroom supplies. Activities included rock and mineral identification, topographic map interpretation, relative humidity calculations, ocean current circulations, and identification of weather patterns including air masses and frontal boundaries. Two local field trips provided educators with application experience outside the classroom. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with 69% of participants responding they agreed or strongly agreed that the workshop was valuable to them. 74% responded they agreed or strongly agreed that they would recommend the training session to colleagues, and 66% agreed or strongly agreed they would be likely to implement the knowledge they had gained. In states that are not likely to adopt NGSS, pairing educators with professional scientists and experiential learning activities is an effective way to increase teacher competency.