Water and Aquatic Science Teacher Training Underway in Texas
Texas middle and high school teachers can attend a training workshop and participate in curriculum development research this summer using the new Texas Aquatic Science curriculum through a project funded by a generous grant from the Ewing Halsell Foundation, San Antonio, and support from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Texas Aquatic Science is a comprehensive curriculum for water and aquatic science studies for middle and high school use, plus application at the university level for non science majors. The curriculum consists of a textbook in hard copy and fully on line, a massive teachers resource and activity guide that includes assessments, specially produced videos, and 220 online video lessons all fully aligned with Texas teaching standards. It’s become the top-ranked curriculum and source for information on aquatic science on the internet today.
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Workshop Schedule
(additional workshops may be added)
- Brownsville (UTB)-June 29 (Complete, 26 attendees)
- San Marcos (The Meadows Center)-July 22 (Full, 30 registered)
- East Texas (Jefferson-Collins Academy)-August 11 (almost Full)
- DFW (Birdville ISD)-August 20 (65% Full)
- DFW (Northwood University - Cedar Hill Campus)-August 22 (36% Full)
- A&M San Antonio-August 29 (over 50% Full)
- Houston (TPWD Region IV HQ Conference Ctr.)-September 26. (20% Full)
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Texas Aquatic Science includes the Texas Aquatic Science curriculum textbook, teacher guide and activities, videos, on-line lessons, and curriculum website.
Workshops will introduce participants to Texas Aquatic Science, a comprehensive aquatic science curriculum, from molecules to ecosystems, and headwaters to ocean, for middle school and high school students. Workshop participants will navigate the online student portal, loaded with science investigations, games, models, cooperative learning activities, Internet projects, readings from the student guides, short videos, science journals, and field based assessments of water quality and environmental conditions in a variety of field trips. We’ll spend most of our time doing hands on activities from the Teacher Guide, over 700 pages of TEKS aligned, hands-on activities designed to engage all learners and all learner types. Lessons in each chapter begin with an activity to allow the teacher to assess what students know about the concepts to be studied. Lessons embed higher order thinking skills, provide depth and complexity of learning, and provide a wide variety of hands-on activities that engage students in many contexts and methods. Each lesson includes an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned by synthesizing the information and demonstrating their learning by developing creative products or performances.
The workshops and project will include supplying new Texas Aquatic Science curriculum materials to instructors who agree to be part of the study and who receive training through the scheduled workshops on use of the materials in traditional classroom and informal education settings. Instructors will consent to be part of the research by providing data on use and effectiveness of the new curriculum materials. They will be involved in surveys, assessments and other research methods. Data will be collected and analyzed using standard curriculum evaluation and statistical techniques.