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Contact: Melissa Peveto
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
1/12/98
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES - Northwestern State University's College of Science and Technology has been selected to receive a NASA/Project NOVA grant for pre-service and in-service education. NSU was one of four colleges and universities selected from across the country to join Project NOVA.
The award, a one-year, $15,000 grant, will provide salaries for two instructors who will develop and implement an innovative course to train teachers in elementary science and it will help buy necessary materials.
"This is an important milestone for us," said Dr. Austin L. Temple, Jr., dean of the College of Science and Technology. "It shows that NSU is innovative in its methods of preparing elementary teachers to teach science. We are proud to be leading the way in elementary science education."
The course, "GLOBal Training and Certification for Pre-service and In-service Teachers", will be developed for kindergarten through 12th grade teachers. Coursework for the participating teachers will involve gathering data for NASA that will be utilized in their research. "We will structure a semester long course for pre-service education and a summer workshop for in-service education and the participants will collect weather information, conduct experiments in bioscience labs and work in geology labs," said Dr. Linda Roach, project director.
Roach says the premise behind Project NOVA is to train teachers in science using innovative approaches so that they can integrate the hands-on activities and real life data collection into their own classrooms one day.
The one-hour lab course will be taught by Space Science Coordinator Mike Hawkins and Laura Ponder, director of Creative Activities for the Space Science Group, to elementary education majors at NSU.
A selection committee reviewed proposals that were submitted by 12 colleges and universities. Among the strengths of NSU's proposal cited by the committee were the neat approach used, the practicality of the course and the fact that it was thoroughly needed. Reviewers also said the proposal touched all the appropriate reform areas.