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Professional Development Opportunities for STEM Educators

East Tennessee State University's Center of Excellence in STEM Education is a premier provider of professional development for STEM teachers in the region's schools. The Center offers a variety of on-site, tailored professional development workshops as well as state and regional conferences, all of which are recognized as the highest quality, most comprehensive PD opportunities available to math and science educators.

CURRENT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

Eastman Scholars Mathletes and SciencElites Project: The ESMP is a long-term effort to improve mathematics and science education in the region's schools. Supporting by the Eastman Chemical Company, the project seeks to deepen teacher content knowledge in the mathematics and science fields for grades 3-8, close the mathematics and science achievement gap, increase the number of teachers participating in mathematics and science professional development, align the math and science curriculum with the state math and science standards and provide training in standards-based resources and materials. The Eastman SciencElites program has been in effect since 2006.

Rural Tennessee STEM LD: Supported by the Niswonger Foundation, the grant supports the subjects of Epidemiology, Statistics with R and Global Information Systems.

August 1, 2021 to July 31, 2024
The three year epidemiology PD will lead to several PBL’s, CER’s, teacher projects, and (hopefully) a book

January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2024
Three year Statistics with R PD

January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2025
Three year Global Information Systems PD

Ongoing Evaluation and Data Analysis of all three PD’s

Northeast Tennessee STEM Hub Operations and Innovative Educator Workshops : Supported by TSIN and Battelle Education, the grant supports the subjects of Epidemiology and Synthetic Biology. The goal is to provide sustained professional development (PD) workshops to area teachers in the STEM education field with a special focus on grades 7-12 Project Based Learning, grades 3-5 Computer Science, grades 7-12 Synthetic Biology and grades 7-12 Epidemiology. These workshops will be held for five days in May, 2022.

2022 Tennessee Governor's School in the Integration of Biological and Statistical Sciences : Supported by the Tennessee Department of Education and held at the ETSU main campus. This Tennessee Governor's School provides a high-intensity program for rising 11th and 12th grade students nominated by high school faculty. We offer a unique learning environment for students interested in the STEM programs. Thirty students from the surrounding ninety-five (95) Tennessee counties are accepted into the program each year. The GS IB&SS program has been in effect since 2006.

iSLICEE Grant: The Science Literacy Initiative at CESE with Dr. Chih-Che Tai https://www.etsu.edu/news/2016/11_nov/nr_science_literacy.aspx

COMPLETED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

Reaching for Excellence in Mathematics Education: Supported by the Niswonger Foundation, the REME pedagogical knowledge, align math curriculum with Tennessee math standards, and explore standards-based resource materials.

Reaching for Excellence in Middle and High School Science Partnership: This project seeks to address the changing and more challenging state science standards by deepening teacher content knowledge, increasing student achievement, aligning the curriculum with state standards, increasing the number of teachers participating in standards-based professional development and providing training on standards-based resources and materials.

Unicoi Math Project: This project seeks to improve mathematics teaching and learning (grades K-8) in the Unicoi School District.

GEAR-UP High School Mathematics Project: This project seeks to improve high school mathematics teaching and learning in the following school districts: Campbell County, Carter County, Cocke County, and Union County.

Talent Expansion in Quantitative Biology

The TEQB project is a joint offering between the Departments of Mathematics and Biological Sciences and in conjunction with the Center of Excellence in STEM Education. The project seeks to graduate 60 majors in high-demand non-traditional concentration, namely quantitative and computational biological/biomedical science. It gains it strengths from a new curriculum that aggressively discards many traditionally required courses, while placing research squarely into the center stage of all activities.

Grades K-12 Graduate Fellowship: Science First!

This project provides funding for graduate students in biology, chemistry, and mathematics disciplines to acquire additional skills that will broadly prepare them for professional and scientific careers in the twenty-first century.

Symbiosis: An Integrated First Year Mathematics and Biology Program

Funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the HHMI Symbiosis program at ETSU is an inquiry-based, active-learning curriculum in which math and biology are integrated into a coordinated, mutually beneficial relationship, beginning at the earliest stages of a student's career.