K-12 teachers get trained in the art of technology

CONTACT: Lia Unrau
PHONE:
(713) 348-6778
EMAIL: unrau@rice.edu

 
K-12
TEACHERS GET TRAINED IN THE ART OF TECHNOLOGY
Techno-Savvy Teachers Will
Result in Better Prepared Students, Trainers Say

Some 6,000 K-12 students
each year will benefit from more skilled teachers, thanks to a program aimed at
providing teachers with advanced technology training.

TeacherTech, developed
by Rice University’s Center for Excellence and Equity in Education, is a
professional development program conducted this summer in Houston, Boston and
San Diego. In the coming months, the program will be expanded to even more
cities across the country.

In June and July, more
than 60 K-12 teachers in Houston, Boston and San Diego received one- or two-week
training courses through TeacherTech to meet the following
goals:

• To equip teachers with knowledge
  and strategies that will encourage full participation by all students –
  especially those from underrepresented groups – in computer technology,
  especially in scientific computing.
  

• To enable teachers to
  effectively use and produce Web resources that support student
  learning.

“What makes this program
so successful is the dedication of the teacher participants,” said Cynthia
Lanius, executive director of Rice’s Center for Excellence and Equity in
Education. “They sacrifice part of their well-deserved summer vacations in order
to learn how to use technology more effectively in the classroom. They stay late
and come early. And we have numerous stories of how the teachers then generate
this enthusiasm back in the classroom with their students.”

The ultimate goal is
students who understand and are able to use computer technology effectively.

“It’s clear that we must prepare students to use technology as a scientific
tool, and intensive, long-term professional development is a key component of
how comfortable teachers will be using technology in this way.”

Expansion of the
TeacherTech program is made possible by the Verizon Foundation, with the aid of
a $10,000 grant. In 2002, Lanius will work with the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign to expand the program to Chicago public schools.

“GirlTECH has been
recognized locally as a quality program since its inception in 1995,” Lanius
said. “We now have the potential, using the National Science Foundation’s
Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure network of partners, to
expand throughout the country. We are also looking for other sites that would be
interested in hosting the program. Verizon’s contribution is helping to make
this exciting idea possible.”

TeacherTech is the
teacher training component of Rice’s GirlTech program, which is made possible by
support from the National Science Foundation through the Education, Outreach,
and Training Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure, the RGK
Foundation, the Verizon Foundation, Rice University, and Rice’s Center for High
Performance Software.

Editors: For more
information about GirlTech and TeacherTech see: <http://ceee.rice.edu/> and <http://www.crpc.rice.edu/CRPC/Women/GirlTECH/>.