TNE Related Projects

• The GlobalEd Project (GlobalEd) was created out of a need to systematically and scientifically evaluate the perceived gender differences in leadership, decision-making styles and values and in approaches to technology. The Project does this by using the ICONS (International Communication and Negotiation Simulation) approach to conduct international negotiation over three years with students in middle school and high school social studies programs. (http://www.globaled.uconn.edu/)
• The ultimate goal of the Classroom of the Sea (COS)is to enhance scientific literacy and provide greater opportunities for deaf students by developing and testing the effectiveness of an authentic learning environment and problem-based learning to teach science. The model is also demonstrated to others, so that they may adopt them under different authentic learning contexts. (http://www.cos.uconn.edu/)
• The Connecticut Writing Project (CWP), a site of the National Writing Project, located in the Department of English, offers professional opportunities to teachers in all disciplines who recognize the worth of using writing as a means of learning any subject matter. Improving writing skills improves thinking skills, and thus leads to higher levels of achievement in all areas. Opportunities include summer institutes, workshops throughout the state, and a teacher/student writing conference. The Teacher as Researcher Program is of particular release. This helps teachers reflect upon their own practice as well as carry out many districts new evaluation plans as they develop an action research project of their own design with a small group of teachers and led by experienced teacher researchers. Every year CWP conducts Summer Institutes on the teaching of writing. For four weeks, the participants, teachers from kindergarten through college, study current theories about writing and the teaching of writing. By conducting research, developing teaching strategies, and sharing the information with colleagues, participants develop workshops for teachers and administrators. They can present in the subsequent school year on composition theory with practical strategies for teaching writing. CWP also sponsors a number of workshops and a statewide student and teacher writing conference. (http://www.cwp.uconn.edu/)
• The UConn Early College Experience (ECE), originally named the High School Cooperative Program, was established in 1955, the program provides the opportunity for academically talented high school students to take first-year university courses in the high school setting. Cooperative courses are equivalent to those offered at the University of Connecticut . Many thousands of high school students have earned University of Connecticut credit. The program has earned nationwide respect through the talent of its student participants and a group of over 700 dedicated high school educators. Although Connecticut teachers are already certified by the state, it is important that the faculty coordinator and department have a full understanding of a teacher's qualifications because this individual is essentially an adjunct faculty member. In approving a teacher in the High School Cooperative Program, the faculty coordinator is attesting that this person is qualified to teach an introductory course at the college level. Contact is made between the high school teachers and the University representatives throughout the year. University departments furnish outlines or syllabi of the courses, specific assignments, examinations and lists of experiments, upon request. Additionally, teachers are invited to the University periodically to meet with University faculty for discussions of individual courses and exchange ideas and instructional techniques. (http://www.hscoop.uconn.edu/)
• The project TITUS (Teachers Infusing Technology in Urban Schools) builds upon University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) 's position as a primary provider of new teachers to CPS to prepare teachers to use technology effectively in urban public school classrooms. Project TITUS reforms teacher certification programs across colleges by integrating technology-infused instruction into pre-service teaching courses for elementary and secondary programs. This instruction occurs across a continuum of preparation experiences and contexts, including university coursework and field based practicum. (http://www2.ed.uic.edu/pt3/)
• The Connecticut Geographic Alliance (CCA), in the Department of Geography, is an organization of educators, business people, and other citizens dedicated to improving geographic education in Connecticut. Our members include teachers and administrators from most Connecticut towns, geography and education faculty from the state s colleges and universities, and concerned citizens in business and government. Alliance activities are supported by an endowment from the National Geographic Society and the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority. CGA seeks to improve geographic education in Connecticut by promoting student mastery of geography as a core subject area. The program provides content and leadership training for teachers, offering in-service programs that use geography to address broad interdisciplinary, environmental, urban and multicultural issues. This program makes the national and state geography standards an integral part of social studies and provides family programs at the K-5 and middle-school levels. (http://www.ctgeoalliance.org/)
• The Stockmarket Game, sponsored by the Department of Economics, involves over 5000 participating children in Connecticut schools. The Department of Economics is also partnering with Goldman Sachs and the Council on Economic Education to run its second Connecticut Economic Challenge in April 2003. Dr. William Alpert is working with a charter elementary school in Greenwich on their fifth and sixth grade economics programs. (http://www.smgww.org/)
• Normal Child Language and Child Language Disorders Research: Conducted by Dr. Bernard Grela and Dr. Valerie Johnson of the Department of Communication Sciences. Their graduate students do internships in public schools, particularly the Hartford schools.
• Language Acquisition Research, Department of Linguistics: Faculty members engage in research to determine the normal course of first-language acquisition. Studies involve games with children in which they judge the accuracy of a puppet s statement, or explain to a puppet the actions depicted with toy props and pictures. The participants responses inform the researchers regarding the form of children s emerging grammars. While their non-adult responses can be especially interesting, oftentimes what is most impressive is the fact that the children s answers are right on target.

  
  Studies with normally developing children can form the backdrop for studies with children who have a language impairment. Faculty in Linguistics and Communication Sciences collaborate on projects to compare normally developing children and children Specific Language Impairment. Detailed comparisons of both groups allow the researchers to determine whether the children with SLI have delayed elongated paths of development, or ones that diverge significantly. Faculty in Linguistics is also studying the acquisition of American Sign Language (ASL) by deaf children. These studies look at the acquisition of ASL by children who receive input in it from birth found that acquisition of a manual language is quite comparable to that of spoken language. On the other hand, many deaf children do not receive ASL until later in childhood and may approach the task without any linguistic base. Their language acquisition is delayed and in some ways deviant. As expected, this has profound effects on their whole educational career.
  
  Linguistics is also involved in the University s instruction in American Sign Language (ASL). Taught through the Critical Languages Program, courses in ASL are arranged and supervised through Linguistics, taught by an adjunct who also serves as a researcher on ASL in the Linguistics Department. These courses are very popular with students who want to learn ASL for their future careers. In many cases, these careers are likely to involve K-12 education. Some students are particularly interested in Deaf Education and others in Speech, Audiology, or other areas of Communications Sciences. Even mainstream teachers may well find a need to know ASL because of deaf students or other ASL users in regular classrooms.

• Department of Psychology Research and Programming in K-12: Vicki Magley is working on a paper that looks at incidences as well as the impact of sexual harassment on high school seniors.

  
  Leonard Katz is Associate Director of Early Reading Success (ERS), which brings research findings into practice for reading instruction in the early grades in a project involving about a dozen Connecticut and Rhode Island schools.

  James Dixon does research on the development of mathematical concepts and problem solving with children from grades 1-12. He recently participated in the Secretary's Summit on Mathematics with the U.S secretary of education.

  Antonius Cillessen is currently conducting longitudinal study with students who have been followed since Grade 4 and are now in Grade 11, regarding the social development of students with links to their academic and school adjustment.

  Holly Fitch has outinely provided science-oriented enrichment clusters for the Mansfield elementary schools. For example, she spent a day doing 2-hour workshops on the brain with children varying in age from pre-school to 4th grade. For the younger children, she focused on examining a model of the brain and a memory game. Older children were exposed to visual and acoustic illusions and neuroimaging technology.

  Letitia Naigles is working on a project on verb and sentence representations in children aged 5-8 years. Letitia Naigles and Deborah Fein have a project on language attainment by grade school children previously diagnosed with autism.

  Sarah Allen is performing a grant-funded evaluation of a school-based mental health intervention program for Kindergarten through 6th grade children that involves teachers identifying children at risk for problems in the classroom. These children are then referred to individual child play sessions with trained paraprofessionals (Primary Mental Health Project). The project involves the Woodbridge, Hartford, Plainfield schools. Another part of the project that involves a social skills component being added to the curriculum for all the children in the Bridgeport schools.

  Dr. Marianne Barton directs the Psychological Services Clinic. This facility is heavily involved in evaluating children and consulting with schools in the local area, particularly concerning children with developmental disabilities, such as autism, or with social and emotional problems.

• The Stone Wall Project (SWI) is a regional coalition of stone wall enthusiasts; many are educators, conservationists and outdoor professionals. The SWI is a component of the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Connecticut. It's coordinator is Professor Robert M.Thorson (http://www.stonewall.uconn.edu/)
• The Museum of Natural History acts as a learning lab for biodiversity, earth sciences and migratory exhibits. Students and Scientists from the University of Connecticut and other organizations from across the region see how many species they can count in a 24-hour biological survey of a Connecticut park.
• Project Oceanology is based at the Avery Point regional campus on Long Island Sound. Project O is a marine science and environmental education center operated by a non-profit association of public schools and colleges. This center enables students in grades 4-12, college, and the general public to study the marine environment through first-hand on-the-water experiences. Project Oceanology has two well-equipped research vessels (55' and 65'), six outboard motor boats, and a new waterfront marine laboratory that includes a 56-bunk hostel and a small residential supervisor's apartment. Through their Summer Institute, they offer in-service teachers the opportunity to learn about the marine environment and hands-on techniques for bringing marine science into their classrooms. In conjunction with NSOE and the Department of Marine Sciences, they are developing a University of Connecticut master's degree in marine science education.
• Inquiry-Based Physics, a new course from the Department of Physics, prepares preservice elementary teachers to teach science in the optimal manner for their grade level. Dr. Phil Best of the Department of Physics is helping to implement the kit Science for All Children in Hartford s schools. Studies have shown that both African American and Latino school children benefit disproportionately from kit-based learning. Dr. Phil Best hopes his program will benefit African and Latino children significantly.( http://www.catalog.uconn.edu/phys.htm )
• Kids Are Scientists Too (KAST) is an exciting summer program for students who have just completed the 4th through 9th grade. KAST includes 5-day modules in hands-on biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, natural history, and a 3-day modules in marine sciences. In a relaxed non-competitive atmosphere, students are grouped according to grade level. The older students are involved in more advanced activities. A different module can be taken each week. Students have the opportunity to explore areas of science not ordinarily studied in the classroom. Taught in fully equipped laboratories or in the field at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, each project demonstration, and experiment focused on "learning by doing."(http://www.kast.uconn.edu/)
• Louis Stokes Alliance Program (LSAMP) takes a proactive and multi-faceted approach to increase underrepresented ethnic groups and students of lower socio-economic status involment in science and engineering. The Summer Laboratory Apprentice program is for high school student and the Science Wizards Journey program for middle school students.(http://aurora.clas.uconn.edu/lsamp/)
• Multiply Your Options, with the School of Engineering , has for nine years brought 250 Connecticut middle-school girls here for a day of workshops with UConn faculty. The ultimate purpose of the program is to encourage the girls to pursue their math and science courses through middle and high school.(http://www.engr.uconn.edu/%7Eedpweb/myo/)
• UConn Mentor Connection is an annual three-week summer program at the University of Connecticut for academically talented secondary students. The program is intended to provide these students with opportunities to participate in creative projects and investigations under the supervision of university faculty mentors.It is possible that high school teachers could participate in designing and running the program, as well as learning from content and methods. (http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/mentoruc.html)
• Project Teamwork, a joint NSF proposal of Dr. Joseph Crivello of Molecular and Cell Biology with the School of Education, seeks to improve the recruitment and retention of novice math and science teachers. The project will achieve its goals through mentoring by experienced teachers and participation in an inquiry-based scientific project in collaboration with university faculty.
• Geoscience Education: Dr. Robert Thorson, Professor of Geology and author of the award-winning book Stone Wall Secrets, has proposed a collaboration for an NSF grant on geoscience education with NSOE for late elementary and early middle-school instruction. The book fuses the natural environment and contains a traveling collection which includes selected rocks, fossils, artifacts, a simulated meteorite, and rusted farming tools. The project would engage students interest in science at a stage where they often become less interested.
• High School Biology Research Apprentice Program: The Department of Molecular and Cell Biology is interested in reviving a program that they ran for twenty-one years under the National Institute of Health. Economically disadvantaged students were brought to Storrs for four to six weeks in the summer. They were assigned to faculty mentors and worked in labs getting a sense of careers in biomedical research. We gave them training in using a research library, safety, training, ethics, and computing. In addition, they participated in field trips to Connecticut Forensic labs and Pfizer.
• Medieval Studies Program and the Medieval Studies Secondary Schools Outreach Seminar: Now in its sixth year, this one-day seminar for middle and high school teachers of History, English, and Social Sciences designed to foster an understanding of the history, culture and role of the Middle Ages in shaping the Western world. The seminars are interdisciplinary in nature and are taught by four UConn Medieval Studies faculty. A study of the Middle Ages raises broad questions about culture and society. (http://medievalstudies.uconn.edu/)
• Department of French and High School Language and Culture: Much of the scholarly research of the French faculty in the Department of Modern & Classical Languages focuses on the de-centering of metropolitan French culture by its relationship with the legacy and traces of Empire. This was evident in presentations by graduate students as well as faculty at the meeting of the International Colloquium for 20th/21st Century Studies hosted by the French section in April of 2002. Diversity and multiculturalism have always been at the heart of the mission of departments of language and literature. The French section associates teaching with research in part through its close relationship with the community of secondary teachers all over the state. Five years ago, French faculty began offering a day of on campus activities for high school Co-op students, concluding with a quiz bowl on French and Francophone culture. At the request of the high school faculty, a second meeting centering on teachers concerns has been offered for the past two years. This year, again at the request of the high school faculty, the meeting has been expanded to a second full day under the direction of a nationally recognized processor. UConn faculty and graduate students will also participate in this workshop.
• Department of German and Linkage Through Language: LTL was originally designed to give University Connecticut students an opportunity to speak German in a discussion section linked to English-taught sections in history, political science, anthropology, and others. Supported by an NEH Grant, Linkage Through Language has been expanded to High School Coop teachers.
• The Spanish Resource Center in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages helps Spanish teachers of all grade levels. The SRC offers to teachers working in the state of Connecticut a library of videos, music, books, and other printed material related to the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language. It provides information on upcoming events, workshops, and other useful links.
• Odyssey Day is hosted by CLAS for the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth. Every other year, 100 middle-school students and their parents from New England and New York take a first look at college life while participating in action-oriented sessions led by the College of Liberal Arts and Science s cutting-edge faculty.