NASA Gives $190,000 Grant To Train Texas Elementary, Middle School Teachers in Science Education - March 3, 2008

The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory has received a grant of about $190,000 from NASA and will be partnering with the College of Education’s Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching (TRC) to train teachers across the state in science education.

The project will develop, test and implement professional development workshops for 500 Texas teachers of grades 3-8 that will be delivered via videoconference.

In Texas, students are tested on science in the fifth, eighth and 10th grades. This training program will specifically address questions that Texas students score low on in the fifth-grade standardized test (the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills).

The TRC is contributing funding for the statewide effort as well and additional resources will come from McDonald Observatory's Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation Education Endowment. Altogether, the two-year project will cost about $250,000.

In recent years, the Observatory has piloted a teacher training program using videoconferencing. This new NASA grant will enable the Observatory and its partner, the TRC, to make these videoconference training sessions available to teachers across the state.

In the first year, representatives from regions across Texas will attend a three-day, two-night workshop at McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis. They will work with the Observatory's kindergarten-to-12th grade education team to design a teacher training videoconference for their region. In the second year, the videoconferences will be tested and implemented.

—Kay Randall, Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs, 512-232-3910
—Rebecca Johnson, McDonald Observatory, 512-475-6763