Office of Educational Outreach

The Galveston Regional Collaborative consists of the following institutions: UTMB, Texas A & M at Galveston, Galveston College, Galveston Independent School District, and the College of the Mainland. These institutions all collaborate to provide 105 contact hours of professional development experiences for 25 K-12th grade teachers each year. The overall objective is to provide Galveston County science teachers with ongoing support systems of sustained and high intensity professional development to assist them in implementing the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), through upgrading their knowledge of content and pedagogy to engage ALL students with interesting, relevant, experiential, and meaningful science learning experiences. Activities include: Online virtual reality experience “Ocean Commotion” A one week summer institute focused on constructivist methods of teaching, inquiry-based learning, FOSS and GEMS kits for each grade level, equity in the classroom, assessment methods, etc Variety of marine biology related field trips and hands-on activities Teacher job shadowing program.

A partnership between UTMB and Rice University This program is a collaborative effort between Rice University and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston funded by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI). The two universities have combined their expertise with educators and outreach specialists to facilitate the dissemination of biomedical knowledge from the laboratory to the classroom. The teacher component of the program begins with an intensive two-week summer session in which teachers spend one week gaining a complete knowledge of space biomedical science through visits to NASA Johnson Space Center, Space Center Houston, and interactions/seminars presented by leading researchers at NASA and NSBRI. During the second week of the institute, held at the Rice University Campus, the teachers take the knowledge they have gained and design a curriculum product to be field- tested and used in their classrooms. There are four follow-up sessions during the academic year in which teachers learn additional space science, perform hands-on lab activities, discuss their modules, and learn how to upload their completed modules onto the website. Teachers present their developed modules at the UTMB Annual Regional Science Teachers Conference.

These innovative workshops are provided to kindergarten-eighth grade science specialist teachers in the Galveston Independent School District every 6-8 weeks. They focus on inquiry-based, hands-on learning that incorporates the national and regional science standards. Session topics are coordinated with the upcoming 8 week school curriculum and cover a wide variety of science disciplines. Participants are provided with materials and kits to enable classroom implementation of the activities. The workshops, supplies, and kits are free of charge to participants.