The importance of a good teacher is no secret. There’s
long-standing
research confirming that the most influential factor in student
achievement
is teacher effectiveness.
That’s why UTMB’s Office of Educational Outreach provides programs
not
only for students but also for teachers.
“One teacher will impact hundreds of
students during the academic year,
and thousands over the course of
their career,” said Dr. Clifford Houston,
UTMB’s associate vice president for
Educational Outreach and Herman
Barnett Distinguished Professor in
Microbiology and Immunology. “As
educators of our future workforce, we
want to enhance teachers’ professional
development so they can give
students the best tools for a bright
future. The more a teacher’s background
is supplemented with math
and science, the more effective they
will be in the classroom.”
This summer, the Office of Educational
Outreach held a high-intensity
professional development program
for teachers focused on computer
science to help address the critical
shortage of computer science
teachers in the state. By the end of
the course in July, the 21 teachers
from Galveston County and beyond were prepared to take an exam to
become
certified computer science teachers for grades 6-12.
“So much of medicine, research—and everyday life for that matter—is
integrated
with computers,” said Dr. Marguerite Sognier, director of the
Office
of Educational Outreach. “We are helping teachers enable their
students to
develop critical and innovative thinking skills to meet the
rapidly developing
technological changes in all fields. As a university, we have an
important
role to play in supporting and fostering the kind of biomedical
and health
care workforce we know will be essential in the future.”
During part of the professional development program, each teacher
built
their own computers from scratch. Using a “Raspberry Pi,” which is
a small,
affordable, single board computer used to help teach programming,
teachers
used their critical-thinking skills to program robots to do
different functions.
They were all excited to share their newly acquired skills with
students.
“This is the first time I’ve done anything like this—it was out of
my comfort
zone but this program has helped us grow as teachers and be more
confident,” said Kacey Sommers, an eighth grade science teacher at
Lomax Junior
High in La Porte. “I’ve participated in several summer trainings
at UTMB and
always leave with resources and activities to incorporate into the
curriculum.
I’ve implemented a lot of engineering design and STEM (science,
technology,
engineering and mathematics) activities and have seen tremendous
growth
in students—they have become better
critical thinkers and problem solvers.”
Teachers were able to keep the equipment
used in the program and have
access to the Office of Educational Outreach’s
resource center, which provides
all types of math, science and other supplies
for teachers to borrow and use in
their classrooms.
“Many times, teachers have to pay out of
pocket for anything above and beyond
what’s in a traditional classroom,” said
Houston. “So we want to empower teachers
further by giving them the materials
they need to be more effective. They may
not have a gel electrophoresis device, but
after we’ve taught them how to use it, we’ll
let them borrow it to use in the classroom.”
The computer science program is just one
of many professional development opportunities
offered to teachers by the Office
of Educational Outreach. As one of seven
Texas Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics (T-STEM) Centers across
the state designated by the Texas Education Agency, UTMB also
offers professional
development in mathematics, science, project-based learning,
robotics
and technology. In addition, workshops are available throughout
the academic
year to provide educators with STEM content, best practices and
instructional
strategies, and to help them connect academic content to
real-world career
experiences. In one year, more than 1,200 teachers and 72,000
students are
directly or indirectly impacted by these programs.
Sognier added that the teacher programs help recruit students for
the various
Educational Outreach pre-college student pipeline programs such as
the High
School Biomedical Research Program, Biomedical Health Careers
Academy
and Summer STEM Camps.
“Teachers go back to the classroom with a new confidence and
excitement and
they pass it on to their students—and that’s very significant,”
she said. “We get
many pre-college students who previously were not interested in
science, but
who sign up for one of our programs after hearing about it from
their teachers.
Just one program experience can be life changing for these
students and can
give them the skills and confidence to succeed.”