MoTIGERS Grant Opportunity
Below is some information on a grant opportunity with the University of Missouri. If you have questions or are interested in this opportunity, please contact Dr. Larry Flakne at the phone number or email address listed in the message:
Dear Kevin,
I HAVE ADDED SOME ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE GRANT AIMS AT THE
BOTTOM OF THIS EMAIL. PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS WILL RECEIVE PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT AND ASSESSMENT RESOURCES TO HELP DEVELOP AND PRESENT LESSONS
AND ASSESSMENTS ALIGNED TO THE NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS AND
INCREASE MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ COMPUTATIONAL THINK SKILLS.
INCREASING RESEARCH COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITIES IN RURAL SCHOOLS WILL
ALSO BE A POSITIVE OUTCOME. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO GIVE US A CALL WITH
YOUR QUESTIONS. LARRY
We would like to offer your school district the opportunity to partner
with the College of Education University of Missouri in a new and
exciting way. The College is developing a grant proposal to help fund
the creation of the MISSOURI CENTER FOR TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AND GLOBAL
SKILLS EDUCATION IN RURAL SCHOOLS (MoTIGERS). The purpose of the Center
is to provide access to professional development and collaboration
opportunities specifically designed for rural schools to help prepare
students for a STEM economy and increase the capacity of rural schools
to participate in research. The first proposed MoTIGERS project will
include three initiatives for middle schools:
1. To focus on developing Computational Thinking (CT) for middle
school students through Scalable Game Design (SGD) projects. SGD is a
computer science education program that engages and motivates students
through game and simulation programming, computational thinking, and
problem solving activities.
2. To bring professional development experiences to participating
schools for developing the skills and knowledge needed to construct and
implement lessons based on Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) with
consideration for local issues and contexts.
3. To use novel approaches that give teachers autonomy to create
tests aligned to the NGSS performance expectations and collaborate with
other rural schools and MoTIGERS in the development of customized
assessment software to administer valid and reliable assessments and
analyze results data.
Middle schools may participate in any or all of the initiatives. Each
initiative will include a research component to measure the
effectiveness and efficiency of the activities toward reaching the goals
of the project.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THIS OPPORTUNITY, PLEASE SEND ME A LETTER
EXPRESSING THAT INTEREST. (Click on this link for a sample letter:
https://missouri.box.com/s/md1tf4u393f7grnb0n9q1lu3xwkr3qry ) WE NEED
YOUR REPLY BY MONDAY, AUGUST 6. You can attach a signed PDF to an email
to flaknel@missouri.edu or mail it to:
Dr. Matthew K. Burns
14B Hill Hall, University of Missouri
Columbia, Missouri 65211' co
Please let me know if you have questions. Thank you for your
consideration.
Larry
Larry Flakne, HOOK CENTER and ELEVATED Program Director
HOOK CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND DISTRICT RENEWAL
312 Hill Hall, University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
(573) 882-7990
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
AIM 1 – CONDUCT RESEARCH ON A MAJOR ISSUE OR PROBLEM IN RURAL
EDUCATION (INCREASE CAPACITY TO PREPARE STUDENTS TO ACCESS A STEM-DRIVEN
ECONOMY)
The focus of this proposal is on developing high quality teachers in
rural districts through professional development that: 1) enables
teachers to construct and implement NGSS-based lessons focused on local
issues and 2) facilitates mentorship and support among those teachers
that encourages collegiality, teacher retention, and the implementation
of research-based practices through teacher decision-making. We will
study a professional development system that focuses on research-based
science and computational thinking curricula, accessing targeted
resources provided electronically, and utilizing distance mentoring. We
hypothesize that we will increase
(a) the confidence and efficacy in teaching science content among
participating teachers in rural schools
(b) the confidence the science proficiency among students attending
the participating rural schools
(c) the confidence and efficacy in teaching computational thinking
among participating teachers in rural schools,
(d) the computational thinking proficiency among students attending
the participating rural schools, and
(e) the number of high school students in participating rural
schools who report an interest in majoring in science-, computing-, and
technology-related majors in college.
The proposed research in Aim 2 will integrate content and effective PD
for rural teachers. We will work with teachers to better understand how
to teach computational thinking through computer coding, how to develop
more effective lessons in science, and will implement technology-based
PD to ensure both happen with consistency.
AIM 2 – DEVELOP A STATISTICAL OR METHODOLOGICAL PRODUCT (INCREASE
CAPACITY TO PARTICIPATE IN AND BENEFIT FROM EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH)
We will engage in two activities under this aim. First, we will develop
a psychometrically sound assessment tool that is directly linked to
local curriculum. Doing so, we hypothesize that we will (a) facilitate
use of psychometrically sound data for instructional decision making by
science teachers in participating rural schools (b) provide free
psychometrically sound measures to researchers to measure science
achievement in rural schools, and (c) provide researchers access to data
from science assessments with students in rural schools. Second, we will
also develop free online modules that rural schools can use to help
evaluate the value of participating in research, and that researchers
can use to increase the likelihood of a positive experience when
conducting research in rural schools. Doing so, will facilitate the
capacity of rural schools to participate in research.
Larry Flakne, HOOK CENTER and ELEVATED Program Director
HOOK CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND DISTRICT RENEWAL
312 Hill Hall, University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
(573) 882-7990
_The __HOOK CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND DISTRICT RENEWAL,__
College of Education University of Missouri is an endowed outreach
center. The focus of the Hook Center is bringing continuous quality
improvement through improvement science and process thought to K-12
schools and school districts with training, collaboration, and tools.___