UAESP: A New and Improved Program for Helping Middle School Teachers Devise Their Own Hands-on Engineering and Science Activities
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: The University of Arkansas Science and Engineering Partnership (UAESP) was developed in 2009 to enhance the professional growth of 6 th and 7 th grade science teachers in northwest Arkansas through summer workshops, mini-workshops and follow-up activities.Major features of the program, which impacts the teaching of more than 3,800 students, include:• Design-based, teacher-developed, hands-on activities that directly align with science frameworks mandated by the State of Arkansas • Direct involvement of engineering professors to enhance teacher-content knowledge • Teacher visitation to observe the use of workshop content/techniques in the classroom • Assessment of the impact of the program on student and teacher performance During the 2009 summer workshop, the 41 middle school teachers participating in the program developed 21 new physical science activities for their classrooms.Activity use surveys showed that each teacher, on average, used 2.8 of these activities in the classroom during the past school year.Perhaps more importantly, the teachers developed an average of 1.1 new activities for classroom use by applying the concepts presented in the workshop.Student test scores on the Science Process Assessment for Middle School Students improved by 0.36 SD units from pre-test to post-test, the equivalent of moving an individual from the 50 th percentile to the 64 th percentile in a normal distribution.Average 7 th grade student science test scores on the Stanford Achievement Test were six percentage points higher for students of UAESP teachers than students from matched schools.Although teacher test scores in both knowledge and content improved slightly from pre-test to post-test, the results were not statistically significant.engaged in activities which develop the critical thinking skills necessary for solving problems in the real world.It is universally accepted that all student benefit from hands-on learning activities in the classroom.However, studies show that hands-on activities are especially important for English language learners (ELLs), and are therefore an important way to tap this increasingly large and diverse pool of future engineering students.2,3,4 In 2005, the College of Engineering and the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas (U of A) formed the University of Arkansas Science Partnership Program (UASPP), with funding from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.Partnering with the Northwest Arkansas Education Renewal Zone (NWA-ERZ), middle school students were engaged in hands-on, standards-based science activities.5 In 2009, a new grant was funded, the University of Arkansas Engineering and Science Partnership (UAESP), with funding from the Arkansas Department of Education.This grant built on successful components from the earlier grant.This UAESP program focuses on the professional growth of 6 th and 7 th grade science teachers from 22 partner schools in the NWA-ERZ.The program annually holds a six-day summer workshop, four mini-workshops held during the school year and follow-up activities.Major features of the program, which impacts the teaching of more than 3,800 students in northwest Arkansas, include:• Design-based, teacher-developed, hands-on activities that directly align with science frameworks mandated by the State of Arkansas • Direct involvement of engineering professors in enhancing teacher-content knowledge • Teacher visitation to observe the use of workshop content/techniques in the classroom • Assessment of the impact of the program on student and teacher performance The purpose of this paper is to describe the organization of the UAESP program and its content, and to summarize developments and educational results from the first year of the program.
Source: ASEE Midwest Section Conference
Authors: Bryan W. Hill, Carol S. Gattis, Christa N. Hestekin, Nick Tschepikow, George S. Denny, Edgar C. Clausen
Institution: University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2188244760