Potier, Beth

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University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryMedia Relations Administrative Offices2-6-2007UNH Receives $3 Million To Transform EarthScience EducationBeth PotierUNH Media RelationsFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/newsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Administrative Offices at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It hasbeen accepted for inclusion in Media Relations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For moreinformation, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationPotier, Beth, "UNH Receives $3 Million To Transform Earth Science Education" (2007). UNH Today. 749.https://scholars.unh.edu/news/7499/16/2016 UNH Receives $3 Million To Transform Earth Science Educationhttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2007/feb/bp06science.cfm.html 1/2UNH Media Relations UNH Receives $3 Million To Transform Earth ScienceEducationContact:  Beth Potier 603­862­1566UNH Media RelationsFebruary 6, 2007DURHAM, N.H. ­­ The University of New Hampshire, along with three partner universities,received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant of $3 million to share its faculty expertisein earth sciences with middle and high school teachers. Intended to serve as a national model,the program – called Transforming Earth System Science Education (TESSE) ­­ will provideprofessional training to current and future teachers.“There are a lot of people teaching Earth science at the middle and high school levels whodon’t have strong backgrounds in Earth science,” says Karen Graham, professor ofmathematics at UNH and director of UNH’s Leitzel Center for Mathematics, Science, andEngineering Education, which received the grant. “This is an opportunity for them to updatetheir content, to broaden their understanding of Earth science, and to become more of anEarth systems scientist.” Graham adds that the field of Earth science is changing from a “justrocks” perspective to one of the Earth as a system, and new science standards in schools arereflecting this change.With the NSF grant, which is over three years, the Leitzel Center and co­investigators fromUNH’s Department of Earth Sciences, Department of Education and the Institute for the Studyof Earth, Oceans and Space will collaborate with faculty from Dillard University in NewOrleans, Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, and Pennsylvania State Universityto create two­week summer institutes and year­round scientist­in­residence programs forcurrent and incoming teachers. While the first summer institute, July 23 – Aug. 3, 2007, willbe at UNH, each partner institute will host a summer program in consecutive summers.Students from each of the partner institutions will serve as scientists­in­residence in theclassrooms of summer institute participants, developing mutual relationships between teacherand university student. This component of the TESSE program builds on the successes of anexisting Leitzel Center NSF­funded program Partnership for Research Opportunities to BenefitEducation (PROBE).“We are really excited by the opportunity to strengthen links between universities and K­12education through summer activities and the year­long classroom partnership betweengraduate students and teachers,” says Julie Bryce, assistant professor of geochemistry at UNHand co­director of the TESSE program. “I have been fortunate to work with Melissa Smith, acurrent PROBE graduate student fellow who will lead the first group of graduate fellows in theTESSE program. Melissa has been highly effective in gathering information on the expertiseand strong research programs at UNH and taking activities based on these programs into highschool classrooms.”While the program is aimed at teachers, Graham notes that ultimately, students benefit. “TheEarth is where we live. For students to be informed citizens, they need information to betterunderstand things like global warming,” she says.9/16/2016 UNH Receives $3 Million To Transform Earth Science Educationhttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2007/feb/bp06science.cfm.html 2/2To learn more about TESSE, or to download an application to participate, go tohttp://www.leitzelcenter.unh.edu/geo­teach/index.html.

UNH Receives $3 Million To Transform Earth Science Education

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UNH Receives $3 Million To Transform Earth Science Education

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