Luther College has a tradition of elementary teacher preparation stretching back to the tum of the century. It was therefore fitting that Luther College receive the only Eisenhower model demonstration program grant given to an Iowa four-year college. Built on outreaches and contacts developed by a teacher enhancement summer workshop held on the Luther Campus in 1993, the new program extends its outreach to the entire Northeast Iowa region

Becker, Joyce

Eklund, Nanette

Hoff, Darrel

Stevens, Wendy

English

University of Northern Iowa

Iowa Science Teachers Journal Volume 30 Number 3 Article 5 1993 Model Demonstration Elementary Classrooms in Northeast Iowa: The Luther College Project Darrel Hoff Luther College Joyce Becker Luther College Nanette Eklund Luther College Wendy Stevens Luther College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/istj  Part of the Science and Mathematics Education Commons Recommended Citation Hoff, Darrel; Becker, Joyce; Eklund, Nanette; and Stevens, Wendy (1993) "Model Demonstration Elementary Classrooms in Northeast Iowa: The Luther College Project," Iowa Science Teachers Journal: Vol. 30 : No. 3 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/istj/vol30/iss3/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Iowa Science Teachers Journal by an authorized editor of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@uni.edu. MODEL DEMONSTRATION ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS IN NORTHEAST IOWA: THE LUTHER COLLEGE PROJECT Darrel Hoff, Department of Physics Joyce Becker, Department of Mathematics Nanette Eklund, Department of Education Wendy Stevens, Department of Biology Luther College Decorah, IA 52/01 Luther College has a tradition of elementary teacher preparation stretching back to the tum of the century. It was therefore fitting that Luther College receive the only Eisenhower model demonstration program grant given to an Iowa four-year college. Built on outreaches and contacts developed by a teacher enhancement summer workshop held on the Luther Campus in 1993, the new program extends its outreach to the entire Northeast Iowa region. The 1993 program was also funded by an Eisenhower grant. Directed by Dr. Nan Eklund, the program was designed to enhance the quantity and quality of K-6 science teaching in a number of school districts in the Luther College service area. This three-week program was designed to permit 25 K-6 teachers from 13 districts to experience model teaching of activity-based lessons and to design several such lessons themselves. One day of the summer institute was devoted to presenting these lessons to the administrators of the teachers involved. To further insure that the materials are being used, the project staff continues to make monthly visits to the teachers ' classrooms. A parents' night will be conducted late during the spring semester at which the parents will spend an evening doing science lessons similar to those their children perform. The intimate college-schools contacts that grew out of this project made planning for the 1994-95 grant straightforward and manageable, in spite of the relatively short lead time for proposal preparation. The project's goal was systemic planning; however, preparing a proposal that required the cooperation of 10 classroom teachers from five school districts, college faculty representing four departments, AEA representa-tives and area businesses did become a challenge. A total of 27 people were directly involved in the planning. Four college faculty representing four different departments took part in the planning, and the proposal had the total support of Dr. Marti Helte, Associate Dean and Dr. A. Tom Kraabel, Dean of the College. The four faculty on the planning team were Wendy Stevens (Biology), Joyce Becker (Mathematics), Dr. Nanette Eklund (Education) and Dr. Darrel Iowa Science Teachers Journal/Winter 1993-94 19 Hoff (Physics and Science Education). Coordination between the three science departments, the Mathematics Department and the Department of Education was facilitated by Hoff's appointment to the first-ever Luther joint faculty endeavor between a science department and the education department. The intent of the 1994-95 statewide Eisenhower funding is to translate some of the national goals, standards and benchmarks into local action by setting up model demonstration classrooms in various parts of the state. Based on its previous experience, Luther elected to set up classrooms for K-6 elementary teachers. Working within the Keystone Area Education Agency (AEA 1) service area and assisted by the AEA 1 science and mathematics consultants, the school districts of Decorah, Dubuque, North Fayette and North Winneshiek were selected as the sites for the demonstra-tion project. Ten classrooms will be opened for demonstration purposes for the 1994-95 school year. These classroom teachers will receive 0.5 day per week of release time especially for planning demonstration lessons. Bi-weekly invitations will go out to other teachers in the AEA 1 service area to observe and to take part in these demonstration lessons. During follow-up sessions, the visiting teachers will have a chance to discuss educational reform with peer teachers. The demonstration teachers are (Districts listed in parentheses): Kay Ruen West Elementary Jan Selberg J. Cline Elementary Lisa Smith Irving Elementary Bonnie Trefil Irving Elementary Julie Goerend Fayette Elementary Shelley Sieck Fayette Elementary Mike Arnet Kennedy Elementary Cris Nugent Fulton Elementary Clark Golz, Principal (Decorah) Kenneth Jensen, Superintendent (Decorah) Jerome Geer, Principal Ruth Ellis, Math Coordinator (Dubuque) (Dubuque) Richard Glidden, Principal (North Fayette) Ron O'Kones, Superintendent (North Fayette) Deb Otto, Principal (Dubuque) Ben Temple, Principal (Dubuque) Richard Dovenberg N. Winneshiek Mary Janacheck, Principal (N. Winneshiek) Robert Wilson N. Winneshiek RichardMoore,Superintendent(N. Winneshiek) The AEA Mathematics Consultant, Bev Goerdt, and the Science Consultant, Edward Roberts, are responsible for advertising and coordi-nating visits. They are also responsible for supervising this year's demonstration classroom, which was funded by the Carver foundation. One classroom in that program is being managed by Robert Wilson at the North Winneshiek Schools. Wilson is also in the current program and his experiences are proving to be of value as we prepare for this project. Eight regional businesses and industries have made financial contributions to purchase materials or to provide in-kind contributions of equipment. These firms are Fred Carlson Construction Co. (Decorah), Ertl 20 Iowa Science Teachers Journal/Winter 1993-94 Students in Julie Goerend's classroom at Fayette Elementary School determine what types of foods are eaten by birds with different types of beaks. Company (Dyersville) , Wm. C. Brown (Dubuque), Barnstead Thermolyne Corp. (Dubuque), Tri/Mark Corporation (New Hampton), Seedorff Ma-sonry (Strawberry Point), Land's End (Dodgeville, WI) and Rockwell-Collins (Decorah). In addition to acquainting an estimated 800 teachers and adminis-trators with local reform efforts, Luther will make a special effort to invite elementary science teacher-educators from the other 13 private colleges in Iowa to visit the summer workshop. It is hoped that learning what the smaller colleges are doing in school science and mathematics reform efforts will stimulate similar projects among educators at private colleges. Private colleges, as well as the state institutions, have a role and responsibility for educational reform. The project is under the direction of Dr. Hoff. His background and experience with national reform movements is personal and current. He is on the NST A/NSF Scope, Sequence and Coordination Committee and maintains close ties with the Project 2061 Benchmarks staff and the National Research Council National Standards Project. More information about the Luther Project can be obtained by contacting him. Iowa Science Teachers Journal/Winter 1993-94 21 

Model Demonstration Elementary Classrooms in Northeast Iowa: The Luther College Project

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Model Demonstration Elementary Classrooms in Northeast Iowa: The Luther College Project

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