The ITS Center's innovative approach combines research scientists, mathematics and science educators, master teachers and students, who work together in various team roles. This year's teams research topics include: Deep Space and Deep Time in Plants: Sharing Research in Genomics and Cellular Imaging,Energy Equilibrium, Conservation, & Conversion in Material Science, Landscape Ecology and Conservation, Molecular View of the Environment: Air, Land, and Water, Ocean Drilling Program: Understanding Earth's Natural Processes, Sustainable Coastal Margins (SCM-ITS) and Visualizing Biodiversity.

GRANT SUPPORT: National Science Foundation

Many issues are associated with high school science teacher quality, teacher shortages, and student learning.  These include quicker certification routes, changing demographics, and increases in numbers of out-of-field teachers.  Knowledge of strategies that result in successful science teacher recruitment, retention, and life-long learning is useful to high schools confronting these issues. PRISE uses a systems approach to link educational research with policy development.  Our goal is to create an articulated and coherent model of continuous professional development that improves the quality of science teaching and makes significant contributions to reducing the current shortage of qualified high school science teachers.

GRANT SUPPORT: National Science Foundation

M-SCOPS focuses on the interactions among teachers, students, technology, and learning materials in K-12 classroom to describe effective mathematics and science classroom learning environments.

For more information contact Dr. Carol Stuessy at carolsd@suddenlink.net.

The purpose of this study is to assess Advanced Placement participation and academic success of students at Texas A&M University in terms of selected characteristics and performance scores and the relationships and differences of these attributes to academic success. The first phase (API) of the research project was completed in 2003. Additional information on the results of the research can be found in the Executive Summary. The research was continued in 2004 (APII) to extend the development of benchmark data regarding AP students, Executive Summary.

PREPARED FOR: Texas Center for AP/IB Initiatives, funded by Texas Education Agency

Featured Research Project by Institute for School-University Partnerships, The Texas A&M University System featured in Research Review 1(2), 2004.

The Texas Science Initiative seeks to improve the academic performance of Texas students in science at all levels of schooling so that they are prepared for post-secondary success. The CMSE at Texas A&M University, as a research partner, brought a community of education leaders and policy makers together to establish a plan for the initiative, conduct a needs analysis of the current state of science education in Texas, and recommend action steps for responding to those needs with scientific research-based professional development, instructional strategies and classroom materials.

CMSE has conducted a meta-analysis of national research on science teaching to define what strategies have been shown to improve student learning and has developed a document designed to share that information with educators across the state. The meta-analysis and its executive summary along with a rubric deveoped for product analysis of professional development and instructional materials can be accessed at http://www.science.tamu.edu/cmse/tsi.

GRANT SUPPORT: Texas Education Agency

CMSE has partnered with Region IV ESC and Bryan ISD to conduct a longitudinal research project evaluating the impact of teacher professional development and implementaion of the GATEWAYS curriculum at 5th through 8th graes on stuent achievement on the 8th, 10th, and 11th grade TAKS scores. Region IV, devloper of the curriculum, is providing professional development ofr Bryan ISD teachers. CMSE is providing data analysis for hte project. The data collection extends from the spring of 2006 through the spring of 2009.

SUPPORT: Region IV Education Service Center and Bryan ISD.