The University of New Haven and Quinnipiac University have received a $153,707 Teacher Quality Partnership grant from the Connecticut Office of Higher Education to help area teachers enhance their science lessons.
The universities will use the grant for Project SING (Science Induction for the Next Generation). SING will bring together teams of new science teachers, veteran science teachers and administrators from the Capitol Region Education Council and Notre Dame High School of West Haven, as well as the East Haven, Hamden, Meriden and New Haven school districts, to learn innovative approaches to teaching science based on the Next Generation Science Standards.
“We want to challenge teachers to expand their content knowledge while helping them to understand that there is a national shift in the way we engage students in learning science with the Next Generation Science Standards,” said Cindy Kern, visiting assistant professor of education and director of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Center for Science Teaching and Learning at Quinnipiac. “It is a brave new world in science education, and we are here to help beginning teachers, their mentors and their administrator through this transformation change.”
Quinnipiac will host the educators Aug. 6, 7, 10 and 11 at the School of Education curriculum center on the North Haven Campus.
Next Generation Science Standards are state-led K–12 initiatives in science learning developed by the National Research Council, the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and other critical partners. Finalized in 2013, the standards are rich in content and practice and arranged in a coherent manner across disciplines and grades to provide all students an internationally benchmarked science education.
Kevin Basmadjian, dean of the School of Education at Quinnipiac, said, “One of the strategic goals of the School of Education is to become a more effective resource for the community. This grant, through the Bristol-Myers Squibb Center, offers us the opportunity to work toward this goal and serve the science education community.”
Lourdes Alvarez, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of New Haven, said, “The people working on this grant are amazing teachers who are working on a really important social issue – improving science education for all sectors of the population. They are helping young people to become confident, successful and inspired in their work.”
Amanda R. Bozack, associate professor of education at the University of New Haven, said, "We hope to transform science teaching practices by focusing on the key relationships between beginning teachers, mentors and administrators. This is really the heart of our work."
Quinnipiac is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours from Boston. The university enrolls 6,500 full-time undergraduate and 2,500 graduate students in 58 undergraduate and more than 20 graduate programs of study in its School of Business and Engineering, School of Communications, School of Education, School of Health Sciences, School of Law, Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, School of Nursing and College of Arts and Sciences. Quinnipiac consistently ranks among the top regional universities in the North in U.S. News & World Report’s America’s “Best Colleges” issue. The 2015 issue of U.S. News & World Report’s America’s “Best Colleges” named Quinnipiac as the top up-and-coming school with master’s programs in the Northern Region. Quinnipiac also is recognized in Princeton Review’s “The Best 380 Colleges.” The Chronicle of Higher Education has named Quinnipiac among the “Great Colleges to Work For.” For more information, please visit www.quinnipiac.edu. Connect with Quinnipiac on Facebook at www.facebook.com/quinnipiacuniversity and follow Quinnipiac on Twitter @QuinnipiacU.
The University of New Haven is a private, top-tier comprehensive institution recognized as a national leader in experiential education. Founded in 1920 the university enrolls approximately 1,800 graduate students and more than 4,600 undergraduates.
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