Harding Provides Teacher Training For Arkansas Department of Education School of Education Teachers from all over the s ta te o f A rkansas swit c l1ed p laces and became s tudent s tl1is yea r. These t acl1ers w ere "re taughr in a successful e ffon sponsored by til e Arkansas Departm nt of High r Educa tion to implement innovative teaching s trategies in an integrated curriculum knovvn as the Scienc Crusade . Where did Hard ing fit in? Starting in tl1e spring of I 993, a three-hour gradua te c lass was conduc ted on campus to re teach sc ience teachers how to teach sc ience for g rades s12. Classes were also offered in Ba tesvill e. Me lbo urne and Plummervill e. Tl1e idea of the Sc ience Crusade was to train teac l1c rs in science content and mathematica l ana lys is. The goal w as to re1eacl11eacl1ers effective teaching s trategies and to encourage c riti ca l thinking skills, the use of technologies . manipulatives and inves tiga tive materials . !though the teacl1ing s tra teg ies taugh t in tl 1e program had been around for a wl1 ile. they l1ad b en confined to on subject area. The Science Crusade show d tl1at the s trategies work in every subject . These new teacl1ing stra tegies proved to be very e ffec ti ve. and teach rs w ere very entl1usias1i c. Th y fo und that s tuden ts learned more. Even tudents wl10 l1ad difficulties in the past learned more w ith the new s trat g ies. 'They were extreme ly exc ited and very receptive ro tra ining ." Dr. Tony Fin ley. project direetor. said. "They told me it made a tremendous d ifference in the c lassroom." Anotl1er reason for the t ac l1ers' excited responses was that they received new equipment . Dr. Finley sa id tha t tra iners l1ave tr ied to int roduce new tf'c l1no logy to tl K' teachers. Equipping tl1e c lassrooms w itl1 appropriate too ls . sucl1 ;:1s me tri c tape. tuning forks and books. l1e lped s tudents deve lop cientific lit eracy . "We're trying to invo l\ ·e students." lie sa id . The Sc ience Crusade was based on a s irnilm program for ma tl1e rnatics . tl1e Ma tl 1 Crusade. whicl1 I lmding h<1s participa ted in for a few years. Because o f the success o f tl1esc two programs. a "K-4" CrusC1dc was also s tart ed. It s goa l was to teach e lement ary teacl1ers how to integ ra te m0tl1. science and reading ra tl1Cr tha11 tcachi11g tl1cm els scpc1rc:11 c ubjects The Stel le o f Arkansas funci cci $ I 0 rnillio11 for the O\ 'Cr<1ll c rusade program . and Harding rece ived $ I .3 million o f ii. According to r. Bobby Coker. dean o f the School o f Educa ti on. tl1i s was tl1e firs t yea r of a five-year g rant . The continuing success of the program bro ug ht recognition na tionwide to Harding. ··w e arc leaclc rs in A rkans0s. \Ve are probab ly more invo lved tl1an anyone in tl1e s tat e:· 1-=- inley said. I le vven t on to say tll 0 t "o ther s t0tes c.1re looking Cl t 1\rkansas as the leader in the arc;:1 o r science and mc-ll l1 educa ti o n . Cok r s tressecl that many of the teachers wllo a tt e11d the crusade l1ave been to it before. ··our invo lvement in the Science Crusade has put I larding in the fore front in science educa tion in Arkansas ." Ile sa id. Coke r sa id tl1 ~1t. overa ll. tile c ience Crusade has proven to be a "very e ffec ti ve program fo r science educa ti on." - Stacey Haywood l iilu liunkin wuds ro u rilird wade' c/uss us pun of lwr srudcm wuc/1i110 prucricu111. ,\lully cm•11 wucl1crs lw/p('(/ I /a((/111<) nltl<"Uli!!fl lllU/0/"S /C'(l/"I] I() 1cucl1. / '/1010 l>y J11rn11y Brooks. / 'rofC'ssor 13<'11!) \\ 'Ulson u<lt •ises u srudem ill lwr o/1in·. llrmlill<J 1<·uchers tl'nc t< •illlllfi 10 11w<'l tl'irl1 s1u<lcll lS rn11si<I<' <>J lh<' clussroo111 . / '/1010 l>!J .Juson Bun . /\cuciem i cs 26 Ed tic <I I i o ll
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