Contact: Jim Laird
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A Mississippi State University program focused on enhancing science education recently hosted 40 teachers from around the state and local students for Super Scientific Saturday, and organizers are impressed with the results.
"We've been energized by the positive feedback. Participants left the workshop with new ideas and activities for content-driven lessons that promote excellent teaching and learning," said Sonya Smith, science field coordinator for ATOMS2xp.
The innovative program, whose acronym stands for Advancing Teachers of Middle School Science, places student achievement at the center of learning by helping instructors hone their classroom skills, as well as introducing them to new resources. It is housed in Mississippi State's Center for Education and Training Technology.
According to Smith, Super Scientific Saturday's instructional seminars covered key environmental learning objectives from the state Department of Education's 2010 Mississippi Science Framework. The framework gives teachers an outline of what students should learn, and is designed to expose students to experiences that reflect how science should be valued, to enhance students' confidence in applying scientific processes, and to help students learn to communicate and reason scientifically.
Scientific Saturday's sessions covered bird adaptations, insect adaptations, plant responses to predation and dependency on insects and birds, and hydrology and the hydrologic cycle. They were held at the Plymouth Bluff Environmental Center on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in Columbus.
Participating schools included Armstrong Middle School, Starkville; Bay-Waveland Middle School; Bruce Upper Elementary; Caledonia Middle School; Corinth Middle School; East Oktibbeha High School; Edinburg Attendance Center; Kemper Academy; Kosciusko Upper Elementary; Lake Middle School; Louisville Elementary; Magnolia Elementary; Milam Elementary School, Tupelo; Morgantown Elementary, Natchez; Nanih Waiya Attendance Center; Neshoba Central Elementary and Middle School; Nicholson Elementary School, Picayune; North Panola High School; Pelahatchie Attendance Center; Shannon Elementary, Middle and High School; South Pike High School; Tupelo Middle School; Vancleave Middle School; West Lowndes Middle School; West Point Central Elementary and Fifth Street Middle School; and Wilson Elementary School, Brooksville.
For additional information about ATOMS2xp projects, visit http://atoms2.cett.msstate.edu.