UHCL School of Education Mathematics Institute receives grant
Jean Rudnicki
Contributing Writer
University of Houston-Clear Lake School of Education has received a $200,000 Texas Teacher Quality grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to fund an additional year of the UHCL Mathematics Institute.
The funding extends the current grant through May 2014 and will be used to enhance teaching techniques among 16 middle school teachers within the Goose Greek Consolidated, Dickinson, and Pasadena Independent School Districts. The focus is on teaching fifth- through eighth-grade algebraic critical thinking skills.
The Mathematics Institute, under the guidance of UH-Clear Lake Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction Sue Brown, has been continuously renewed since 1995. Previous grants have included teaching techniques for such topics as fractions, probability, geometry, and measurement.
Algebra was formerly a high school subject, but is part of both the elementary and the middle school curriculum. Employers today require employees with greater critical thinking skills, explains Brown.
“The level of math in the real world has increased tremendously, but just as important is the ability of students to problem-solve, to think outside of the box,” she says.
Brown says the old-fashioned ‘stand and deliver’ method of teaching math, though still used by some teachers, is not an effective way to teach the subject. Learning new and more effective techniques is at the heart of the Mathematics Institute grant.
Participation requires a year-round commitment for teachers who attend six-hour classes each month during the academic year and three-hour classes for 15 days during the summer. The reward is not only acquiring new teaching techniques, but also special equipment and resources the teachers can take back to their schools including iPads, calculators, text books, math manipulatives, and print resources. In addition, the teachers receive a small stipend and 12 semester credit hours of graduate college work.
For more information about UH-Clear Lake’s School of Education, visit http://soe.uhcl.edu.
University of Houston-Clear Lake’s School of Education offers course work and field experiences toward more than 65 different degree or certification programs, including eight graduate programs, six professional certificates and the teacher certification program, certifying in more than 40 specializations and teaching fields. For more information about the School of Education, visit http://soe.uhcl.edu.
