EDUCATION.PURDUE.EDU
LAUNCHING THE FUTURE IN EDUCATION
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GIFTED EDUCATION RESOURCE INSTITUTE ADVANCES THROUGH LEADERSHIP Purdue’s Gifted Education Resource Institute (GERI) continues to build upon the scholarship of founder John Feldhusen and to provide leadership in the field of gifted education. Research by director Marcia Gentry is identifying ways to discover and nurture high-ability students from low-income and/or culturally diverse families. She is providing leadership for research, professional development and student enrichment in 15 states, five countries and three Native American reservations. Gentry’s goal is to discourage stereotypes about giftedness and work toward improved ways to identify and develop a student’s individual talents. She said, “We find talents among groups of children who are typically overlooked.” Geography, culture, poverty, and access to technology are all barriers to identifying talent. Gentry and her colleagues are committed to overcoming these barriers. One area of Gentry’s research is based in the concept of cluster grouping and gives credence to the adage that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” The Total School Cluster Grouping Model (TSCG) is focused on meeting the needs of students identified as gifted, while also improving teaching, learning, and achievement of all students. Research on TSCG has shown that student Research from schools implementing TSCG has shown that 1) student achievement increases, 2) teachers begin to use gifted education strategies with all students, and Navajo students attended Purdue this summer
3) more students are identified as highachieving than low-achieving. Recent research also has shown that TSCG improves achievement and increases the numbers of students identified as gifted who come from economically disadvantaged families and from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. With support from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Gentry has been able to provide scholarships for high-potential youth from low-income families to attend GERI Saturday and Summer youth programs and develop an assessment tool, the HOPE Scale, to help teachers identify high ability students. With continued funding, the research has expanded to include Native American students. Fifty gifted Native American students from the Navajo Nation, the Standing Rock Reservation, and the Red Lake Reservation attended GERI’s 2-week residential enrichment camp on the Purdue campus this summer. “Research on identifying and serving highpotential youth who come from underserved populations can help unlock human potential and influence the educational pathways and career trajectories of these youth who frequently lack access to highquality educational opportunities,” Gentry said. “In GERI we believe this work is important to to help these youth actualize their potential.”
FROM THE DEAN
The words “back to school” hold special meaning to alumni of the College of Education. Whether or not you are working currently in education, there is something about this time of year that signals new beginnings and lures us to buy new pens and notebooks – either paper or electronic! It’s also a new beginning for Purdue in terms of presidential leadership as we prepare to welcome Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels as Purdue’s twelfth president. As with any new leadership, we must be active advocates for our college and take the opportunity to introduce the new president to the good and important work that we do and provide perspective on our profession. We have a lot to be proud of in the college as we strive to be the standard-bearer of teacher education, administration, and educational research. Let me share some highlights. • Last spring the annual US News and World Report survey ranked Purdue’s College of Education #37 out of 238 schools. In our own survey, 92% of the administrators who hired Purdue teacher education graduates said our candidates were well-prepared to be effective teachers. • We place a greater emphasis on math and science than any other teacher preparation program in Indiana. We continue to research how to teach math and science in ways that are relevant to 21st century learners, engaging young learners with technology and hands-on science. • Finally, we are piloting a co-teaching model to replace traditional student teaching with a true partnership with P-12 schools. Many of our graduates have told us how valuable they have found their Purdue education to be in the workforce. Today, we continue to provide our students with the kinds of field experiences, professional interactions, scholarship support and enrichment activities that make our graduates so successful. Hail Purdue ~
Maryann Santos de Barona
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FACULTY PROMOTIONS Nadine Dolby Professor, C&I
Ayse Çiftçi Associate Professor, EDST Levon Esters Associate Professor, C&I Carrie Wachter Morris Associate Professor, EDST Anatoli Rapoport Associate Professor, C&I Melanie Shoffner Associate Professor, C&I Aman Yadav Associate Professor, EDST Sarah Templin Clinical Assistant Professor, EDST
NEW FACULTY Jake Burdick Visiting Faculty, C&I Eric D. Deemer Assistant Professor, EDST Edward E. Eiler Visiting Assistant Professor, EDST Chantal Levesque-Bristol Director of the CIE, Professor, EDST Kristina Ayers Paul Assistant Professor, EDST Alberto J. Rodriguez Professor/Mary Endres Chair, C&I Victoria L. Walker Clinical Assistant Professor, C&I Sunnie L. Watson Clinical Assistant Professor, C&I
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SLED CONTINUES SUCCESS IN SECOND YEAR SLED, a National Science Foundation Math Science Partnership project that links Purdue with Indiana school districts, is focused on improving science learning in grades 3-6. Engineering design has been proven to be effective in teaching math and science at higher grade levels. This project explores what happens when it is introduced to students at earlier ages.
The project, now in its second year, is co-directed by Brenda Capobianco, associate professor of science education, and Alyssa Panitch, professor of biomedical engineering. The participating elementary schools are from the Lafayette, Tippecanoe, Taylor (Kokomo) and Plymouth school districts in Central Indiana. The curriculum will prepare science teachers to meet the requirements of new state and national standards that require elementary-aged students to understand and use engineering design concepts. According to Capobianco, “Our work will create Indiana’s first engineering design-based model for science teacher professional development at both the pre-service and in-service levels and an innovative, research-based program for using engineering design-based strategies.” This past summer teachers from the partner schools attended a 2-week institute on the Purdue campus. The teachers tested new classroom design activities developed by Purdue faculty and developed plans for implementing
THE SLED SUMMER WORKSHOP
the activities with their own students during the 2012-13 academic year. The SLED team is creating a hands-on way for students to learn science by making products to meet specific, realistic needs. For example, one project has students learning about composting as a way to enrich the soil in Haiti. Another activity has students designing mittens to learn about heat transference and insulation. The project is a dynamic combination of partners and resources. Current classroom teachers and Purdue student teachers are learning together the necessary science content and teaching skills. Once they return to their individual schools, participants are connected to resources and each other through an internet hub. Online presentations, courses, learning modules, teaching materials, and more for SLED projects are available online as part of STEMedhub at https://stemedhub.org/groups/sled. More information on SLED and the tools associated with the project can be found at: http://sled. mspnet.org.
DE OLIVEIRA WINS CATESOL AWARD FOR NEWEST BOOK Luciana de Oliveira, an associate professor of curriculum and instruction was awarded the David E. Eskey Award for Curriculum Innovation from the California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (CATESOL). She is director of the English Language Learning (ELL) Licensure Program at Purdue and recipient of the 2011 Outstanding Latino Faculty Award from Purdue’s Latino Cultural Center.
Her book, “Knowing and writing school history: The language of students’ expository writing and teachers’ expectations,” explores the language demands, typical writing requirements, and the language expectations of historical discourse. The book includes the results of a study that
looked at 8th and 11th grade language resources and the role of writing in school history. De Oliveira’s scholarship focuses on three strands: the teaching and learning of English Language Learners (ELLs) in the content areas; teacher education for ELLs, advocacy, and social justice; and nonnative English-speaking teachers.
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION • EDUCATION.PURDUE.EDU
PROFESSOR, ITAP SEEK FACULTY TO COLLABORATE ON NEW LEARNING TECHNOLOGY When Bill Watson taught his first undergraduate class on computer and information technology, he was baffled by a lack of motivation he noticed in his young students compared to their adult peers returning to school from industry. Each day he struggled to help the freshmen understand the course’s concepts, as well as its application to their future careers, but the students remained unenthused. The experience was so startling it prompted Watson to change his research focus to explore educational systems and their pitfalls, as well as potential solutions. Now an assistant professor of learning design and technology at Purdue, Watson wants to help shift the educational system to learner-centered engagement and skill building, as opposed to knowledge delivery through traditional lectures, in part with new technology to support such a change. Currently, a technology tool with all the elements Watson has in mind doesn’t exist. But Kyle Bowen, ITaP’s director of Informatics, is partnering with Watson to create a personalized educational system, which will provide four primary pieces for use in driving student learning: record keeping, planning, instruction and assessment. The goal is to move beyond current learning software to create a system that helps students define their own learning
paths and keep track of their progress. “We want to help students set independent goals and specific, detailed learning objectives that can be attained by doing real-world projects — collaborating, talking through content, online discussions, blog posts, podcasts, etc.,” Watson says. “Then, at the end of the course, students would have a portfolio of completed projects that demonstrate their competency through tangible achievements.” This is an excerpt from Andrea Thomas’ article on 4/23/2012. The full article may be read at: http://bit.ly/Qpe4fH
AWARDS AND APPOINTMENTS FOR TWO COE FACULTY MEMBERS Lynn Bryan has been named 2012 Outstanding Science Teacher Educator of the Year by the Association for Science Teacher Education. She was recently appointed as director of the Center for Research and Engagement in Science and Mathematics Education (CRESME) at Purdue. Bryan is also president of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching.
“Lynn is a highly respected scholar and leader in the field of science education. Her scholarship has highlighted the BRYAN efficacy of transformational models of science teacher education that focus on both the processes of learning to teach as well as refining one’s practices,” said Maryann Santos de Barona, dean of the College of Education.
RESEARCH DOLLARS
Teresa Taber Doughty, associate professor of educational studies, was one of six teachers from Purdue honored with the 2012 Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Awards in Memory of Charles B. Murphy. The Murphy Award is the latest recognition of Taber Doughty’s excellence in teaching. Last year, she was the recipient of the College of Education’s Outstanding Teaching Award. She won the same distinction in 2004. Among other accolades, in 2004, 2006 and 2011 Taber Doughty won the Outstanding Teaching Award from the educational studies department.
TABER DOUGHTY
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT RANKINGS
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FOURTH COHORT OF THE WOODROW WILSON INDIANA TEACHING FELLOWS PROGRAM UNDERWAY
The 2012 Woodrow Wilson Fellows with Acting Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Vic Lechtenberg (far left), Associate Dean for Learning & Engagement, Sydney Moon (2nd from right) and Maryann Santos de Barona, dean (far right).
The fourth cohort of the Woodrow Wilson Indiana Teaching Fellows is now on campus preparing to enter the workforce in the fall of 2013. Members of Cohort 4 will be in rural schools two days a week all of the first semester and six weeks of the second semester. They will student teach the last ten weeks of the spring semester. Six of the fellows are future math teachers and three are future biology teachers. The fellows are part of Purdue’s STEM Goes Rural platform, which is a collaborative, cross-disciplinary initiative that includes a team of educators closely associated with Purdue’s Center for Research and Engagement in Science and Mathematics Education. Participants have the opportunity to interact with leading scientists and engineers and receive ongoing mentoring as they transition to the classroom. Statewide, 54 fellows received a $30,000 stipend to complete a special intensive master’s program at one of four Indiana partner universities and to defray expenses while transitioning to the teaching profession. The fellows are recent graduates and accomplished career changers in science, mathematics, engineering and
NEW UNIVERSITY CORE CURRICULUM TO BEGIN IN 2013
More information about the 2012 cohort can be found at: http://bit.ly/P1DH54. For more information about Purdue’s STEM Goes Rural Program, please visit: http://www.purdue.edu/stemgoesrural/.
“This is not a 30- or 40-year march that we are on. This is something that can have a detectable difference in just a few years. For all these reasons and more, we remain incredibly proud to be home to this effort.” - Mitch Daniels, Governor
A standard core curriculum for Purdue undergraduates has been a topic of discussion on campus for more than ten years. That vision was brought to fruition through the work of a University Senate committee chaired by an associate professor in Educational Studies, Teresa Taber Doughty.
mathematics, social sciences, and humanities. The loss of credits when a student changes majors is one of the more frequent deterrents to on-time graduation. Creating a set of courses which will be accepted from college-to-college will keep the student on track toward their degree objective.
By focusing on the learning outcomes rather than specific courses, the committee was able to reach consensus on a plan that will go into effect in the fall of 2013.
The outcomes identified by the committee include: · Creative and critical thinking · Ethical reasoning · Global citizenship and social awareness · Intercultural knowledge · Leadership and teamwork · Information literacy · Oral and written communication
The core curriculum is a set of targeted learning outcomes considered essential to a Purdue education. It is designed to provide undergraduates with skills that can transfer within a broad range of academic disciplines, including physical and biological sciences,
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technology (the STEM fields). They will teach math and science in Indiana’s urban and rural schools. Current Indiana governor and Purdue University President-elect Mitch Daniels said, “The Woodrow Wilson Fellows are already becoming a material percentage of all the math and science teachers we need in the state of Indiana.”
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION • EDUCATION.PURDUE.EDU
PURDUE UNIVERSITY, IVY TECH AND OAKLAND HIGH SCHOOL TEAM UP FOR PROJECT CITIZEN Students at Purdue University, Ivy Tech and Oakland High School (Lafayette, IN) presented solutions to public policy issues during Project Citizen showcases last fall and spring.
The James F. Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship at Purdue University is co-state coordinator of this program and sponsored the district finals. Project Citizen is a civic education competition where teams of students address a local problem, develop an action plan to address the problem and then make a presentation on the plan in front of a panel of policymakers and community leaders. In the last few years, more than 800 students from across Indiana have participated in Project Citizen competitions. Asta Balkute, assistant director for the Ackerman Center who conducts workshops for Purdue and Ivy Tech students and coordinates the showcase said, “This collaboration is not only important due to the College of Education Strategic plan and the Ackerman Center’s mission, but mostly for quality education in general. It provides opportunities for teachers and students to more effectively shape next generation of active, informed and reasoned decision makers-citizens.”
Oakland students presented their ideas to a panel during the showcase
The public policy issues raised by the students included child care support for teen mothers, educational opportunities for undocumented students in Indiana, school zone safety, and lack of quality diversity education. Each team of students presented its proposal and action plan for solving the issue through public policy. Local community leaders and Purdue faculty served as part of a panel that encouraged the students to implement their developed action plans.
CS4EDU PROVIDES A ROUTE TO BECOME BETTER COMPUTER SCIENCE TEACHERS Technology changes at a dizzying pace. So how do high schools keep up and adequately prepare students to pursue degrees or careers in computer science?
stages, is to create ways for undergraduate teacher education majors to become highly-skilled secondary teachers in computer science.
In response to that dilemma, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is funding an ambitious effort to have computer science taught in 10,000 schools by 10,000 well-qualified teachers by 2016 known as the CS10K Project.
Working collaboratively with their colleagues in the Department of Computer Science, Lehman and Yadav have created a new supplemental teaching license in computer science education. The Computer Science Teaching Endorsement program is based on the educational computing standards set by the International Society for Technology in Education and is approved by the State of Indiana.
Researchers at Purdue, including education faculty members Jim Lehman and Aman Yadav, received $800,000 for a three-year grant project called CS4EDU. The objective of the grant, now in its final
Coursework for undergraduates has been revised as a result of this project. Modules about computational thinking have been integrated with existing education courses and there is now a course on contemporary issues in computing which explores the pervasive nature of computing and how the Internet has changed, and will continue to change, societies and individuals. A centerpiece of the CS Endorsement is a methods course with an associated teaching practicum in computer science. More information can be found at: http://cs4edu.cs.purdue.edu.
The CS4EDU 2012 workshop for high school teachers was held this summer, July 31-August 1, 2012.
“Our program draws upon the strengths of Purdue University’s College of Education and Department of Computer Science and ensures that computer science teachers have the skills and knowledge to teach computer science at the high school level.” - Aman Yadav YADAV
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NEW CO-TEACHING PILOT PROVIDES MORE EXPERIENCE FOR CANDIDATES, COOPERATING TEACHERS
Laurie Mitchell (2012 graduate) working with Sunnyside MS students and teacher Nancy Tyrie as part of existing SLED collaboration
A new initiative to Purdue brings student teaching and field experience together with co-teaching strategies. The model, based on St. Cloud State University’s work and supported with a Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant, utilizes best practices to transform the mentoring process for all new teachers. A small pilot implementation started in August and will be followed by a larger pilot in Spring 2013. “We hope to use what we learn in the pilot to determine changes for the program in the future,” said Phillip VanFossen, Department Head and Ackerman Professor of Education. “This model provides the teacher candidate with the modeling and support needed to develop teaching skills by being more involved in the planning process from the beginning of the placement,” he added. The co-teaching model scaffolds the teacher candidate’s leadership in the classroom so that the student teacher is fully prepared to assume responsibilities. This approach also provides teacher candidates with important collaboration, planning and communication skills, including experience directing other adults in their classroom. VanFossen said, “Co-teaching provides the students in the classroom with additional support by lowering the student-teacher ratio and providing opportunities for small group instruction, additional instructional strategies, and makes active, hands-on learning more manageable and successful.”
Cooperating teachers will be working more closely with teacher candidates to co-plan and co-teach throughout the semester and assume a greater role in assessing the performance of the teacher candidate with the university supervisor. “Classrooms have increasingly diverse needs, and in many cases, greater numbers of students,” said VanFossen. “Co-teaching is a proven way to improve the student-teacher ratio and to assist in differentiating instruction.” St. Cloud State University’s data showed statistically significant increases in first - sixth grade reading scores compared to both traditional student teaching placements and classroom mentor teachers alone. According to VanFossen, the co-teaching process also provides a way for cooperating teachers to focus on improving their own skills. Articulating one’s thinking about the connections among assessment, planning, and instruction can lead to more effective implementation. Having another set of eyes, ears, and hands makes using time effectively and checking for understanding easier to implement. Small group instructional opportunities give teachers opportunities to try out new activities and techniques in a setting that is easier to manage. Using the RISE rubric to assess teacher candidates will help cooperating teachers become more familiar with it and increase their awareness of evidence of effective teaching in their own performance.
“Classrooms have increasingly diverse needs, and in many cases, greater numbers of students,” said VanFossen. “Co-teaching is a proven way to improve the student-teacher ratio and to assist in differentiating instruction.” VanFossen
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COLLEGE OF EDUCATION • EDUCATION.PURDUE.EDU
STUDENT BEREAVEMENT POLICY ASSISTS STUDENTS IN TIMES OF GRIEF AND LOSS Even though losing a loved one or being away from a seriously ill parent is common for college students, many can feel isolated when balancing school and family issues, says a Purdue University professor who specializes in grief and loss issues. “Many students are not comfortable talking with their peers about grief or family illness because they don’t want it to define them, and, as a result, these students are often balancing stress and sadness on their own,” says Heather ServatySeib, counseling psychologist and an associate professor of educational studies. Statistics show that 40 percent of college students are grieving a death within the last two years, and the number of students with chronically or terminally ill parents is not tracked. Servaty-Seib’s research with grieving college students has indicated that students dealing with grief often struggle academically, particularly during the semester of their death loss. “Balancing the role as (an) academic-focused student and the child of someone who is very ill is not easy,” Servaty-Seib says. “Often, wellmeaning parents don’t communicate about the illness or daily problems to their children because they are protecting them. Sick family members often request that the student stay at school and focus on being a student. But then the student is at school worrying. And when the student is home, then they are worried about academic challenges.” Colleges and universities are recognizing the importance of supporting students in these
92%
At the Purdue Counseling and Guidance Center, Heather Servaty-Seib, associate professor of educational studies, meets with doctoral students to work on developing clinical counseling skills. (Purdue photo/Mark Simons)
situations through official grief absence policies and student groups. Servaty-Seib says more can be done. “Purdue is just one of a few schools with a policy that supports students who have a death in the family,” she says. “At a large institution, like Purdue, a policy or student group makes a tangible difference for students who are struggling with grief or family illness.” Purdue’s policy served 480 students last year by helping them take an official leave of absence for funeral services and making arrangements for missed classes or coursework. The formal absence policy also was an opportunity for the Office of the Dean of Students to offer individual counseling resources to the grieving students. The office also hears from students who need assistance or counseling when they have a parent who is chronically or terminally ill. More info at: http://bit.ly/OSBIW7.
MAEDA TO ADVANCE STEM RESEARCH WITH TWO COLLABORATIVE NSF AWARDS Yukiko Maeda, Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology and Research Methods, has been awarded two grants from the National Science Foundation for her collaborations with researchers in STEM education.
MAEDA
The first grant, entitled “Collaborative Research: Preparing to Teach Algebra: A Study of Teacher Education,” is led by Jill Newton, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education at Purdue. The goal of the project is to study how secondary mathematics teacher preparation programs provide preser-
BY THE NUMBERS
vice teachers opportunities to develop knowledge for teaching algebra and address algebra expectations in state-level policies and the Common Core State Standards for mathematics. The second grant, entitled “Implementation of a Multidimensional Assessment Tool to Explore the Impacts of Pedagogy on Undergraduate Student Learning,” is led by Monica Cox, Associate Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue. The goal of the project is to help better understand how student feedback will assist instructors with engineering course design. The two awards amount to more than $564,000. More information about both of these awards can be found by conducting an award search at: http://www.nsf.gov.
Administrators who hired Purdue Teacher Education graduates in 2010 said our candidates were well‐prepared to be effective teachers.
83.7%
2010 elementary education graduates reported being employed or choosing to continue their education.
6%
Those accepting jobs reported a starting salary 6% higher than the average for new Indiana teachers.
#1
2012 Shell National Science Teacher of the Year is our alumnus Joe Ruhl, MS’80.
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Purdue Graduates received 2 of the 4 Outstanding Doctoral Student Awards from the National Association for Gifted Children. The awards will be presented to Yang Yang and to Nielsen Pereira at the 2012 Convention in November.
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LDT ONLINE MASTER’S PROGRAM THRIVING IN FIRST YEAR
NEWBY
The learning design and technology online master’s program exceeded expectations in its first year. The program, which prepares graduates to design, implement and evaluate learning materials and experiences that integrate effective instruction and technology for a variety of fields and organizations, has 141 students enrolled as of August 2012. Timothy Newby, professor of learning design and technology, said, “There is no fundamental difference between the in-class and online course. The faculty, many of whom are awardwinning educators and known experts, are committed to providing the same educational opportunities for our online students. We want all of our graduates to have a complete understanding of how to facilitate learning through the use of technology.” Purdue partnered with Deltak, a leading company in online higher education, to explore a partnership model for offering online programs. “The online coursework is equally as vigorous and challenging as the coursework for the on-campus classes,” Newby added. The College of Education has seen the continuing trend of
equally high-caliber students enroll in the online program as it has with it’s traditional programs. The advantage with the online program is that students can learn from anywhere in the world. The LDT online master’s program, the first of its kind at Purdue, will see its first graduates in May. The program is intended for two types of professional learners: those who wish to concentrate on instructional design and technology in corporate training and development settings, and those who wish to focus on technologyenhanced instruction in school-environments. For more information, please visit: http://www.purdueonlineprograms.com.
“The online coursework is equally as vigorous and challenging as the coursework for the on-campus classes.” - Timothy Newby