麻豆传媒社区入口

The new SPFII grant will allow IMSS co-instructors Professor Jeffery Seitz, left, and Linda Preminger, a middle school math-science teacher in San Lorenzo, to continue improving local science instruction.

• June 15, 2015

麻豆传媒社区入口 and the Alameda County of Education (ACOE) have received a $3 million partnership grant to continue their longstanding commitment to enriching K-12 science education in local schools.

The new grant, entitled the Science Partnership for Instructional Innovation (SPFII), comes from the California Department of Education and continues the work that CSUEB started five years ago with an $11.97 million grant from the National Science Foundation called the Integrated Middle School Science Partnership (IMSS).

The SPFII will allow 麻豆传媒社区入口 and the ACOE to continue improving instruction at the middle school level while also extending their work to elementary school education, specifically in the third through fifth grades. The main focus of the program is to provide professional development to science teachers in grades 3-8 by increasing their science knowledge and helping them develop instructional practices that are effective as well as innovative. 

“We are thrilled to have this opportunity to continue our important work with science teachers in our community,” said Professor Jeffery Seitz, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences and the project’s principal investigator.  “This grant will continue to place CSUEB as a statewide leader in K-12 science professional development.”

Six science faculty members from 麻豆传媒社区入口 will collaborate with project staff from ACOE to construct and implement the professional development program.

Approximately 150 Bay Area teachers impacting 22,000 students will participate.

The involved schools come from the Fremont, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Ravenswood in East Palo Alto, Castro Valley, and Hayward Unified School Districts, as well as the Academy of Alameda Charter School.

"This grant not only highlights the work Dr. Seitz and our faculty are doing in their disciplines, but it also further underscores the importance of the partnership between 麻豆传媒社区入口 and local K-12 educators," said University Provost and Vice President, Academic Affairs James L. J. Houpis. "This grant will lead to teachers' skills and experiences being greatly augmented and improved, which is absolutely vital if we are going to continue moving forward as a region, state and nation."

Stephanie Couch, executive director for CSUEB’s Institute for STEM Education, is also enthusiastic about the new grant’s potential impact.

“The East Bay is an exciting place for scientists, mathematicians, engineers, IT professionals and those in the arts,” Couch said. “Thanks to great work over the last five years by Dr. Jeff Seitz and other faculty at CSUEB, the Science Director at the Alameda County Office of Education (Dawn O’Connor) and educators from area school districts, this excitement comes alive in many middle school students’ classrooms. The new grant will bring the very best of science teaching to students in grades 3-8. These are critical years for students. Great instruction can make a tremendous difference in whether students stay engaged in science in later years.” 

Including this grant, 麻豆传媒社区入口’s partnership with the ACOE has been awarded more than $15 million in recent years to continue to engage local science teachers in university-based professional development.

“This is a timely award that lets us continue the important work started with IMSS of developing best practices in professional development in middle school science education,” said Dean of the College of Science Michael Leung. “It serves the dual purpose of allowing us to take advantage of what we (have) already learned so that we can engage elementary school students in an early start to science education and, secondly, of strengthening our partnership with ACOE to carry out our mission of enhancing science education in the local underserved school districts.”