Glossary

AISD Austin Independent School District, where UTeach Austin field experiences occur

Apprentice Teachers Also known as student teachers. People seeking teacher certification must spend a specified number of weeks in the K-12 classroom teaching under the supervision of Cooperating Teachers, Master Teachers, and University Facilitators. Apprentice Teaching occurs after the completion of the required UTeach course sequence.

Co-Directors Represent the participating colleges of Education and Natural Sciences involved in the UTeach rogram. They lead the planning, strategy and oversight for the UTeach program; coordinate between administration, participation colleges, faculty, students and school districts; manage Master Teachers and support staff. They establish and coordinate all boards and committees, as well as initiate partnerships, program outreach and fundraising.

Cooperating Teachers The local school district teachers who host the Apprentice Teachers in the public schools.

Elements of Success The core elements needed to ensure high caliber replication of the UTeach model. Based on a decade of development and refinement at The University of Texas at Austin, these elements will be the foundation upon which all programs are designed.

Field Experience General term used to describe time spent by the UTeach student in K-12 classrooms teaching lessons that are required as part of the curriculum in UTeach courses.

FOSS Kits Full Option Science System. FOSS is a research-based science curriculum for grades K--8 developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California at Berkeley. FOSS kits may be used in the Step 1 and Step 2 classes to demonstrate science lessons that are taught in elementary and middle schools.

GEMS Kits Great Explorations in Math and Science. The GEMS kits are used in the Step 1 and Step 2 classes to demonstrate math and science lessons taught in schools. GEMS is a program of the Lawrence Hall of Science, the public science education center at the University of California at Berkeley.

Induction Support The UTeach Induction program provides on-site support to UTeach first-year mathematics, science and computer science teachers in Central Texas. Two Master Teachers who are experts in the course content that matches the needs of novice teachers provide whatever help, materials or encouragement the teachers need. They offer an array of Saturday mini-courses that are coordinated with the curriculum the teachers will be teaching.

Inquiry Instruction in Mathematics Broadly referred to as Problem-based instruction, UTeach affirms a description of Mathematical Inquiry from Science for All Americans,1990: “Using mathematics to express ideas or to solve problems involves at least three phases: (1) representing some aspects of things abstractly, 2) manipulating the abstractions by rules of logic to find new relationships between them, and (3) seeing whether the new relationships say something useful about the original things.”

Inquiry Instruction in Science A goal of UTeach is for our students to understand the fundamental nature and importance of inquiry in all the work that scientists do. In turn, UTeach graduates should enable their students to develop the abilities to do scientific inquiry, and also to understand what scientific inquiry is about—how science works. (From Content Standard for Science as Inquiry in Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards.2000) UTeach recognizes that inquiry is only one of multiple strategies that should be employed to teach science. Furthermore, using this strategy should enhance students’ mastery of the content and concepts of science.

Inquiry Based Learning A learning process in which students “construct understanding and develop theories about the world on the basis of their experience” (from Science for all Children, National Academy of Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, 1997). UTeach promotes instruction that guides students to experience phenomena that directly lead to their understanding of mathematical or science concepts. Current research on brain development and how children learn is applied to teaching strategies.

Internships Part-time jobs available to UTeach students that allow them to gain valuable experience in education environments. Internships prove mutually beneficial to UTeach students and non-profit community organizations. They are funded through private donations.

K-12 Kindergarten through 12th grade.

Master Teachers Non-tenured university faculty members with an MA, MS or PhD who are highly skilled and knowledgeable individuals with strong credentials in public school teaching. Master Teachers use their own classroom experiences to provide instruction and support to UTeach students. by teaching the first two introductory one-hour (Step 1, Step 2) courses. They also serve as instructors, as needed, for other required courses that lead to certification. They manage Apprentice Teaching and the internship program and they provide induction support to UTeach graduates.

Mentor Teachers Public school K-12 teachers who coach and encourage UTeach students as they teach their lessons in the field and progress through the entire program. Mentor teachers are paid stipends for their work with UTeach students.

NMSI National Math and Science Initiative. Launched by ExxonMobil, NMSI is working with the UTeach Institute to replicate the UTeach program at 10 other universities. NMSI also aims to scale-up training and incentive programs for teachers who teach AP and pre-AP courses.

Operations Manual The manual that contains all the start-up elements needed to launch a UTeach program including historical data, FAQs, course materials, curriculum objectives and guidelines, essential activities, lessons learned, budget information, and development strategies.

Out-of-field Refers to a teacher who is not fully certified to teach the courses to which he or she is assigned.

Portfolio A purposeful collection of work and reflections generated by students in the UTeach program to demonstrate their level of proficiency in achieving the state standards for teachers

Secondary Refers to middle and high school.

STC Kits Science and Technology for Children (STC) is an inquiry-based kit-based science curriculum that was developed by the National Science Resources Center (NSRC) with funding by the National Science Foundation (NSF). These kits are used to demonstrate science lessons taught in elementary and middle schools.

Step 1 and Step 2 The introductory UTeach courses. The aim of these STEP courses is to attract students to careers in math and science teaching. Master teachers introduce students to examples of high-quality inquiry-based lessons and model the pedagogical concepts to which they are being introduced. Students also observe and experience teaching in elementary and middle school classrooms.

TeachHouston The UTeach program at the University of Houston.

Texas High School Project (THSP) A $261 million public/private initiative committed to increasing graduation and college enrollment rates in every Texas community. THSP partners include the Office of the Governor of Texas, the Texas Education Agency, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Wallace Foundation, and others.

TExES The state-required exam for all persons seeking teaching certification in Texas. Each candidate must take and pass a content TExES exam and a Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities Exam as a requirement of certification.

TIMSS Formerly known as the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. The TIMSS provides reliable and timely data on the mathematics and science achievement of the U.S. students compared to that of students in other countries. TIMSS data have been collected in 1995, 1999, and 2003. The United States will next collect TIMSS data in Spring 2007.

Tuition Scholarships Stipends awarded as part of the recruiting process to attract students to UTeach. Students are invited to try the UTeach program by enrolling in the one-hour Step 1 and Step 2 classes at no cost to them, and are issued a check that covers the the tuition fee. This has proved to be a highly successful recruiting tool.

University Facilitators Experienced former teachers who conduct regular observations of the Apprentice Teachers, immediately debrief with the Apprentice Teachers, and provide documentation of this interaction to the university.