A Minnesota Department of Education grant will continue for another three years a professional development project that focuses on area middle school science teachers serving American Indian students.
The MDE announced this week that it has awarded the American Indian Science and Engineering Society $627,430 for the three-year Teaching Relevant Inquiry-Based Environmental Science II project.
The grant is the second largest of five math and science partnership grants, totaling $4.2 million, awarded by the MDE to educational institutions to improve teacher professional development in math and science. The grants are designed to improve student achievement in science, technology, engineering and math.
TRIBES Project Director Dwight Gourneau, who is based in Rochester, Minn., said the TRIBES II project will be similar to the first TRIBES project, a three-year project that began in Bemidji in the summer of 2004. The TRIBES II project will begin this year.
"The primary focus is to teach environmental science that's regionally and culturally relevant," Gourneau said.
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In partnership with Bemidji State University, the Science Museum of Minnesota, Leech Lake Tribal College and Turtle Mountain Community College's Science Teacher Education Department, the TRIBES II project will include a two-week institute each summer, three one-day academic year sessions per year and classroom visits to strengthen the teachers' teaching methods and meet the definition of highly qualified.
The current K-12 TRIBES partners include schools in the Bemidji, Red Lake, Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig, Mahnomen, Walker and Deer River school districts.
"I'll continue to recruit from the Bemidji area," Gourneau said. "The primary group will be middle school science teachers."
He added that other teachers can apply for the project, but must be teamed up with a middle school science or math teacher if they are accepted.
Teachers who participate in the project will be offered four graduate-level credits in science education through BSU.
"It meets their continuing education requirements as teachers," Gourneau said.
Teachers will also receive a stipend for participating in the project and money to buy supplies for classroom activities. They will also be connected with the AISES and the Science Museum of Minnesota.
More spots will be available for teachers to participate in the TRIBES II project than in the first project, Gourneau said.
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"We've increased the number to 30 teachers," he said, noting that the first TRIBES project started out with 20 teachers the first summer and grew to 27 teachers this past summer.
According to the AISES, the TRIBES II project will impact an estimated 5,000 students a year, a majority of whom are American Indian. If teachers are invested in, Gourneau said, the return on that investment will be better prepared students.
The other recipients of the MDE math and science partnership grants were Hamline University with a nearly $2.28 million grant, St. Cloud Area Independent School District 742 with a $618,714 grant, Minnesota River Valley Education District with a $564,033 grant and Augsburg College with a $441,237 grant.
