ABOUT ATA

A Brief Overview

The Authentic Teaching Alliance (ATA) is an National Science Foundation-funded educational outreach project that involves thirteen graduate and twelve advanced undergraduate Fellows, twelve secondary science and mathematics teachers (from three urban, one suburban, and two rural high schools located in Oklahoma City area), and seven OU faculty (from the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, School of Industrial Engineering, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Liberal Science, and the Center for Educational and Community Renewal).  These participants work together in teams developing, designing, implementing, and assessing authentic learning, inquiry-based activities for secondary science and mathematics students.

The figure below illustrates the main components of ATA: Instructional Preparation, Technology Preparation, Technology Infrastructure, Secondary Teachers, Secondary Students, and University Faculty. These components are centered around the Fellows and intertwined through the inquiry-based activities and projects that the Fellows, teachers, and faculty will develop and implement together as a team.

These activities will be incorporated, by the team, into the classroom through lessons, demonstrations, laboratory exercises, individual and group projects, and field experiences in order to: 

• emphasize authentic and community-based experiences;

• encourage creative problem-solving skills;

• develop interest in life-long learning; and

• prepare secondary students for advanced education.  Activity these will focus on environmental science and engineering, new materials and their use, energy and society, and civil infrastructures.

Activities will be designed to fit the teachers and students' needs based on curriculum requirements (local and state mandated objectives), course content, students' abilities and interests, and available resources.

Fellows will be taught to create and implement these activities through a new course presenting:

• educational theory, concepts, and assessment congruent with authentic learning;

• the design, implementation, and assessment of hands-on, inquiry-based activities in secondary science and mathematics curricula; and 

• appropriate teaching practices and methods for secondary students, as well as local, state, and national curricula standards.

Fellows will be able to work on their science, engineering, math or education degree while working in the Authentic Teaching Alliance. Graduate fellows will receive $27,500 annual stipend and a tuition wavier; undergraduate fellows will receive a $10,000 annual stipend ($5,000 for fall and spring + $5,000 for summer).

The program's effectiveness on the Fellows' teaching skills, as well as its effect on secondary science and mathematics education will be quantitatively assessed and used to continually improve the program.

What are the goals of ATA?

Authentic Teaching Alliance has two main goals.

The first is to produce scientists, engineers, and secondary science and mathematics educators who are experienced in developing and implementing authentic educational practices into secondary science and mathematics curricula. In addition, these students will bring their technical background and expertise into the secondary classroom in a meaningful and edifying manner. They will be exemplary in their ability to enhance and reinforce basic scientific and mathematical concepts by integrating inquiry-based, open-ended problems pertinent to the student's community.

Even if every Fellow does not pursue a traditional teaching career, their participation in ATA will be beneficial for education as a whole as they continue forming partnerships between education, business, and the community. These Fellows will inspire their corporations and businesses to become directly and/or financially involved with local schools, they may decide to bring their technological expertise into the classroom through substitute or part-time teaching, or they may incorporate their acquired teaching skills into designing effective and user-friendly technology.

The second goal is to design, develop, and implement hands-on activities and inquiry-based projects related to an issue or topic pertinent to the students' community as a vehicle to authentically teach secondary science and mathematics skills. The idea is to enable secondary students to directly experience the relevancy of their education to "real-world" problems, as well as experience a direct link between their education and their community. Rather than didactically focusing on memorization of factual information, authentic learning requires that educators design and facilitate learning experiences that: 

• engage students in personal construction of new knowledge;

• result in students conducting disciplined inquiry;

• and have value beyond the classroom (Newmann and Wehlage, 1995).

A study of over 1,500 secondary schools found that in classrooms where teachers taught authentically, students consistently outperformed students taught using more conventional methods (Newmann and Associates, 1996)

Newmann, F.M., and Wehlage, G.G. (1995) Successful School Restructuring, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA.

What are the objectives of ATA?

Relating to the Fellows, the objectives are:

• To engage Fellows in meaningful, productive, and innovative educational instruction and activities so they will become excited about, and motivated to teach science, mathematics, and engineering.

• To help Fellows realize and understand that the facets of education, research, and professional activities overlap, and that in fact, the Fellows can be more successful in their career when they overlap these activities.

• To have university faculty and staff, and secondary teachers, provide guidance, instruction, and mentoring to Fellows in the practice of educational pedagogy, educational research, and developing best teaching practices. 

• To provide Fellows practical and direct experience in teaching secondary students.

• To have Fellows design, develop, and implement secondary-level, authentic, inquiry-based learning activities and projects, that are based on their technical expertise and knowledge.

Relating to the secondary teachers, students, and schools, the objectives are:

• To increase student achievement in math and science.

• To directly incorporate secondary teachers into the skill development and mentoring of Fellows.

• To implement hands-on, inquiry based activities into secondary science and mathematics curriculum that are designed to enhance and apply basic concepts.

• To motivate students through experiments, observations, and measurements, to study problems that affect them in their daily lives.

• To include computers and up-to-date sampling and laboratory equipment in all activities so students gain experience with current technology.

• To motivate teachers to use technology as a tool to enhance their curriculum.
  

Why be a part of ATA?

Scientific, engineering or educational career enhancement

Business and industry are demanding more and more specialists with math and science backgrounds, but not from a traditional education. They want thinkers...problem solvers...creative leaders who are taught to turn issues inside out and develop new applications that can change the world. More importantly, they want people who can effectively communicate and teach these ideas to others.

Although some Fellows may not pursue a traditional teaching position, their participation in ATA will be beneficial to their education and career.  Through their experience in ATA they will gain valuable insight in forming partnerships between education, business, and the community.  Fellows will inspire corporations and businesses of which they are associated to become directly and/or financially involved with local schools.  In their career positions, graduates of ATA may decide to bring their technological expertise into the classroom through guest demonstrations or lectures.  They may also choose to incorporate their acquired communication/teaching skills into designing effective and user-friendly technology.


National Education Needs

A potential shortage of qualified K-12 teachers is a looming educational crisis. The National Center for Education Statistics estimates, for the coming decade, a teacher attrition rate of 7% and 12% in public and private schools respectively. This attrition is caused by the "graying" of the current teaching force and the strong economy luring teachers away to more lucrative fields. Other government projections estimate that the demand for secondary teachers (primarily science and math) will increase by 22%. On the other hand, the U.S. Census Bureau projects that student enrollments for ages 5 - 13 will increase by 12%, and 28% for ages 14 - 17 (Pipho, 1998).

In response to teacher shortages, many communities and states have resorted to hiring educators from other countries, lowering teaching certification standards, and staffing science and mathematics courses with unqualified teachers who don't have a major or minor in the field. The later two items are most troubling in light of the recent quantitative research by Darling-Hammond (2000) indicating "that measures of teaching preparation and certification are by far the strongest correlates of student achievement in reading and mathematics, both before and after controlling for student poverty and language status."

ATA was developed to educate and facilitate university students with science, technology, engineering and mathematics backgrounds to share their experiences and knowledge with secondary educators and student.  However, ATA does not stop here. It recognizes that effective student education requires authentic and inquiry-based learning. Students must be able to link the relevance of their education with the events and issues occurring in their community and their world. In addition, students must be able to experience how their education allows them to participate as effective citizens in a technology-based society. ATA will prepare future science and mathematics educators who are capable of authentic teaching.

Darling-Hammond, L. (2000), "Teacher Quality and Student Achievement: A Review of State Policy Evidence,"
Education Policy Analysis Archives, 8(1), http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v8 Pipho, C. (1998) "A 'real' teacher shortage," Phi Delta Kappan, 80 (3), 181 - 185.