Collaborating Schools
Project Objectives
KCETP is a collaboration funded by the National Science Foundation-Division of Undergraduate Education to improve mathematics and science teacher preparation involving KU, KSU, four two-year colleges and ten school districts in Northeastern Kansas. The Kansas Academy for Mathematics and Science Teacher Preparation has been created and funded through KCETP. The specific aims of the KCETP project are to
1) support collaboration between KU and KSU, Two-Year Colleges, and School Districts in a Mathematics and Science Education Academy that will deliver a well-articulated teacher preparation program,
2) implement strategies for recruiting and retaining minorities and disadvantaged students,
3) establish Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (SMET) content courses that model inquiry pedagogy and integrate science content with the knowledge and abilities associated with the teaching of science,
4) use revised methods courses to help mathematics and science education majors develop, modify and implement inquiry curricula, and
5) mentor K-12 teachers during the initial years of their professional career.
Link to Course Discussion Web Page
Report Cites Evidence that Missouri Creationist Group Contributed to Writing the Kansas State Science Education Standards
21 January 2000
In a bizarre twist to the saga of the Kansas State Science Education Standards, the Pitch Weekly reported evidence this week that a Missouri creationist group may have authored materials that were incorporated into the pro-creationist standards adopted by the State Board of Education. The Pitch article, featured on-line at www.pitch.com/sections/news_features/feature2.html, indicates that although some Board members claimed responsibility for pro-creationist language in the new standards, language corresponding exactly to significant pro-creationist passages were found in a document posted on the world wide web by a Missouri creationist group. The document in question was posted several months before the revised language was proposed to the Board.
Scott Hill, one of the Board members who voted for the pro-creationist science standards, was quoted in the Pitch article as deriding Steven Case, who brought this information to the attention of the Board. It seems particularly ironic that Hill, who referred to Case (a KU science education graduate student and a co-author of the mainstream draft science education standards that were rejected by the Board) as a "wacko", supported a recent Board vote favoring a new sense of civility in interactions between Board members.
Fordham Report Delivers a Failing Grade to Kansas State Science Standards
6 January 2000
The Fordham Report, which ranks state K-12 curriculum standards in all subject areas in every state, has assigned a grade of "F" to the Kansas science standards. The "failing" science standards, adopted by the State Board of Education, were designed to exclude any scientific principles that conflict with a creationist view of the origin of life. The adopted standards were cited by the Report as an "insult to the young people of Kansas."
In contrast, the Report praises the Draft Standards that were rejected by the State Board in September. The Draft Standards were developed by a panel of professionals originally appointed by the board. The Draft Standards adopted a mainstream view of modern scientific theories and the nature and process of science. The Fordham Report indicated that these Draft Standards were the fruit of a year's labor from highly qualified scientists, and teachers from both public and Catholic schools, and would have attained one of the highest ratings among state science standards in the nation.
Funding Provided By
the National Science Foundation
Contact KCETP Webmaster Phone: 785-864-4106 Fax: 785-864-5396
RETURN TO THE Kansas Academy for Mathematics and Science Education Homepage
