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Hello,

Would you be able to place on any listserv you think appropriate, the  
following call for abstracts for an educational session at American  
Geophysical Union meeting December 10-14? The abstracts themselves  
are due on-line on Sept. 6. A quick listing would be very  
appreciated. The subject listing in the header can be used as well.

Thanks,
Connie
______________________

Dear Colleague,

Seize the opportunity to submit abstracts for contributed papers to  
an exciting educational session at the December AGU meeting in San  
Francisco: Session ED13 "Teacher Professional Development Programs  
Promoting Authentic Scientific Research in the Classroom."

The session will focus on research experiences for teachers, the  
roles of scientists and education specialists, and authentic  
scientific research in the classroom. Specifically we are interested  
in soliciting contributions from scientists, education specialists,  
and teachers who are or have been directly involved with teacher- 
research experiences. (Abstracts submitted electronically are due:  
September 6, 2007 at 2359UT.)

-- Do you have a program you want to tell us about?  We would enjoy  
hearing from professional development programs that incorporate  
authentic scientific research.

-- Do you have an internship program? We would value shared  
experiences from industry; from NSF-supported programs; from other  
teacher-scientist partnerships.  The perspectives of people from  
other countries would add further dimension to the session.

-- We have a keen interest in hearing from exceptional teachers who  
can share their experiences and how they have successfully  
transferred the research experience to their classrooms.

-- We are planning to span a broad range of disciplines,  
institutions, agencies, and projects.

The description of the session is listed below.  We hope you can join  
us in making this a successful session for a fourth year in a row.   
The on-line submission form for abstracts is available from the AGU  
WWW site at http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm07/.
AGU policy allows one "education" abstract to be submitted in  
addition to a "science" abstract.

The AGU Fall Meeting will be held December 10-14 in San Francisco.   
For more information, please feel free to contact the session  
conveners listed below. If you would like to view last year's two  
oral sessions and one poster session, visit http://www.noao.edu/ 
education/agu/.

Sincerely,
Connie Walker, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 520-318-8535,  
[log in to unmask]
Steven K. Croft, National Optical Astronomy Observatory,  
520-318-8495, [log in to unmask]
Gail Scowcroft, University of Rhode Island, 401-874-6486,  
[log in to unmask]
______________________

Session Description:

AGU Session ED13: "Teacher Professional Development Programs  
Promoting Authentic Scientific Research in the Classroom"

This session will focus on scientists, educators, education  
researchers, evaluators and funding agency program officers providing  
K-12 teachers with authentic research experiences in science and  
engineering. Presentations should highlight best practices for the  
“Teacher Research Experience” (TRE) model. Presentations by those who  
design, facilitate, evaluate, and fund TRE programs are especially  
encouraged, as well as presentations by teachers and scientists who  
have participated in such programs.

Suggested areas for presenters to address can include but are not  
limited to:
-- The enhanced transfer of knowledge from the teacher/researcher to  
the students through implementing a research program within the  
classroom
-- How these teacher professional development programs play an  
essential role in science education reform and teacher retention and  
renewal
-- Examples of effective programs and techniques for assessing TRE  
programs
-- The transformation of the educational environment into an  
authentic research center
-- How best to prepare teachers to become part of scientific research  
teams
-- The use of
	o Online learning in teacher professional development
	o Support systems for teacher researchers
	o Research community collaboration and
	o Program assessment and evaluation.
-- Examples of the value to the scientific community of involving  
teachers in research
-- Recommendations for designing and implementing research  
experiences that align with national, state, and/or local reform  
efforts in science education
-- The framework for conceptual learning in terms of the curricula  
and embedded research activities

Presentations on new or ongoing successful models for long and short- 
term teacher research experiences are invited from the fields of  
space science, environmental science, atmospheric science, earth  
science, oceanography, etc.  Scientist-teacher research teams are  
particularly encouraged to submit abstracts for the session.  Printed  
and CD-based materials may be brought by participants to the session  
to be distributed to attendees.

____________________________
Connie Walker, Ph.D.
Senior Science Education Specialist
Associate Scientist
NOAO
950 N. Cherry Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85719
520-318-8535
520-318-8451 (fax)
[log in to unmask]



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