More than 100 elementary- and middle-school teachers have been working with Washington University this summer to learn math and science instruction at a graduate level.
Through a National Science Foundation grant, the University is extending teachers’ learning, providing post-course meetings on district curricula and purchasing materials that schools often can’t afford. The additional time and resources help teachers customize learning for their own classrooms and students.

Customizing means that graduate courses, held in an intensive format in June, were just the beginning of a summer of hard work. The visiting teachers participated in courses on math and science instruction.
Then teachers returned to campus in grade-level groups, to work on a specific unit with their own district’s textbooks.
Elaine Laura, a University City math teacher, joined meetings at the University in July.
“I feel as though we have enough time to go over the material,” Laura said. “The way this is presented, you think, ‘I can do this in my class!’ You can follow through in a way that kids will take ownership.”
Teachers from the Riverview Gardens and Ferguson-Florissant school districts met at Little Creek Nature Area in July to develop lessons around science kits provided by the grant.
Ferguson Middle School science teacher Barb Rain returned for her third summer working with the University, this time on a geology unit.
“It keeps getting better and better,” Rain said. “Finally this year, we realized how helpful the course has been. Teachers never have time to do this. But we know our kids, so we know how to set it up to work.”
Victoria May, WUSTL director of science outreach, said, “We are working as partners with the districts. We say, ‘What is your plan for curriculum, for teacher workshops?’ And then we fill in the gaps and provide training and materials that are beyond their budgets.”
May is director of the St. Louis Math and Science Partnership project, which provides programs designed to improve student achievement in math and science in the school districts of Maplewood-Richmond Heights, Ferguson-Florissant, Riverview Gardens, University City and Webster Groves. Grant activities will affect more than 3,000 students in 2005-06.
For more information, contact May at 935-6846 or vmay@wustl.edu.