Teacher Training: Helping to Construct the Information Highway

The future is overtaking the present at a breath-taking pace, creating chaos for the education community. Educators have been making decisions in frustration and confusion rather than careful calculation. Looming daily is the awareness of the great need to prepare children and young adults for the changing technological global community at our doorstep. Great leaps are needed to catch-up with a world that will continue to move at breakneck speed. Crucial to catch-up is the leap into technology. The urgent need for integrating technologies isemphasized and delineated by research reported by the National Science Foundation. These data led to the following goals at both the state and national levels: * "By the year 2010 we will need more than 700,000 additional scientists and engineers. "[1] * "Educate U.S. students to be first in the world in science and mathematics achievement by the year 2000. "[2] The thrust was to infuse technologies into the classrooms by providing teachers with skills, confidence, training, materials, access to information, a network and practice in applying these skills with children. * Addressing the Gaps In the midst of this explosive information age, far too many computers are out of reach of children and teachers. And far too many computers are placed in labs for students to use and not on the teachers' desks: This configuration separates student from teacher and students become proficient while teachers fall further behind. Teachers who entered the profession more than a decade ago preceded the advent of the personal computer, thus their training on this potent learning/teaching tool is non-existent. Obviously, teachers cannot just magically utilize technologies' many facets without training, guidance and models. For example, the 30-minute per day planning period is not conducive to teachers learning Netscape Navigator or designing multimedia curriculum. Without easy access to computers and qualified instructions, teachers are in no position to grow and explore. Other factors that have delayed the meaningful infusion of technologies include support, leadership, funding and research priorities. Thus, computers sit idle at the back of the classroom, sometimes used for games during "free time," or for drill and practice. A great number of teachers just do not have the skills to utilize computers in other ways. If technologies are to actually be infused into the curriculum, daily classes and the teaching and learning process, relevant and meaningful training is critical. This is much different than training teachers to simply operate a computer. Additionally, to make a lasting change in the classroom, a practical application "hands-on" phase must immediately follow the training sessions. * TREK Teacher Training Model In light of these factors, an urgent need exists for a good teacher training model to help teachers become proficient in the process of infusing technology into their classrooms. One such training model has been piloted, analyzed, replicated and refined at the TREK Institute (Technology Research Exploration for Kids) at Dana College in Nebraska. The TREK Teacher Training Model evolved out of a number of summer institutes for children, which are now in an eighth year of operation. The TREK Teacher Training Model (TTTM) was designed to train teachers during the first week of the summer institute using nationally recognized award-winning master teachers as scholar/facilitators. These master teachers were teachers first, and technology experts second. They received a majority of their training at NASA Centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the National Geophysical Atmospheric Station. Classroom teachers were selected for training by a specific set of criteria, plus recommendations from supervisors and col, leagues. During the institutes, they were immersed in hands-on manipulative activities and a variety of technologies, working with teaching materials that they would own at the closing of the institute. …