ABOUT

The PARSE Institute represents a cooperative effort between Saint Peter's Applied Science and Technology Department and Education Department along with collaborative partnerships with the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and Liberty Science Center (LSC). All partners are fully dedicated to improving the quality of science and math education in local area schools, the Institute and its faculty have developed a number of programs to achieve this goal.

The PARSE Institute commenced in January 2009, with the pilot to be hosted in the summer of 2009.  In the pilot in July 2009, a group of 10-15 teachers will participate in a 3-4 day orientation course, which will consist of educational theory workshops, introduction to the PARSE Institute partners and the research projects, site visits, and a survey of modern scientific advancement.  This course will be followed by 2-3 weeks of hands-on research, individually or in small groups, with a professional scientist in the teachers’ choice of concentration: plasma physics, energy, and the environment (PPPL or SPC), or biotechnology and human genetics (SPC). After the research experience, teachers, LSC staff, and SPC Education faculty will collaborate on synergizing and translating these research experiences into curricular units. New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards in Science will be addressed in this section.

During the course of the following academic year, teachers and SPC faculty from both Science and Education will meet 3-4 times. Participants will give presentations on the integration of the research activities into their classrooms. These follow-up meetings will challenge teachers to use the curriculum they have created and will ensure that their efforts will have meaning and practical application.

Once participants complete the program, these teachers will be considered PARSE Fellows. The College will continue to provide resources to these individuals, such as ongoing mentor support, classroom visits or observations, field trips, or additional research opportunities.  In addition to the intensive practical research experience, this depth of service and breadth of contact exemplifies the distinctions between PARSE and other professional development opportunities.

Simultaneously, Saint Peter’s College will offer shorter, less intensive mini-institutes that will commence in the winter 2010 and will then be offered during the fall and spring throughout the project, for a total of two mini-institutes in each project year. Research mentors and selected teacher participants will present their collaborative experiences from the intensive research phase. Then Education faculty and selected participants will share their created curriculum and the outcomes of introducing the related activities in the classroom. These one-day courses will allow for the wider dissemination of the project findings and materials.