Summer institute at UNL offers graduate coursework across Nebraska

The Nebraska Math and Science Summer Institutes, a program through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will offer Nebraska teachers of K-12 math and science an expanded menu of graduate coursework this summer that will enhance their ability to offer their students challenging courses and curricula.

For 2010, the offerings have expanded to five locations throughout the state, including Scottsbluff, Kearney, Columbus, Neligh and Omaha, in addition to Lincoln. The institute also has added 15 courses in the mathematical sciences and 10 in science and science education disciplines. Detailed descriptions of all 25 courses can be found online at http://scimath.unl.edu/NMSSI. Courses begin as early as June 7.

All current Nebraska teachers automatically qualify for a 20 percent tuition discount and support from the UNL Office of Graduate Studies, covering all fees associated with these graduate courses and reducing the costs by almost one-third. Additional funds are available to help pay for the balance of tuition. An application for this support can be found at http://scimath.unl.edu/nmssi/2010/fellowships.php. The institute also supplies lunch to all participants at all of the sites and discounted hotel rates at sites outside the Lincoln/Omaha metro area are available. Visit http://scimath.unl.edu for more information.

The institute's courses provide a unique professional development opportunity for Nebraska teachers because of tuition discounts and convenient scheduling.

A typical course is 40 hours of instruction concentrated into a one-week period. Teachers may take two courses, each having 40 contact hours over a two-week period. Following this face-to-face instruction, some courses are completed online using UNL's Blackboard system. Most courses conclude with an end-of-course assignment that aids in long-term retention of the material studied. This format allows for collaboration with colleagues while protecting most of the summer for other pursuits.

The goal of the institute is to provide professional development opportunities and strengthen both the content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge of Nebraska's math and science teachers while emphasizing partnerships among mathematicians, scientists and educators. The institute began as an effort to continue offering Nebraska teachers the courses created as part of the Math in the Middle program, funded by the National Science Foundation.

WRITER: Lindsay Augustyn