More about Enlist, Equip and Empower: A Program Overview

E³ is a long term collaboration among WMU’s science departments, The Mallinson Institute for Science Education, two area community colleges (Lake Michigan College and Kalamazoo Valley Community College) ,and three local school districts (Kalamazoo, Portage and Vicksburg ). The program’s primary goal is to enlist, equip and empower teachers of middle school science. WMU currently has formal programs aimed at preparing teachers for the elementary and secondary level. A major aim of the project is to develop a program of instruction that more specifically meets the needs of future middle school science teachers. The project is being evaluated by SAMPI (Science and Mathematics Program Improvement).

Recommendations for positive change include:

• identify and recruit qualified and caring individuals into the profession
• develop a new middle school science teaching minor for pre-service science teachers
• assist science faculty in revising their courses to better meet the needs of education and science majors
• hire a full time middle school Teacher-In-Residence (TIR) to assist science faculty with course revisions, share experiences about the advantages and challenges of teaching at the middle school level, and act as a “reality check" on all phases of the project
• establish a Professional Development program that fosters “learning communities” among novice and veteran teachers promoting inquiry as “everybody’s work”