Dr. Hasan Deniz, an Assistant Professor of Science Education , has received a grant for his work in integrating science, language arts, and mathematics education at the elementary level. His professional development program is a collaborative effort with officials from the Clark County School District, UNLV Science Education Program, and the UNLV Biology Department. Dr. Deniz's program seeks to improve K-5 teachers' ability to: 1.) Integrate science with language arts and math; 2.) Provide content area reading instruction in science; and 3.) Design and use formative assessment tasks to inform their teaching practice. It also seeks to enhance teachers' views of nature of science and science as inquiry.   The program seeks to achieve these goals through classroom support, after school workshops, and summer institutes.

Monday, February 23 (4:00-7:00p.m.) - A workshop on how to teach the Holocaust. The workshop provides preservice and inservice teachers with a curriculum developed by the Anti Defamation League, "Echoes and Reflection," and teaches them how to use it (contact Dr. Spalding lizspalding@cox.net for details).

Friday & Saturday March 20-21 - "Strategic Teaching Conference: How to Meet the Needs of Striving Learners, K-12."  This two-day conference (Friday late afternoon and all day Saturday) is sponsored by the College of Education and Clark County Schools. Go to conference web site to learn more (contact Dr. Garcia Jesus.Garcia@unlv.edu for details).

Friday, April 3 - An all day teleconference on "Teaching About the Holocaust" sponsored by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in cooperation with the College of Education. Speakers from the Holocaust Museum and from UNLV will focus on guidelines to be followed when teaching the Holocaust to middle and high school students (contact Dr. Garcia Jesus.Garcia@unlv.edu for details).

P.G. Schrader, a Curriculum & Instruction faculty member, recently published an article in the AACE Journal.  In the paper, Learning IN Technology: Reconceptualizing Immersive Environments, Schrader extends traditional models of technology integration by considering the way we immerse ourselves in it. The perspective he proposes is based on recent developments surrounding virtual worlds and other online environments. Because virtual spaces allow for new and different interactions among learners, he argues that teachers and researchers need to consider alternative ways to develop instruction and evaluate performance.

Faculty member Cari Klecka was recently recognized for an inspiring achievement by the UNLV Foundation. The foundation featured her work in instituting the Initiative on National Board Certification.  This Initiative focuses on providing high quality professional development and support grounded in the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. This work aims to recruit and then support teachers in their pursuit of National Board Certification, one of the greatest professional accomplishments in the field of teaching. Dr. Klecka has been working in collaboration with CCSD for several years on this effort, which also includes outreach to administrators and teachers to share the positive implications that earning National Board Certification has for individual teachers, school culture, and student learning.

Curriculum and Instruction faculty member, Janelle Bailey was recently appointed to the editorial review board of the Journal of Science Teacher Education (JSTE). The journal is the official publication of the Association for Science Teacher Education.  Dr. Bailey was nominated for the role by Kent Crippen.