October 11 - Rider’s CONNECT-ED Consortium to Hold ‘Big Ideas’ Conference

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Experts for the National Research Council say students at all grade levels will learn science and math better if they are challenged with “big ideas” as unifying themes of those disciplines.

The Rider University-led CONNECT-ED consortium (Consortium for New Explorations in Coherent Teacher Education), which is dedicated to improving science and mathematics teaching in the region, will discuss the big idea approach to learning during its first annual conference on Friday, October 14 at the University’s Bart Luedeke Center.

A major component of Rider’s Science Education and Literacy Center, CONNECT-ED is a Central New Jersey partnership of 13 public school districts totaling almost 100 schools, two independent schools, one community college, one corporation and other community partners. Bristol-Myers Squibb, the corporate partner, has offered sustained support of the CONNECT-ED program and leadership in improving science and math education.

During the opening 8:30 a.m. session of the day-long conference, nine of the partnering school districts will receive the Isaac Newton Award for leadership and vision in helping CONNECT-ED in its pilot year.  Lucille Davy New Jersey’s acting commissioner of education, and Dr. Anders Hedberg, director of Corporate Philanthropy, Bristol-Myers Squibb and member of the CONNECT-ED Leadership Team, will present the awards.

A highlight of the conference will be the luncheon keynote address by Rodger Bybee, executive director of the Biological Science Curriculum Study located in Colorado Spring, CO.  Bybee will speak on “Science Education for the 21st Century:  What do we know and what should we do?”

“This professional enrichment conference will highlight the big idea approach to teaching and learning science and math, as well as the high quality professional development programs designed by consortium district teams. We are thrilled to have Rodger Bybee, one of the leading advocates in the nation of professional teacher development and the inquiry method of learning science and mathematics, as keynote speaker, and Lucille Davy and Dr. Hedberg presenting the awards,” said Kathleen Browne, Rider’s project director of CONNECT-ED.

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Rider will announce the creation of grants to support the improvement of the teaching and learning of science from pre-kindergarten through high school.  Public, independent and parochial schools in New Jersey and Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania are eligible to apply for grants of up to $7,500.  The grants will be dedicated to strengthen content knowledge and skills in inquiry-based instruction among teachers of science.

“Research has shown that teacher quality, including a teacher’s content knowledge and understanding of how students learn, are key factors in student success,” said Dr. Hedberg.  “It is critical to employers like Bristol-Myers Squibb to have access to a workforce of trained analytical thinkers, problem solvers and decision makers, and of course trained scientists. Therefore, we take seriously our role to help teachers prepare students for careers in math and science.”

The consortium has developed a unique model for the sustained professional development of science and math teachers.  The central element of the model is the Big Idea Module (BIM), which traces a single big idea in science or math across the elementary, middle and high school levels. District-based teams of K-12 teachers, district administrators, and university or industry scientists, mathematicians and engineers work together to design an doffer BIMS, each based on a big idea in math or science and each modeling the inquiry approach to teaching.

CONNECT-ED partners include Trenton, Burlington City, East Windsor Regional, Ewing Township, Hillsborough Township, Hopewell Valley Regional, Lawrence Township, Montgomery Township, Princeton Regional, South Brunswick Township, Warren Township, Washington Township, and West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional school districts, The Pennington School and Newgrange School, Rider and Princeton universities, Raritan Valley Community College, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mercer County Education Technology Training Center, and the Invention Factory’s Science-To-Go program.

In addition to the on-going support of Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Wachovia Foundation has contributed a recent $645,000 grant, the Martinson Family Foundation $260,390 grant, the 3M Foundation $25,000 education grant, and the New Jersey Department of Education an $85,000 P12/ Higher Education-Public School Partnership Grant in support of the CONNECT-ED program.