by Amy Graves
After years of seeing a need to better prepare students to teach science, Dr. Royce Granberry and Dr. Carlton Robardey, two members of the Bi-College Science Committee, are now considering their plan to help these students.
The paper, entitled “Inter-Universal Collaboration to Improve Science Instruction for Pre-Service Elementary Teachers,” was presented by Robardey to the Texas Association of Teachers Education on March 29, 1987.
Robardey and Granberry have now been notified that their paper has been chosen to be read at the National Science Teachers Association Spring Convention, held April 7-10 in St. Louis, Missouri.
“The state only requires elementary education teachers to have two courses in science and one methods course (offered at ETSU-T). What often happened was the student would take two biology or two chemistry courses, but would not have a solid broad science base to work from,” Granberry said.
After analyzing books from area school districts from kindergarten through sixth grade, the two then made a composite of the needs of the students.
“We determined if the students would take one life science class and one physical science class it would do more for them than taking two basic biology classes,” Granberry said. “We then developed on Introduction to Life Sciences course that combines these two courses into one and covers a broader area.”