Page prepared for SERC by Heather Rissler

Online Masters Program

Dr. Sue Doubler

Science in Education Co-Director
TERC and Lesley University

The Online Masters Program was created to provide a program that is accessible to every elementary and middle school teachers across the country. The program was designed to provide an avenue for teachers who want to further their science knowledge and develop inquiry-based teaching and assessment strategies.

The Science in Education Online Master's Degree program consists of 33-hour credit hours and six courses (modules). Each course includes both science content and a pedagogical focus. The courses range in topics covering physics, biology, earth science, engineering, and ecology:

• Try Science is an introductory course that focuses on science as inquiry and how conceptual understandings of science can be developed through inquiry-based learning.
• Investigating Physics explores the organizing principles of forces and motion and strategies for paying attention to children's scientific ideas.
• Biological Explorations is a study of variation, diversity and adaptation, focusing on diversity, cels, and the flow of energy, and a study of the role of the teacher in the science classroom.
• Earth Science from a New Perspective investigates structures and changes in the earth's systems and considers structures of curriculum designed for understanding.
• Engineering addresses the role of science and technology in producing products and solving problems and research in the dimensions of equity.
• Ecology explores interrelationships between organisms and their environment and assessment for inquiry science.

The program incorporates examples/cases from the classroom. One goal of the program is for teachers to implement the practices they are learning with their students.

The program was developed through a collaboration between TERC (a research and development organization devoted to science and mathematics education) and Lesley University. Each course is taught by faculty, including a scientist and an educator to ensure that both science and pedagogical content are addressed. Geoscientists participate in the Earth Science From a New Perspective course.

Nearly 250 teachers across the country are currently participants in the Online Masters Program and have the opportunity to learn in an environment that encourages interactions with their peers in different states.

Student feedback is used to evaluate program effectiveness. The Online Master Program is offered at Lesley University and Walden University and maintains a 95% retention rate, which also provides evidence of the programs effectiveness.

The first course in the program, Try Science, was funded by the US Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education Program (FIPSE). The full master's program was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Teacher Enhancement Program.

Sue Doubler (personal communication)

• Be sure you have the resources to ensure high quality, support of the university, a cost-effective model and a way to sustain the program.

TERC maintains a list of references and resources related to the Online Masters Program.