The project is titled “Assessing How Distance Learning for Teachers Can Enable Inquiry Sciences in Rural Classrooms.”

The education research will “determine whether students that studied under middle school teachers who participated in a UK-developed distance learning training program in the physical sciences perform better than students learning science from those same teachers prior to having conducted such training,” said Jeffrey L. Osborn, professor in the Appalachian Math Science Partnership (AMSP).

The online teacher-training program is titled Hands-On/Virtual (HOV) Physics.

Teachers from the Appalachian areas of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, and southeastern Ohio will participate in summer training about physical science content knowledge and inquiry-based teaching techniques. The teacher training will continue throughout the academic year using this unique HOV Physics distance learning program.

Drs. Bradley and McNall devised the qualitative and quantitative evaluations for the project. William Rayens, associate professor of statistics at UK, will conduct the data collection and analysis obtained from the Appalachian teachers and their students over the next five years.

The objective of UK’s new NSF science teaching evaluation project is to learn more about the educational tools that effectively improve Appalachian students’ science and math skills.

“If you provide underserved students with equal opportunities to learn, they will perform. We must strive to understand where these young students are coming from and have high expectations for their performance,” Osborne stated.