We completed our second year as a collaborative.  We offered over 300 hours of professional development this past year.  We reached 197 inservice and preservice science teachers (both science teacher mentors and cadre members) representing 25 districts, 93 schools and three universities and/or community colleges.  These teachers and future teachers studied such topics as light and optics, the rock cycle, invasive species, biodiversity, water quality and Galveston Bay, chemistry, energy, and much, much more. They had the opportunity to discover how to link art and science as we kayaked in Galveston Bay, connect Texas history and science at the San Jacinto Battleground and State Park, and how to incorporate song and dance in order to teach the different forms of energy with Billy B.

This year we were able to add a week-long summer institute focusing on Earth Science, Energy and energy careers thanks to a new partner, the Society of Petroleum Engineers-Gulf Coast section and their contacts.  We had six Science Teacher Mentors join us for a second year and once again, all 6 completed more than the 105 required hours.

In addition, we had three science teacher mentors present at the Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science Teaching Annual Meeting – Amy Phillips, Bea Long, and Sam Youts.  Also, two former and one current STM, Minerva Perez, Angela Ruggeri, and Bea Long presented at CAST, the state science teacher’s annual conference.  To say the least, we are very proud of all of these outstanding teachers.

One of our Instructional Members, Sally Wall, was awarded one of the Distinguished Mentoring Award, sponsored by El Paso corporation at the Annual Meeting of the Texas Regional Collaboratives.  Sally was recognized for her exemplary performance and excellence in teaching science.

We also received two of the TRC grants – one sponsoring the awards at the Texas Envirothon and one that allowed us to add a pollinators garden to our watersmart school habitat garden which is used by not only the collaborative, EIH and UHCL students but also the community and CCISD’s alpha program.

For 2005-06, the EIH/UHCL Collaborative reached out to hundreds of teachers and impacted thousands of students in the Greater Houston area. Over the course of the year, Science Teacher Mentors averaged 120 hours of professional development and Cadre Members averaged 12 hours of contact time.  One of the biggest highlights was the number of preservice educators attending the workshops--some had over 60 hours of professional development. 

An Honoring the Teachers Event was held at the Houston Zoo where Senator Mike Jackson recognized the science teachers and their schools for their dedication to science, teaching and the children of Houston. 

Finally, three STMs had the opportunity to explore and study the Amazon Rainforest this past summer.  They are currently integrating their new knowledge and experiences into their classes.