As part of the Houston Teachers Institute (HTI) 2005 program, University of Houston Associate Professor of Geosciences William R. Dupre and Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Scott S. Perry are teaching weekly seminars to public school teachers in the Houston Independent School District (HISD).

As a collaboration between UH and HISD, the Houston Teachers Institute supports teachers as they work to educate their students.

Through 13-week seminars that meet once a week for two hours and are led by UH faculty, HTI encourages teachers and enhances student performance by increasing teachers’ preparation in their disciplines.

Currently, Dupre is leading a seminar series on earthquakes, hurricanes, and flooding. Fifteen HISD teachers of grade levels ranging from pre-K to high school attend his weekly lectures.

Perry is leading HISD teachers through the historical development of modern chemistry, covering the time period from early Greek philosophers to the present age of modern materials and drug design. While this seminar also includes early elementary to high school level teachers, the general topic of scientific discovery is proving to be applicable to all levels.

“I am encouraged on a weekly basis by the creativity and commitment of these teachers, of a wide range of students, in finding new ways to reach out to their students and to engage them in scientific thought,” says Perry.

In addition to teaching weekly seminars, Dupre and Perry meet individually with each teacher from their group three times during the semester to discuss each teacher’s “curriculum unit”— a 15- to 25-page narrative on how they will teach a particular topic to their students.

“The curriculum unit is an integral part of this program, and it is a requirement for each teacher to complete by the end of the semester,” says Dupre.

The narratives are published by HTI at the end of the semester and are made available to public school teachers. In this way, the success of the program is multiplied.

For more information about HTI, please visit http://www.uh.edu/hti/.