SOUTHEAST GARNERS NATIONAL AWARD FOR SECOND TIME

Southeast Missouri State University became a two-time winner of the national Christa McAuliffe Showcase for Excellence Award Nov. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla.

The university received the 1994 McAuliffe award for its K-6 Science and Mathematics Improvement Program from the Association of State Colleges and Universities.

AASCU is a Washington-based higher education association representing more than 370 state colleges and universities and 30 state systems nationwide.

Four public colleges and universities -- Southeast Missouri State University, California State University-Northridge, East Texas State University and East Carolina University -- with exemplary programs in teacher education were presented the Christa McAuliffe Showcase for Excellence Award.

The ninth annual commemorative awards are named after Christa McAuliffe, the school teacher and AASCU alumna who died in the Challenger space shuttle explosion. The awards highlight model programs that improve the teaching profession.

Dr. Kala M. Stroup, president of Southeast Missouri State University, and Dr. Shirley Stennis-Williams, dean of the College of Education, accepted the award.

Southeast won the Christa McAuliffe Showcase for Excellence Award for 1989 for developing an innovative curriculum in its elementary education undergraduate program.

The KSAM program is an interdisciplinary effort by scientists and educators to bring process-oriented, hands-on science and mathematics to elementary teachers through four one-hour courses and materials.

The program has evolved from its inception in 1985 at Southeast Missouri State to a statewide program. The program moved into a special education model in 1991 and into homes in 1994.

"This award recognizes the strength of science education at this university," Dr. Ernest Kern said. Kern is director of the KSAM project.

"The College of Science and Technology, in working with the College of Education, has been a leader in elementary science education in the state for many years. This award reinforces that status and lends national credibility to the program and to the impact it has had on science education."

KSAM is designed to awaken children's interest in science and mathematics by helping elementary teachers implement improved teaching methods.

"The program is designed to push science and mathematics to the forefront in Missouri elementary school curricula," said Kern. "It lifts science and math off the pages of textbooks and creates an interaction between teacher and student that is both fun and conducive to enhanced learning."

The KSAM project is designed to change the way children learn about science and math. Instead of learning through a lecture format, students experience science and math concepts through a hands-on approach.

"Children enjoy things they can touch and see," Kern said. "The primary philosophy of KSAM is that children learn best by doing science, rather than by hearing about it."

Teachers attend KSAM short courses and work through lesson plans just as their students would.

The KSAM project originally was funded by grants in 1985 and 1987 from the National Science Foundation. It later received two grants from the Southwestern Bell Foundation totalling $147,000. Since the program's inception, more than 250,000 volumes of KSAM activity guides in two editions have been published.