The Math and Science Teacher Academy includes nine regional Teacher Centers and a virtual resource Teacher Center found online at http://www.scimathmn.org/STEMTC
. The regional teacher centers provide high-quality professional development to teachers so they can effectively deliver the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in mathematics and science. The centers are funded through the federal Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) Title IIB dollars.
These centers are partnerships among a regional service cooperative, an institute of higher education, and a high-needs local school district. The goal is to improve academic achievements of elementary and secondary students in mathematics and science by increasing instructional quality. Each region provides a mathematics module and a science module that includes 30 or more hours of professional development through workshops and professional learning communities each year.Mathematics
In the 2011-12 school year, each region identified an area of need and designed a module of professional development. In most regions the need is focusing on grades 3-8 in the understanding of rational numbers and representation.Science
In the 2011-12 school year, each region is providing a module of professional development focusing on life science in grades 7-12 that includes integrating the nature of science and engineering strand. A few regions are also continuing work that began in 2010-11 exploring the nature of science and engineering in grades 3-6.