UAB is a new site for an Alabama Department of Education initiative to improve math and science education outcomes by preparing students to use investigation and experimentation to grasp concepts and solve problems.

The program – the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative-UAB – will begin with an intensive training program in summer 2007 in which participating teachers in Birmingham City, Jefferson County, Fairfield, Leeds, Midfield, Tarrant and Trussville schools will learn to employ a more hands-on approach to instruction. Professional development activities, equipment, materials and support are some forms of assistance that will be available to teachers.

The program will receive more than $900,000 in state funding during its first year, and it will operate through the UAB Center for Community Outreach Development (CORD).

The grant is the latest award received by UAB-CORD to promote inquiry-based, hands-on learning. In July, CORD won a $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for the new UAB Birmingham Science Education Partnership: Middle School Inquiry-Based Learning Program. Through this program, Birmingham City middle school science teachers will learn to incorporate hands-on science activities into their classroom lessons.

CORD also operates the UAB-CORD BioTeach for Teachers Program, in which high school educators learn how to translate cutting-edge science into exciting hands-on classroom experiments.