Technical Education Research Centers (TERC) in Cambridge Massachusetts was awarded $4.4 million in FY 1988-89 to develop a hands-on science program for secondary students. The central focus of the project was the development and implementation of 12 comprehensive science and mathematics telecommunications network. The units were designed to supplement ongoing instruction using teachers and courses curriculum units supported by a national computer-based that were already in place. Throughout the two years of the project, the curriculum units were used in classrooms by more than 1,000 teachers in 41 states, the Virgin Islands, and Department of Defense schools in Italy, Japan, and Germany.
The Satellite Educational Resources Consortium (SERC), based in Columbia, South Carolina, involves a unique partnership between the state departments of education and public television entities in 23 States. As a result of its $9.7 million grant in FY 1988-89, SERC developed and offered to live, interactive high school credit courses via satellite and provided a host of teacher inservice programs, student science seminars, and teacher workshops which included more than 3,000 hours of live, interactive instruction by satellite. More than 5,300 students in 510 schools participated in the high school credit courses delivered by SERC.
TI-IN, based in San Antonio, Texas, provided more than 2,600 hours of satellite broadcast programming to students and teachers in 19 states across the country. Twenty sites that participated in this project were Bureau of Interior American Indian schools. Student courses developed during the two-year project included Japanese I, anatomy and physiology, elementary algebra, physical science, and Spanish III. California University at Chico provided extensive graduate level credit courses for participating teachers through its satellite broadcasts. TI-IN received $9.6 million during FY 1988-89.
The Midlands Consortium, under the auspices of the Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, was awarded a grant totalling $9.6 million in FY 1988-89. The partnership included universities in Oklahoma, Kansas, Alabama, and Mississippi and the Missouri School Boards Association. More than 65,000 students enrolled in high school credit courses or enrichment courses that were made available through the Midlands Consortium Star Schools Project. Similarly more than 10,000 teachers participated in the 28 satellite-delivered staff development programs offered through the Consortium.
