Building Base Line Objectives for Children’s Knowledge Skills for Science (BLOCKS)is a 4-year project that integrates research and applied teaching to take a close look inside prekindergarten classrooms. The overall research project includes extensive classroom observation by teachers and researchers of children’s ability to learn science processes and content; intensive professional development and mentoring support for teachers to learn science; and multiple qualitative, as well as, quantitative assessment strategies.
Additional Phone Numbers:
512-471-8729
Professional Title:
Coordinator for Science Initiatives
Organization/Institution:
About Me (Bio):
Mary Hobbs is a teacher, researcher, and writer with hands-on experience directing science curriculum and instruction for Pre-K through Grade 12. She has been a classroom teacher in private pre-kindergarten and elementary classrooms, but her 10-year public school career was spent teaching middle school science.
She earned a Bachelor of Science in Vocational Home Economics Education from Abilene Christian University, a Master of Arts in Science Education from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
Mary is a former President of the Texas Science Education Leadership Association (TSELA). She holds memberships and presents regularly at conferences for the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) and the Texas-based Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching (CAST), among others.
Her current work with the Texas Regional Collaboratives (http://theTRC.org) allows her to draw from her experiences with a variety of high quality, research-based curricula and instructional programs and use her professional relationships with nationally recognized leaders in science education to coordinate professional development for TRC statewide science programs.
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