Participating Counties in Tennessee
Additional School Systems
- Alcoa City
- Clinton City
- Harriman City
- Johnson City
- Kingston City
- Lenoir City
- Lexington City
- Maryville City
- Oak Ridge City
- Sweetwater City
- Trenton Special
- Tennessee School for the Deaf
- Washington County: University School
What does it mean to be a participating school system?
Each school system receives at least 1 set of thematic units consisting of reusable materials & exercises housed in wooden trunks.
A 'Box Keeper' in each system is identified that keeps track of where the units are, arranges pick up/delivery to teachers requesting them and reports breakage and loss of materials needing replacement.
Funds permitting, participating school systems:
- Receive regular upgrades of new exercises and themes, revised State science and math standards for each exercise and suggested readings and links for each unit.
- Are offered teacher training in the role of community learning, where the teacher acts as facilitator of student exploration.
The Biology in a Box Program Works!
Class TCAP Performance Data from Knox County Schools
*All teachers showed improvement in their students' science test scores.
- Range of increase across individual classes: 2-12% better than their classes' performance in year prior to teacher participation in a Biology in a Box Summer Institute.
The positive change in student test performance for grade level implementation of Biology in a Box exercises* in schools following a teacher's participation in the project's Summer Institute was markedly higher than the State average of +.9 for 2006: five reporting school systems - +2.8, +4.3, +5.2, +7.9 and + 8.3. *Grade level implementation of the project occurs when a teacher participating in a Biology in a Box workshop transfers the experience to fellow teachers in her/his school.
How can my school join the Biology in a Box program?
Due to limited resources, box unit sets are currently provided only to school systems or clusters of local schools.
- First check the map and accompanying list of participating school systems shown above. Locate your system’s Box Keeper on the list at the end of this section.
- If your school system is not listed, the following is needed:
A letter of interest from your school system’s Superintendent or Curriculum Coordinator should be directed to the Project Director by email, fax or mail (see contact information below). This person should also provide the name and contact information for a ‘Box Keeper.’ The Box Keeper will take responsibility for circulating units among teachers that wish to use them and will correspond with project personnel at UT.
Contact Information for Project Director
Dr. Susan E. Riechert
Biology Division,
University of Tennessee
569 Dabney Hall
1416 Circle Drive
Knoxville TN 37996-1610
Telephone: (865) 974-6187, 974 6041, 974-2371
Fax: (865) 974-3067
email: sriecher@utk.edu