Lebanon R-III schools
Alton K-12
O'Neal Elementary
Blackhurst Elementary School
From "adopting" a nearby pond to tracking the presidential election, students in eMINTS classrooms across the state -- and now across the country -- are using the Internet to explore questions from their lessons. The innovative eMINTS program is motivating students to become better learners and helping them to improve their academic performance.
eMINTS, which stands for enhancing Missouri’s Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies, transforms classrooms into places for learning where teachers and students use multimedia tools to better understand the world, work together and achieve at new and higher levels.
"eMINTS is one of the most exciting educational programs that I have seen," said Kandis Smith, assistant vice president for academic affairs at the UM System. Smith also serves as a member of the eMINTS National Center transforming classrooms eMINTS Advisory Board. "The eMINTS program is preparing children for life-long learning. "It is not just using technology in the classroom, but a way of learning that is highly interactive and inquirybased. I wish every teacher could have the joyful experience of being an eMINTS teacher and every student could experience the empowerment of being an eMINTS student."
With an Internet-connected computer for every two students, the program uses technology as a tool. Teachers are trained to master the new technology and instructional methods, using interactive lessons to engage the students and give them a deeper understanding of subjects from social studies to science.
On Feb. 24, 2004, the eMINTS program moved to a new realm when the eMINTS National Center was approved by the general officers of the University of Missouri System. Formerly administered by MOREnet, the eMINTS program is now a fully autonomous entity within the University of Missouri Office of Academic Affairs, in collaboration with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
The goal of the eMINTS National Center is to support educators in Missouri and across the country as they integrate multimedia technology into inquiry-based, student-centered, interdisciplinary collaborative teaching practices. Such practices help to improve student performance, increase parent involvement and enrich instructional effectiveness.
The eMINTS National Center now serves as a resource base for schools, districts and states that wish to collaborate with eMINTS staff and one another to replicate the eMINTS instructional model within their own systems.
Currently the eMINTS program reaches thousands of students from grades 3 to 8 in Missouri and Utah. The program serves 218 school districts in Missouri and five districts in Utah, in addition to a lab school in Springfield and a charter school in St. Louis. The program hopes to expand its presence in Utah.
"The eMINTS program has been replicated in Utah over the past two years with over 50 classrooms established in districts including Granite, Salt Lake, Ogden, Tintic, and Duschene," said Monica Beglau, Director of the eMINTS National Center. "eMINTS staff work closely with the professional development specialists in those districts to recreate the eMINTS program. We have received inquiries from several other states that are interested in working with us."
Two school districts in Missouri, St. Louis and Bunker R-III, are the fi rst to receive Comprehensive School Reform grants to implement eMINTS school-wide. The federal program is managed through DESE. "The Department is really pleased to help facilitate the eMINTS National Center and to see the program implemented in other states," said Susan Cole of DESE. "The Department points to its partnership with the eMINTS program with great pride. eMINTS provides the best of what we value: top quality, deliberate, focused training for teachers and steady, progressive, student learning and achievement."
eMINTS also recently launched a partnership with the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) to be one of the fi rst states in the nation to offer special year-long institutes called "Leading with NETS: Developing and Mentoring Change- Leadership Teams for School Improvement with Technology." The ISTE Leadership Institutes in Missouri are designed to help teams of educators develop a deeper understanding of how to improve learning with technology integration and promote systemic change in their schools and districts.
Students in eMINTS programs learn skills that prepare them for the workforce and for the 21st century. The program also has improved students’ test scores. Evaluation by the Offi ce of Social and Economic Data Analysis (OSEDA) has shown that students enrolled in eMINTS classrooms in grades 3 and 4 on average perform at a higher level when compared to those not enrolled in eMINTS classrooms. Other research demonstrates the academic gains made by children who live in poverty; when enrolled in eMINTS classrooms, they achieve at higher levels on average than children of poverty not enrolled in eMINTS.
More important, however, is something that cannot be tested: students and teachers in the eMINTS program love learning.
"Participants in the eMINTS program, both teachers and students, become curious, consistent seekers of information," Cole said. "eMINTS teachers never stop learning with their students, and students come to understand that they are a critical part of the teaching and learning experience."
For more information on eMINTS visit: www.emints.org
