MSU Curriculum Unit Development Team
Project TIME enjoys a unique partnership with the Michigan State University College of Education. Team members, listed below, have worked in harmony with Project TIME to develop and implement a highly successful Meaningful Learning using Technology (ML/T) model curriculum unit for social studies, to develop and pilot innovative web-based software to support the social studies curriculum unit, to develop an ML/T model curriculum unit for science, and to help facilitate an ML/T Leadership Symposium.
Dr. Barbara Markle is Director of K-12 Outreach for the College of Education at Michigan State University. She has had extensive experience at all levels of the public school system, as well as administrative experience with the Michigan Department of Education. In her outreach role she develops and implements programs for K-12 teachers, administrators and policy makers that translate education research into applications in schools and settings in which education policy decisions are made. She serves as project coordinator for the MSU Project TIME team and liaison between MSU and the project director.
Dr. Richard Prawat is professor and Chair of the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education in the College of Education at Michigan State University. His national reputation in the area of children’s affective and cognitive development brought him to MSU in 1978 to head the College’s Institute for Research and Teaching. Under his leadership, the graduate program in Educational Psychology has achieved national ranking, being rated one of the top programs nationally in the recent U.S. News and World Report evaluation of graduate programs. He co-directs and provides learning theory rationale for the development of new approaches to teaching and learning in science and social studies through Project TIME.
Dr. Robert Floden is professor of Teacher Education, Measurement and Quantitative Methods and Educational Psychology in the College of Education at Michigan State University. He is also the Director of the Institute for Research on Teaching and Learning in the College. He has researched and written extensively on teaching and teacher education. His current research examines connections between policy and practice. Dr. Floden works with the Social Studies and Science Curriculum Development Teams to implement strategies for professional development and practice to prepare teachers to use innovative technology and new teaching methods needed to implement the Project TIME curriculum units.
Dr. Mark Reckase is a professor in the College of Education at Michigan State University. Prior to coming to MSU, Dr. Reckase was Assistant Vice President of the Assessment Innovations Area in the Development Division of ACT, Inc. His expertise includes the development of new assessment methodology that makes use of advances in technology, education and cognitive psychology. Through his extensive experience in applied measurement, he is designing an evaluation plan and assessment tools for the Project TIME units of instruction in science and social studies.
Dr. John Bell is an associate professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology at Michigan State University. His areas of expertise are computer science and research and teaching in the use of the Internet as an environment for teaching and learning for both teacher professional development and student learning. Dr. Bell works with the Project TIME Social Studies and Science Unit Development Teams to connect pedagogical and content ideas with innovative uses of technology. Project TIME contracted with Dr. Bell to develop a software application called Narration Creation Station that supports inquiry-based learning in social studies. The software was tested in fourteen 6th grade social studies classrooms in Battle Creek and will be implemented in ten Battle Creek area middle school teachers' classrooms in the 2002-2003 school year.
Dr. Michael Roessler earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in Social Studies Education and Instructional Systems Design. He has a Masters Degree from Stanford University in American History and Political Science and an undergraduate degree in History from the University of Michigan. Dr. Roessler is a thirty-year veteran of teaching social studies at the middle and high school levels and has authored both social studies software and texts. He is on the Project TIME Social Studies Unit Development Team.
Mark Baildon has taught secondary social studies for sixteen years in international schools in Israel, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. Presently, Mark is a Ph.D. candidate in teacher education at Michigan State University. He has a Master's Degree in Social Science from Syracuse University and an undergraduate degree in History and Psychology from the University of Rochester. He serves as the Social Studies Curriculum Unit Development Team Leader for Project TIME.
