Jones (MEd '87, EDS '95, PhD '02) and Weber (MEd '87, EDS '97) team up in class each week to show math and science majors how to teach.

Inside their Norman Hall science classroom, the name of the game is engagement. Students build with LEGOs to figure out how turning a crank in a circle can make a flag go up and down. They read instructions that make no apparent sense to demonstrate the difficulties faced by some children with learning disabilities. And there's the wet plastic cup that Jones makes cluck like a chicken. He assures a bemused student that her elementary students will love it.

"Both of us were high school teachers who didn't do things with a by-the-book mentality. That's how our classrooms were run when we were at P.K.," says Weber, referring to P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, UF's laboratory school.

The pair and their program are the most recent addition to UF's push for math and science education. The goal is to increase the number of qualified math and science educators in the state's workforce.

In UFTeach, the students work toward a minor in science and math education and get a taste of classroom teaching in local schools. It replicates a University of Texas program that has managed to double its production of math and science teachers and retain them in the profession at a 70 percent rate compared with a national retention rate of 50 percent.

Recognizing a desperate shortage of qualified math and science teachers at the middle and high school level, the National Math and Science Initiative is funding 13 copies of the University of Texas program nationwide. UF was awarded a $2.4 million grant for its version, and UF donors have provided another $1 million.

With 41 students in its first semester of operation, UFTeach has gained popularity faster than organizers expected. In the spring semester it expanded from two sections of one class to five sections of three classes.

"We're trying to attract them to the teaching profession," Jones says. But "even if they may not end up in education — in regular formal education — they're going to get some of the benefits of the skills that all teachers have, and they'll be able to apply them in whatever profession they're pursuing."

Biology sophomore Jill McSpadden is one who appreciates Weber and Jones' teaching style. "It's very creative and they really try to focus (on getting) kids excited about learning," she says.

For Stacy Eichner, a mathematics freshman, a revelation has been the preparation necessary for teaching. "I never knew how much work teachers did and how much organization and planning ahead that is required."

Darryl Cannady's revelation came from egg catchers. The physiology and kinesiology freshman and his grade school kids conceived a design and then made tape and paper contraptions to prevent eggs from splattering when dropped. Cannady says he wished his own teachers had used such fun activities and techniques that Weber and Jones specialize in.

As Weber says, it's important to "not just memorize things but be curious about how things work. ... Realize that learning is really fun."

For information about UFTeach, or to support its work, contact Nekita Nesmith at nnesmith@coe.ufl.edu or 352-392-0728.