The Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences plans to conduct a 5 year project to train 150 mentor teachers (30 teachers/year) and their principals, who will then train the remaining 1100 elementary teachers in the Buffalo Public School System. The training would include two 5-week summer sessions (in a Magnet school that is physically incorporated into the Buffalo Museum of Science) and 4 in-service workshops during the academic years following each of the summer workshops. This innovative leadership project is a collaborative effort between the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences (including both education and curatorial/science staff persons) the Buffalo Public Schools, and individuals from local colleges and universities. The setting of the project is enhanced by a Science and Math Magnet School which is housed within the museum, and by the school/museum's location in a largely inner city environment with easy accessibility to minority persons. The project is designed to provide mentor teachers with a strong science background in pedagogy and content over a two-year period of summer and academic-year workshops, and to prepare and support these mentors as they inservice their colleagues. Project staff from the museum, public schools, and the academic community will provide strong support through academic-year workshops, site visits and telecommunications networking. Principals will be appropriately involved, and will work with mentors to develop a science inservice program tailored to meet the needs of their individual schools; as a consequence, virtually all of the 1100 K-6 classroom teachers of science in the Buffalo Public Schools will have been prepared to teach investigative, hands-on science to their students. Non-NSF cost sharing is approximately 27.9% of the amount requested from NSF.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Peter Dow
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This project is aimed at perfecting and testing a new instructional method to improve the effectiveness of introductory physics teaching. the methods has two chief characteristics: 1) a systematic challenge to common sense misconceptions about the physical world, and 2) an emphasis on models and modeling as basic to physical understanding. Two versions of the method will be tested. The first version is designed especially for high school physics. It emphasizes student development of explicit models to interpret laboratory activities. After an initial test, this version will be taught to high school physics teachers in a summer Teacher Enhancement Workshop, and its effect on their subsequent teaching will be evaluated. Teachers with weak as well as strong backgrounds will be included. A special effort will be made to include females and minorities. The second version will be tested in a special college physics course designed to prepare students with weak backgrounds for a standard calculus based physics course. It emphasizes modeling techniques in problem solving. This project is jointly supported by the Division of Materials development, Research and Informal Science Education and the Division of Teacher Preparation and Enhancement.
The Lawrence Hall of Science proposes to develop a major public education program, including a traveling exhibition, two planetarium programs, a play, and a kit for schools entitled "Columbus' Great Experiment." Emphasizing science and technology, Columbus' first voyage is portrayed as an experiment aimed at testing the hypothesis (based on doubtful evidence) that sailing to the west was a more practical way of reaching the Indies than by sailing east around the Horn of Africa. As with many scientific experiments, the results were quite different from what the experimenter had in mind: instead of finding a sea route to the Indies, Columbus vastly expanded knowledge about our planet and spurred developments in science and technology. These events occurred within a social and cultural context that were critical to the development of modern science, and resulted in far-reaching changes in the population and ecology of the world which continue today. The National Endowment for the Humanities has recently awarded a grant for the development of the exhibits. The present proposal requests that NSF join with NEH to complete and expand the project, by funding: a) components of three additional copies of the exhibition to be constructed by other museums, thus expanding the public audience to 19 million visitors; b) two participatory planetarium programs; c) a play about the scientific aspects of Columbus' voyage; and d) school kits that will enable teachers to present the most important ideas embodied in the exhibition to students who are unable to view the exhibition at a science center. Interest in these programs will peak around Columbus Day, 1992, we anticipate that the materials will be sufficiently interesting, informative, and entertaining to be used for many years to come.
Scientists and engineers are an underutilized resource in motivating students and assisting classroom teachers in teaching science. Pilot programs have demonstrated the value of preparing scientists for what to expect when they enter the classroom, how to incorporate the school curriculum into their program, and how best to reach the goal of making their visits a "never to be forgotten" life changing experience for students. The concept of a Survival Kit is an outgrowth of a Scientist-in-Residence program at the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science which has successfully matched scientists and public school classrooms locally since 1982. The North Carolina Museum of Life and Science proposes to conduct meetings for staff and outside educational specialists to identify the materials and strategies needed to prepare scientists to enter school classrooms. The final report of these meetings will include mechanicals of a Scientist Survival Kit, which can be disseminated across the country, and an evaluation report of how the kits can be and are used. Dr. Mark St. John, Inverness Associates, a professional evaluator noted for his work with nationally significant science education projects, will provide local and national evaluation through surveys and meetings to give a picture of the issues involved in establishing and maintaining programs of scientists in the schools and the role played by the Scientist's Survival Kit in furthering this aim.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Thomas KrakauerGeorgiana Searles
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The middle school years are critical in determining a student's success and continued participation in mathematics. This proposal involves the expansion of MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) model to the junior high/middle school population in the State of Washington. The project will focus on updating and revitalizing middle school mathematics curriculum, the goal being to increase minority student enrollment in algebra in the ninth grade. The MESA model also recognizes the need for teacher support and provides teacher seminars on a regular basis. Additionally, the expansion of the statewide Pre- College Center at the University of Washington will include the coordination of a statewide program at the junior high/middle school level. The MESA model is based on a partnership between industry and educators--a cooperative effort involving scientists on loan from industry, educators at the university level and educators at the secondary school levels working together to develop curricula that will stimulate student interest and achievement in mathematics and science. The staff for the project is well qualified with experience in the MESA program and in curriculum development and teacher training. The proposal addresses a clear need for improving minority mathematics education in middle/junior high schools and promises to have an impact throughout the nation for all students by serving as a model academic program. The project goals are consistent with the Instructional Materials guidelines. Therefore, an award is recommended.
"3-2-1 Contact," the nationally broadcast award winning children's public television science series, has been reaching children aged 8-12 with daily half hour science programming since 1980 with support from both the National Science Foundation and the U. S. Department of Education. In seven seasons of production, CTW has produced 225 regular and two special shows, generating an estimated 633 million viewings by the target audience and more than 1.66 billion viewings by viewers of all ages. With completion of primary show production, the series will begin repeat broadcasts in the fall of 1989 drawn from the library of existing programs. This final award will support continued broadcast of the series and insure the widest possible distribution and utilization of "3-2-1 Contact." CTW will implement a Transition Plan to sustain series broadcast, establish series access as a VCR based science resource, and insure permanent access for teachers, schools, and out of school resources to the "3-2-1 Contact" program library. Broadcast activities will include supporting a portion of the costs of residuals for rebroadcast for a five year period, production of five "3-2-1 Contact EXTRAS" -- single topic half hour specials with high visibility -- and encouraging increased off air taping of the series by teachers. Support for school use of the series will be strengthened with the development and distribution of topic indexing software and teacher guides, the creation of short "3-2-1 Contact" segments specifically tailored to the classroom needs of teachers and a series blockfeed to schools to create a permanent archive of shows. Community outreach partnerships will be strengthened and home video opportunities explored as well. This five year award will allow millions of American children the continued opportunity to view science programming after school on a regular basis, and will assist their teachers in making effective use of "3-2-1 Contact" program materials in classroom settings.
The Museum of Northern Arizona proposes to initiate a two-part project in natural-science education on the Colorado Plateau, with a strong focus on the Native Americans of the region, and especially their children. The project involves, one, the installation of modern geology and biology exhibits that are highly relevant for understanding the natural history of an important area and, two, the development of two closely associated new educational outreach programs, one based on well designed kits for school use and the other involving the training of teachers in the use of those kits.
The Thames Science Center collaborative with the resources of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Wesleyan University and the National Air and Space Museum will design and develop the project, "Shoot For the Moon." This science education project will capitalize on the attraction, familiarity and proximity of the moon using it as a basis to enrich and supplement the eight and ninth grade physical science curriculum. Ten classroom units, complimentary experiments and demonstrations will be developed. "Moonwatch" software and audio visual materials, including an instructional videotape and a multi.image presentation will accompany the units. Sixteen teachers and museum educators will participate in the training, evaluation and testing as the project is integratedinto the curriculum of twelve schools and four museums. The project is designed to be replicated in schools and science centers in different geographical locations nationally. The site for development and testing will be the Thames Science Center, a regional science museum in eastern Connecticut. The science center offers formal science enrichment programs and tours for students and teacher professional development programs throughout the region.
The New York Hall of Science, working with the Association of Science-Technology Centers Traveling Exhibition Service proposes to develop, test and nationally tour a 500 square foot hands-on exhibition and associated education materials for use by students, teachers, and families on AIDS and the human immune system. The program will be targeted at grades 6 - 12 and their families. It will be developed in year one and then toured in years two and three. One copy of the exhibition will be presented at the New York Hall of Science for the highly AIDS impacted metropolitan area. The other copy of the exhibition will tour to 10 museums nationally. Annual training for the touring sites will ensure that the exhibition and materials can be effectively utilized in conjunction with existing education and science career programs in each city. It is stated that the exhibition and education materials will improve the public understanding of contemporary science and medicine by communicating one essential component of twentieth century biology seldom presented to the public: the fundamentals of microbiology underlying the much-discussed AIDS epidemic. Learning objectives designed for age appropriateness include: (1) to understand the nature of HIV and the difference between testing positive for HIV antibodies and having AIDS; (2) to understand the operation of healthy and infected immune systems; (3) to understand what behaviors result in the spread of HIV and (4) to understand how people can prevent infection. In order to ensure effectiveness in meeting these goals, an independent evaluator will be employed in year one to evaluate each stage of the exhibition in formation and, then, in year two to produce summative evaluation for dissemination to the health and museum education fields.