9550052 Peitgen MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE TEACHER ENHANCEMENT THROUGH CHAOS AND FRACTALS Florida Atlantic University targets 200 middle and secondary school teachers in Broward County, Florida, with enhancement experiences in the exploratory and creative aspects of chaos and fractals. The first year of this 39-month project is devoted to preparation and planning: fifteen lead teachers participate in a three-week summer institute; and write, pilot, and revise several CATEs (Curriculum and Textbook Enhancements) prior to the project's larger-scale teacher enhancement activities in subsequent years. In years 2 and 3, school teams of mathematics and science teachers are recruited from the middle and secondary schools in the Broward County system. They complete an initial three-week summer institute and participate in follow-up activities during the academic year plus one-week in the subsequent summer. Development, field testing, and revision of CATEs is one component of the project; these are clusters of activities that explore ideas drawn from chaos and fractals, and which are used to enhance a topic in the curriculum or to connect a topic with other parts of the curriculum. CATE's are written and based on the Broward County School District curriculum and their state-adopted textbook series. After use throughout this project and further evaluation and testing, the CATEs will be revised for broader use and published. Springer-Verlag of New York has made a commitment to serve as publisher. Project evaluation, in addition to collecting ongoing data for formative evaluation, addresses some of the larger questions: Does the teaching style of the teachers change (as reflected in interviews and in their portfolios) as they become more focused on problem solving? Does the learning of the students (as reflected in interviews and in their portfolios) suggest that they, too, are adopting a more open-ended, exploratory/confirmatory model with respect to mathematics? Evaluation activiti es include interviews, videotaping, standard and open-ended items, and in-class observations. Cost-sharing from Florida Atlantic University and the Broward County School System represents 83% of the NSF award amount.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL)
Application #
9550052
Program Officer
Diane M. Spresser
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
1995-06-15
Budget End
1999-08-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
1995
Total Cost
$1,110,170
Indirect Cost
Name
Florida Atlantic University
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Boca Raton
State
FL
Country
United States
Zip Code
33431