Project ARISE: Advancing Rhode Island Science Education is a professional development program for teachers designed to engage students in inquiry-based approaches to learning about science, bring cutting- edge research into the classroom, and improve the understanding of the relevance of science to everyday life. The core of Project ARISE is a yearlong program for Rhode Island high school science teachers that will be co-taught by university faculty and graduate students. The goal of the program is to develop the tools and perspective that will enable high school teachers to integrate National Science Education Standards and high-level concepts in molecular and genomic biology, bioinformatics, neuroscience and physiology into their high school science classroom. During the first year of the program, Brown faculty and staff will work with a science education specialist from the Rhode Island Department of Education, high-school science teachers and an evaluation expert from the Education Alliance to design and refine course modules, mobile laboratory projects, and lesson plans focused on an inquiry-based approach to science and the broad-based concepts that are integral to it. During the summers of the program, Brown faculty members and graduate students will team teach a two- week-long course to 15 Rhode Island high-school science teachers, hereafter referred to as """"""""Fellows,"""""""" who will learn active, inquiry-based teaching methods that will assist them in achieving the National Science Education Standards for Teacher Professional Development and for Science Teaching. Fellows will have access to mobile laboratory equipment as well as qualified scientific advisors during the school year, so that they may implement new curriculum and concepts in their classroom and conduct Professional Development In-Service Workshops. With the guidance of scientific advisors and trained Fellows, students will define a research question, write a proposal for exploration, carry out and interpret controlled experiments, and report their findings at the Nature of Discovery Symposium held at Brown University at the end of the school year. Lesson plans for middle and high school teachers developed by Fellows will be posted on the Project ARISE website and will be presented to invited teachers at a meeting held at Brown University.
