This Leadership Activities project will provide enhancement and professional development experiences for 40 exemplary secondary school physical science teachers from 15 counties throughout central and northern California. The overall goals of the multiyear project involve the updating and deepening of the participants' physical science backgrounds and teaching methodologies, the networking of the participants and university science faculty, the conduct of in-service workshops by the participants in their home schools, appropriate recognition for honors teacher participants, the dissemination of the project materials and results to nearby school systems, and the investigation of the modelistic approach within a carefully planned documentation, assessment and evaluation effort. Selections of participants by a faculty and school committee will be based upon detailed applications requiring expressions of teacher and school commitments to implement project emphases. Working with university scientists, a full-time science curriculum specialist and four mentor teachers, the participants will complete a three-week summer workshop and monthly day-long meetings designed to increase their conceptual understanding of physical sciences, to develop strategies and materials for teaching thorough understanding of fundamental concepts and principles, and to develop materials and techniques for use in their presentation of in-service workshops. Participants will earn academic credits from the University of California, Davis. During the in-service workshops which the participants will design and conduct, the science curriculum specialist and other project staff will be available for consultation and support. Participants will be visited and observed in their classrooms and in their workshops with their peers. Careful documentation and analysis of these observations and of teacher reports will provide a significant basis for a detailed project evaluation.
