This two year project of the Maine Audubon Society will develop 320 Master Science Teachers in order to improve science teaching and learning in elementary and secondary schools across Maine. Through eight local workshops followed by one-on-one consultations with the project staff, assisted by teacher/volunteer teams drawn from the pilot year already completed, the paticipants will learn to develop and incorporate inquiry-based learning activities in physical, earth, life and ecological science into the curriculum. In the first year, 160 science teachers identified as promising by their administrators in 16 school districts will be provided with new instructional materials in the form of a SCIENCE AND NATURAL HISTORY: A MAINE STUDIES SOURCEBOOK produced by the Maine Audubon Society. Each teacher will team with a volunteer who will assist in every aspect of teaching this material throughout the year. In the second year these 160 teacher/volunteer teams will begin to train their peers and strengthen their schools' curricula. By the end of the academic year 320 teachers will be qualified to extend the network to neighboring towns. The SOURCEBOOK, developed with the advice of teachers, principals, scientists, Audubon members and the faculty of the associated college and university will be refined by the staff and teacher/volunteer teams. Teachers will be eligible for either 3.5 or 5 recertification credits. They can also apply the time spent in workshops to the requirements of a three-credit graduate course on curriculum development they may elect at the University of Maine, Farmington. Dr. Charles E. Hewett, Executive Director of the Maine Audubon Society, and Dr. Dean Bennett, Associate Professor of secondary education at the University of Maine, Farmington will be Co-Principal Investigators. Dr. Bennett is the author of the SOURCEBOOK and Dr. Hewett is an outdoor educator with experience in the applicaiton of the natural sciences and economics to resource problems of private industry. The three other staff members include Leslie J. Hudson, the director of environmental education at Maine Audubon Society, Twig George, a researcher/writer in environmental education and Peter Corcoran, a naturalist/administrator at the College of the Atlantic. A marine biologist and a wildlife biologist are resource persons.
