The Iowa Middle School Science Project is a cooperative project involving the fifteen Iowa Area Education agencies and faculty members from Cornell College, Coe College, the University of Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa. Ninety teachers (thirty each year one from at least three different grade levels) representing the school districts of the fifteen Area Educational Agencies (AEA) will participate in a six week summer institute held at Coe College in Cedar Rapids. During the academic year, regional AEA sites will host at least two, 2 day follow-up meetings to support the participants. Each of the three years basically duplicates the first year with one additional feature. Participants from the preceding year will return for one week to extend their work and to interact with the incoming participants. Science concepts from physics, chemistry, earth science, and biology will be presented. The pedogogical components include an emphasis on the Learning Cycle Model as well as including misconception research and Cooperative Learning approaches into teaching science. The participants will form a Science Cadre which will design and arrange workshops for the non-participating teachers in each of the Area Education Agencies. Local District Inservice Programs will be held 4-5 times in each of the 15 agencies. The district inservice activities will be conducted by the project staff and capable AEA Cadre members. All participants will participate in the Project Bulletin Board, which is the proposed state node for the National Computer Network for Science Education currently being funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The projects allowed a large number of teachers to be involved in a state-wide inservice program. It demonstrates that a cooperative endeavor across district lines is a viable approach to developing programs. The Area Education Agencies and the State of Iowa Department of Education have contributed an amount equal to 34% of the NSF award.
