A science curriculum package (K-3) written by an Elementary Specialists committee and expert instructors from the university as well as the school levels will serve as the guide for a comprehensive academic year ten-session workshop for 60 elementary teachers in the Minneapolis area. This will give them a basic knowledge of science content and show them how to integrate materials into their existing curriculum. The curriculum materials based primarily on existing good packages, such as ESS, SCIS, units developed by some of the Minnesota school districts as well as from England and New Zealand will be reviewed by four Presidential Awardees for Excellence in Science Teaching who will oversee the project and serve as subject specialists. The participating teachers will use the material in their own classrooms and share their results with colleagues. This sharing is formally built into the workshop in two ways, (1) at the beginning of each session, the teachers will report back to their fellow participants and (2) two follow-up workshops/year for three years will be held during the fall and spring meetings of the Minnesota Science Teachers. A similar format is being set up for the teachers of grades 4-6 to be held during year two of his project. Elementary teachers will meet to assess the impact of the workshop and to finalize the curriculum package. It will then be distributed to elementary teachers by means of further inservice workshops held by the elementary and subject specialists and workshop participants. An amount equivalent to 50% of the requested funding is being cost-shared by the University of Minnesota, St. Cloud University, local school districts and each of the individual instructors involved in the project.
