Recent evidence suggests that handicapped students are not as adept in spatial and temporal skills as their mainstream counterparts. Difficulties in judging distances, working with direction and orientation, and problems with scale changes mark this special group of individuals. This project recognizes and addresses the special needs of the teachers of these students. Efforts are directed toward enhancing teachers' understandings of the key elements of spatial understanding: scale, estimation of distance and size, direction and orientation, data gathering (spatial), perception-conception, and interpretation and symbolization. Macalester College and the Minneapolis Public Schools are cooperating in a joint venture to enhance the spatial abilities of the teachers of junior high school handicapped students. The project is to run for two academic years: September, 1988 through July 1990. During the first year a series of eight instructional sessions will be conducted. The target audience for this series will be twenty teachers of handicapped students. During the summer of 1989 a two-week workshop will be held. The primary out-come of the first year will be formalized packages for teachers in the Minneapolis school system. During the second year of the program, another series of academic year sessions will be held for teachers from all school districts in the Twin Cities area having a significant number of handicapped students. During the summer of 1990, a two-week workshop will be held for all the teachers who participated in the two-year program. Through the funding of this project, the Teacher Enhancement Program addresses the special needs of a particular contingent of teachers, those working with handicapped students. Macalester College and the Minneapolis School have contributed an amount equal to 3% of the National Science Foundation award.
