Based on a successful pilot project in which the junior high school teachers of Birmingham were involved in a year-long program of laboratory activities and chemistry content updating, the University of Alabama-Birmingham will offer a similar program to twenty-five junior high teachers from the Central Alabama area per year for three years. The principal foci of the project are professional development and laboratory/content updating in topics particularly suitable for middle/junior high school students. Every month during the school year, teachers will participate in a two- day workshop geared toward these objectives. Because they are in their classroom during the intervening weeks, teachers can not only enhance their own content background and teaching strategies, but can implement these activities in their classrooms, sharing those experiences in an on-going and constructive manner. This has proven to be a very viable design for a project of this nature. The monthly two-day session will be followed by a week-long summer session. The chemical activities will be patterned after those in Chemical Activities, a recent publication of the American Chemical Society (ACS) written by one of the consultants to the project, Christie Borgford. This publication contains over l00 activities suitable for students at this level and has been thoroughly checked by ACS for safety considerations. A microscale approach to the laboratory work is being initiated with a thorough evaluation to determine its effectiveness with this age student. Emphasis will be on strong updating of chemical content background in topics covering social and environmental issues as well the application of chemistry to everyday life. Extensive follow-up activities are planned and an effective outreach component will be conducted in which participants, with the support of the project staff and their administration, will work with their peers to enhance the laboratory offerings in their science curricula. The University of Alabama Birmingham and the local school districts are contributing an amount equivalent to 17% of the NSF request.
