The Area II Curriculum Committee, representing the County Offices of Education in the nine northeastern counties of California, will be coordinating a three year project to improve the teaching of science at the elementary level in this rural area. The collaborative project will be supported by the nine county offices of education, California State University at Chico, representatives from new elementary science curricular programs, local school districts, government agencies, and citizen's organizations. Project participants will be recruited in teams of three or four to include an administrator and two or three teachers serving students in grades K-8. A total of 150 participants will be directly reached by the project. Training will span all three years and will include workshops in two consecutive summers and academic year inservice days, as well as a three day mid-winter Field Conference. In addition, the project will provide ongoing support for the teachers, newsletters, and coordinated exchanges between schools. The schools will provide the materials and supplies for the teachers to support the adoption of an inquiry based elementary science program. The cost sharing for the project will be twenty-one percent.
