The proposed project, "TERRACORPS," will develop an ecological science program for grades 6 to 8 through performance-based series of classroom activities, real life applications, and dissemination activity stages. Thirty-six modules of instruction will represent life, physical, and earth science topics. General activities in field studies, plus correlative units in social science, math, and language arts will be included in the project. The units will be arranged into three levels of proficiency, each with increasing skills and higher levels of measurement, concepts, and knowledge. A video-based teacher training component will be developed for instructional support. "TERRACORPS" will be implemented with 600 students in twelve initial sites the first year followed by 1200 students and twenty sites the second year. This is a strong project involving cooperation among numbers of Jet Propulsion Laboratory/NASA, a school district and university faculty. The proposal addresses a clear need for creating global awareness at this grade level and promises to have a substantial impact throughout the nation by providing a replicable model.
