This three year project is aimed at elementary teachers with little or no experience in teaching science and utilizes the expertise and resources of NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, California. This project, based on a successful previously funded project, will increase the teachers' comfort level with science, mathematics and technology. This newly acquired confidence will result in increased motivation and time spent in the teaching of science. Each summer fifty teachers (two/school) and their administrators (25) will be selected from schools in California, Indian reservations in the Southwest and from Eastern and Southern sites served by several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). The participants will spend four weeks in intensive instruction during each of the summers, followed by academic year meetings. The topics of electricity, sound, light and astronomy will be covered at a pace which allows time for thinking and experimenting. A variety of effective teaching strategies with emphasis on understanding mathematical applications will be used. The second and third years continue with new groups of teachers and administrators with the continued support of past participants. Administrators are required to implement a science plan including staff development at the school site. "Clone" programs will be set up at HBCU sites to insure the proliferation of this model. In addition to the NSF request, NASA, JPL, the University and the participating schools are contributing an equal amount of the funding.
