Northeast Louisiana University seeks funds for a three-year program to upgrade secondary computer science teachers' understanding of fundamental computer science topics and of current research in the field. Two groups of twenty-five teachers will be trained to be teacher-leaders throughout the state of Louisiana. The method of delivery will be different for the two groups. The first group will attend three-week summer institutes during the first two summers of the project followed by nine days of instruction during the third year. The second group will attend ten weekend sessions during each of the second and third year of the project. These alternate delivery mechanisms are designed to meet the needs of the teachers. Teachers will be enhanced in such topics as object-oriented programming, algorithm design and analysis, computer architecture, telecommunications, and parallel processing. Five master teachers will assist participants in improving pedagogical and classroom management skills, in methods of recruiting females and minority students to take computer science courses, and in designing computer science curriculum for the schools. Project Directors will write professional development materials in the form of in-service training modules for presentation to school officials and for the first-wave teachers to use in enhancing second-wave teachers. Follow-up activities for first-wave teachers will include weekly communication by e-mail and by tele- conferencing, a mentoring program with the master teachers, and site visits from the project directors. In addition to the fifty first-wave teachers, it is anticipated that an additional 250 second-wave computer science teachers will be enhanced. Northeast Louisiana University's cost-sharing will account for 37% of the NSF budget.
