This proposal offers a plan to enhance teacher content background and teaching strategy using an approach involving issues oriented science teaching and learning project. There are four teacher enhancement units and four content enhancement units proposed for development and testing during the project. The content enhancement units consist of topics such as, chemical reactions, toxicology for teachers, risk assessment and communication, and toxic waste. In addition to the development and testing units, Leadership Enhancement Conferences will be held at the Lawrence Hall of Science during the summers of 1991, 1992, and 1993. Over a period of 31 months the project will provide 13 days of direct teacher development and leadership training to 70 middle school teachers and one week of leadership training to 35 instructional leaders associated with those teachers. The goal of the project is to develop a system that can contribute to changing the way teachers teach science. The project has the following objectives: (1) Develop, test, revise, produce, and disseminate a set of issue-oriented science teacher enhancement materials; (2) Establish, test, and revise a model that encourages leadership teams trained by the project to carry out substantive teacher enhancement activities related to the project's goals in their local districts; and (3) Help support and expand the impact of the project by attracting significant public and private sector funding. Cost sharing is equivalent to 20% of the NSF award.//
