Teams of four Presidential Awardees (PAs) in Science Teaching will work with a university professor in 3-week summer institutes for middle school teachers. Each of four institutes will be held at a college or university site facilitated by a site coordinator who is a professor of science and a team of four (PAs) who will serve as instructors. Each PA team will include a chemistry, physics, biology, and earth science teacher. Potential institute sites for 1992 include the State University of New York, Purchase, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, Purdue University, West Lafayette, and Southern Oregon State College, Ashland. Each institute will accommodate 30 participants for a total of 360 middle level teachers in the three-year project. The institute programs will be structured to include content in science, teaching methodology, cooperative team building, and special lectures on leading-edge science topics. In addition, special sessions on leadership training, conducting peer-led workshop, reviewing curriculum materials, and securing funding will be held. An instructional syllabus and a site coordinator's handbook will be produced to provide program consistency at each site. The aim of APAST/NSTA institutes is to obtain a mix of science teachers for different geographic areas and a variety of teaching circumstances to foster an exchange of experiences and view points. Teachers will be selected based on perceived need, leadership potential, and willingness to secure district funds for follow-up activities. At the workshops, participants will prepare lesson plans based on content learned at the institutes. Compilations of the teaching materials will be distributed to all participants, site coordinators, and members of APAST. In addition, all participants will conduct at least one peer- led inservice workshop in their school districts or at an educational convention in the fall. Mini-grants will be made available to participants who have completed and returned an inservice report form and have presented a rationale for the funds as well as an itemized budget and evidence of cost sharing on the part of their school district. Evaluation will address content and pedagogy gain by participants through the administration of pre-and post- standardized science content tests. In addition, three teachers in each workshop will be followed over a three year period as case studies. The project evaluator will document professional growth of these selected individuals through telephone interviews and response forms. Mr. Robert Lewis, President-elect of APAST and a Presidential Awardee, is the Principal Investigator and Ms. Marily DeWall of NSTA is the Co-PI. Cost sharing equals 10% of the NSF award.
