Four campuses of the University of Massachusetts system (Amherst, Dartmouth, Lowell, and Boston) have designed a regional network to support the high school physics teachers in the area. Each campus will offer a three-week commuter workshop, at which 24 teachers will learn about contemporary research topics in physics and strategies for incorporating this new content knowledge into their classroom instruction. The most experienced teachers at these workshops will be invited to attend a week-long residential institute devoted to developing new classroom activities based on the research topics presented. These activities will be disseminated to all school districts in the region, and through the Massachusetts Statewide Systemic Initiative, Project PALMS. Each campus will also establish a permanent teachers resource center within its physics department. The centers will offer teachers the loan of equipment for classroom use, and will provide ongoing help in the form of workshops, network meetings, newsletters, and interactions with members of the research faculty. Partnerships such as this between research universities and secondary schools have significant potential for long-term improvement of science education. The regional scale of this partnership is exceptional and increases further the opportunity for widespread permanent improvement. Cost sharing on this project represents 22% of the NSF contribution.
