The Maui Economic Development Board, in collaboration with the school district administration of Maui, Hawaii, has designed a four-year project to revamp the teaching of science in the district's 17 elementary schools. A total of 320 teachers will each receive 13 days of professional development, during which they would become familiar with four hands-on inquiry based instructional kits for their grade level, as well as relevant teaching strategies and background content knowledge. A science materials resource center will be established by a local company, and then spun off as a small independent business. The Maui Chamber of Commerce, the Maui Economic Development Board, Cal Tech, and local industry have committed financial support to the project, as well as commitment of effort by local scientists. The instructional material and teacher training model would be a replicate of the successful NSF-funded Project SEED (Science for Early Educational Development), a collaborative reform effort by the California Institute of Technology and the Pasadena Unified School District. The proposed dissemination of Project SEED from Pasadena to Maui will take a successful NSF-funded project and implement it in a community with genuine need. The proposed effort will replace the district's current elementary science curriculum with an exemplary inquiry-driven hands on approach. This project represents a model partnership between the school district and the local business community, and builds on a locally funded pilot project in one school. Cost sharing on this project represents 334% of the NSF contribution.
