9353500 Stanley This project builds on earlier and concurrent projects to develop materials for students which incorporate the concepts of randomness in nature. Participating teachers, and ultimately students, are given the opportunity to discover and explore natural phenomena in much the same way a scientist would. Using existing units including random walks, accretion and percolation, many activities have been and are being developed which relate to each of the sciences. Examples include the growth of nerve cells, lightning strokes, termite tunnels, erosion gullies, tree roots, and forest growth. Lessons such as these can be included in existing courses or be combined to make a complete one year course on interdisciplinary science. An important aspect of this project is the reeducation of the teachers to assume different roles. Teachers become guides, mentors and coaches to students. Instead of the more traditional mathematics and rule based science, the students build their understanding of processes and relationships through exploring natural phenomena. The project trains 32 (country-wide) teachers the first summer and two groups of 32 teachers each of the following two summers for a total of 160 From each group of 32, 10 teacher leaders are selected to assume additional roles and to help train additional teachers. The cost sharing is estimated at 43%
