9355643 Pirkle Consistent with the Louisiana Curriculum Frameworks the goal of the project is to increase the teaching of activity-based, issues- oriented technologically integrated physical science at the middle school level (grades 7-9). The project will extend over 4 years. Two cohorts of teachers from 30 schools will be paired in teams (60 teachers) which will be provided with a two year sequence of summer courses (5 weeks study of chemistry and physical science), academic year site visits and workshops (5 for each of two years). The summer courses will be a sequence of two specially designed chemistry and physical science courses with the content appropriate to the middle school level. Alternative assessment strategies will be incorporated. Computers and graphing calculators will be integrated into the analysis of experimental data. Local environmental issues will be integrated into the curriculum. Funds of $1,483,379 are requested with cost share $204,722 (14%).
