9552864 DeHaan This Local Systemic Change project will enhance all fifteen hundred and seventy nine, teachers from grades K-5, in the 78 elementary schools in the Atlanta Public School district (APS). Inservice professional development for teachers will consist of four day-long, instructional sessions and a 50 hour summer institute, focused on the PALS (Packaged Activities for Laboratory Science) curricular materials. The materials have been adapted from notable kit based curricula such as FOSS, GEMS, Insights, and Science and Technology for Children. Summer Institutes will be held at Georgia State, Moorhouse and Emory and will be open to 300 teachers (100 per campus). The preparation that teachers receive will enable them to apply guided discovery instructional methods in teaching science and mathematics in their classrooms. To support the teachers the ESEP program will: * supply the PALS kit based materials to all the schools * assign undergraduate science majors, trained to help with hands-on materials using inquiry based instructional strategies, as partners. These undergraduate students will be selected from Emory University and five collaborating colleges (Clark-Atlanta, Georgia State, Morehouse, Morris-Brown and Spelman * assign each teacher-student partnership (TSP) a faculty- science mentor * have resource teachers available to provide support to teachers in the schools. The request is for $5,699,850 for 5 years with cost sharing estimated as $7,254,837.
