The University of California, Davis, will undertake a project to develop a one-year graduate level program for training physical science teachers. The project will seek to attract students with a degree in the biological sciences who have a demonstrated competence in the mathematics and physical science coursework required for their degree. There is an excess of individuals trained in the life sciences and a shortage of those qualified to teach physical science in California, and this project will attempt to remedy the imbalance. The curriculum will be designed by scientists, science educators, and meritorious classroom teachers. The students will receive subject matter and pedagogical training in physics, chemistry, and earth science during the program and will carry out student teaching in all three disciplines. California is in the process of implementing a new State Science Framework in which all the disciplines will be taught each year with instruction cutting across the disciplines. Since the graduates of this program will have strong competencies in all sciences, they will be ideally suited to teach in this restructured environment. A cadre of mentor teachers will participate in workshops to enhance their subject matter and pedagogical competencies and will serve as supervising teachers for the participants during their field experience. Transportable instructional materials will be developed by the project, and a dissemination conference will be held for those from other institutions seeking to adopt the program. After the development period, the program will become institutionalized and a permanent offering of the university. The university will cost sharing will be 24% of NSF's contribution.
