This project is a collaborative team of five institutions-Hofstra University, New York Institute of Technology, the Uniondale Union Free School District, the Hempstead Union Free School District, and Citizens Environmental Research Institute. The project targets (1) seventh and eighth grade girls; (2) girls of color; and (3) low income girls in an effort to increase the number of girls who participate in mathematics and science activities. The project seeks to develop female friendly classroom practices and science and mathematics curriculum and to place that curriculum within the formal structure of the district instructional requirements. Three hundred girls, three hundred boys, 200 parents, and 30 teachers/administrators will be served. Project deliverables will be suitable for use nationwide. The strategies to improve attitudes toward and participation in mathematics and science activities by girls include: (1) a core project on environmental social justice encompassing the issues and data from the communities in which the girls live; (2) integration of the project into the seventh and eighth grade core science curriculum of the schools; (3) development of the project so that it responds directly to The Learning Standards for the New York State Mathematics, Science and Technology Frameworks; (4) combination of single sex and coeducational classroom, summer, Saturday, and after school experiences; (5) development of CD ROM and other instructional materials as models for 7th and 8th grade instruction in New York State and the nation; (6) training of teachers and parents in the curriculum materials, in gender and learning issues, and in the objectives of the program; (7) development of a seventh and eighth grade science curriculum that is gender fair, encourages girls and children of color to pursue science and mathematics and that can be used with all children to satisfy New York State Learning Standards for Mathematics, Science, and Technology; (8) inv olvement of teachers in the humanities and the arts-in addition to science, math and technology-to further the goals of the project; and addition of computer technology and learning in the classroom experience and in teacher skills. In addition, the project staff includes specialists in all targeted areas. The project will be led and staffed by female school district and university personnel with expertise in environmental justice, science instruction in the middle school, gender issues in science, adolescent female development, minority science participation, classroom curriculum, biology, chemistry, mathematics, social science, computer science, and environmental science.
