This small grant for exploratory research (SGER) examines the kinds of changes teachers and students go through in their first year of implementing a New Technology High School (NTHS) project-based curriculum for ninth graders in two high schools. This first year of implementation is part of a phased-in implementation for subsequent grades. The NTHS approach calls for moving from more traditional approaches to mathematics and science education to project-based curriculula that posits mathematics and science in the context of real world issues and problesm. The study is time sensitive because there are two schools in Indiana that will begin implementation in the summer of 2007, and the study must begin the collection of baseline data in the fall of 07. Both schools are in urban districts with historically low levels of student performance. Examining how a whole community of students and teachers adapt to a new and more inquiry-oriented approach for science and mathematics isntruciton provides a unique opportunity for studying professional development, whole school implementation of technology supported project-based curricula, and assessing student results.
