Seventy two teachers, K-12, will participate in a workshop for ten days during the 88 academic year reviewing scientific principles and participating in hands-on science activites using toys. The teachers will be divided in to into four groups for instructional purposes: K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. Each teacher will present workshops to other teachers in their school district on teaching science through the use of toys. These workshops will be presented on Fridays and Saturdays between September l987 and April l988. Teachers will be chosen from several school districts in Southern Ohio. They will design strategies to incorporate these activites into their curriculum and increase the participation of girls in science. The university staff and school personnel will evaluate the effectiveness of this program in the class rooms in l988. The participants will be provided with materials to use in their classrooms and to conduct inservice activites. School districts will make commitments to continue this program for at least three years after this program is completed and to provide the support for the local inservice workshops. The PI and staff are eminently qualified to carry out this program. They engaged in a tremendous amout of pre-planning for this project. The university's commitments to this program are unusally strong.
