The main goals of the project are to build upon the excellent previous work that has taken place at the Exploratorium which utilizes the resources of a museum to offer enriching experiences to practicing teachers and develops models of inservice programs. The plan in the proposed project is to work with 600 teachers at the middle school and high school levels from all of the school districts in the greater San Francisco area. It is planned to emphasize exploratory activities in physical science(70%) and mathematics(30%) by offering the teachers an immersion into subject-oriented activities which they in turn can adapt as possible experiences for their students. The model which is under development consists of three basic stages. The first establishes small group workshops which revolve around a curriculum suggested by the rich environment of the Exploratorium exhibits. The second phase enables the teachers to learn to use the Exploratorium as a resource center to enrich their learning and provide a source of information and potential activities for their students as well as a central location to share their ideas with their colleagues. The third phase in the model develops a support mechanism for the teachers as they develop projects and activities. The summer institute involves 100 teachers in groups of 12 to 14 working 80 hours over a four week period to focus activities on learning extensions of subject matter content using the exhibits. The academic year follow-up takes place during 6 Saturday morning sessions of 4 hours each and involves 40 to 65 teachers per session. The focus during these sessions is on the topics chosen by the teachers relating to potential topics to be covered in the school program. There are to be special projects according to the particular interests and needs of the teachers. For these projects ther teachers have available to them the expert staff of the Exploratorium as well as the facilities and materials that are resident there. The after school and Saturday workshops occur at 12 meetings during the year for four hours each. It is planned to arrange these in two blocks of six weeks each during which there is a sharing of topics among the participants which encourages team teaching when possible. The non-NSF cost sharing is approximately eighty-five percent of the funded amount.
