Two-week summer science institutes for forty grades 4-6 elementary school teachers from Minnesota and Wisconsin will be held on the University of Wisconsin-River Falls campus for three consecutive summers, beginning in the summer of 1990. Teams of underprepared teachers from inner city schools which consist of sizable Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian populations, as well as from small, rural school districts will be recruited as participants. The subject matter is concentrated in the field of chemistry, with physics, geology, and geological applications. This choice of subject matter is particularly important since participants will be drawn from grades where this content is often introduced to students for the first time. Institute methodology is based on both science content and experimental activity. A kit of laboratory materials for use in the classroom will be provided to each team of teachers from a grant of the 3M Corporation. On-site visits by institute staff during the academic year will culminated with a one-day spring follow-up workshop. During the second and third years, minority teachers from Alabama will be invited to participate with the assistance of the science departments of Alabama A&M (UW-River Falls' sister institution). The cost sharing will be eight percent of the NSF portion.
