9353526 Gruner This project provides two teachers in all 136 Connecticut public high schools with 144 hours of content preparation, training, and support for a statewide institutionalization of a rigorous new curriculum in environmental field research. Through summertime Teacher Institutes, year-round workshops, and regular meetings with professional scientists, 272 teachers will learn new instructional techniques for fieldwork pedagogy; increase their knowledge of aquatic ecology, environmental chemistry, and scientific reporting; learn to use new computer systems and environmental monitoring equipment; and help students produce formal reports that are used by public and private sector agencies to compile research data about water quality in Connecticut. The project is jointly managed by teacher educators at a regional science museum and the CT Department of Environmental Protection, and uses public and private sector expertise to enhance teacher skills in a new applied environmental field research curriculum. Project Search links teachers with professional scientists; it has important implications for long-term curricular change and the systemic improvement of statewide high school science education.
