9355557 Lake This is a five-year project to enable 100 teachers from Wisconsin to learn and be involved in scientific research. The plan is to have teachers involved in staff development activities of at least five days and then to actively been involved in up to 30 days of hands-on scientific research. This research will be (a) on an individual basis under the mentorship of specifically selected scientists, or (b) within a team, or (c) both. The team projects will be (a) an examination of water quality using biotic indexing, and (b) trails aimed at the effective use of milkweed as an indicator of ozone pollution. Both team projects will be in collaboration with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The project's goals include (1) improvement of the teaching of science by enabling selected teachers to become experienced in scientific research, (2) formation of partnerships with scientists for on-going mentorship, (3) performance of valuable studies and (4) providing selected with the local opportunity to be research assistants in a research project. The project has its foundations in Field Involvement: Research by Science Teachers (FIRST), an NSF-funded program. This proposal benefits from the lessons learned from FIRST, the expertise it created amongst teachers, and the weaknesses that became apparent. The project also benefits from the experience gained, especially in terms of the leadership, pedagogy, and networking components, from Earth Science Resource Associates (ESRA), a currently NSF-funded project of the Wisconsin Academy. The project requested $743,745 from NSF with institutions/Agencies and school districts providing $172,841% of the National Science Foundation portion in cost sharing (this does not include miscellaneous supplies, space, phone, contributed by school districts).
