9555734 Frierson The Valencia BRIDGES program (Building and Replicating an Innovative Demonstration Model to Facilitate Gender Equity in Science) will focus on activities that increase students, faculty, and counselors understanding of the relationships between gender and the study of science. The project will increase the academic, retention, and completion success rates of female community college students enrolled in science courses, develop a new instructional approach to better prepare females for upper division study and careers involving scientific research, and increase the percentage of female students enrolled in science courses by helping female students make informed career choices and better course selection decisions. Curricular changes include a new lower division research methods course, enriched lower division biological and physical science courses with strategies and content that are free of gender bias, mentoring opportunities for students, hands-on internships in research laboratories at the University of Florida, scientific and equity workshops targeted at the female student population, new recruitment and promotion materials to targeted students, and specialized counseling and mentoring interactions which focus on personal, transfer, career, and financial aid issues. Community college students are less likely to have research and mentoring experiences that lead to research-based scientific careers. This project will reform lower level science courses to be more accessible for all students and will partner with the state land grant institution to prepare community college students for university-level science courses. Mentorships will act as an informal network to increase student success. *** 9555807 Ash The Chabot Observatory & Science Center (COSC) will develop an environmental curriculum implementation project called FIRST: Female Involvement in Real Science and Technology. This comprehensive, sequential scientific initiati ve will be developed and produced in collaboration with local school districts, colleges, museums, and professional societies. FIRST will involve students in grades 5 through 8, and their teachers, administrators, care givers, and the families. The participants will explore critical environmental issues, envisioning themselves as effective shapers of their environment now and in the future. The program will reach 60 elementary schools and 15 junior high/middle schools, with over 35,000 students total, and 1,200 teachers will receive training each year. This project unites and builds upon the systemic reform begun by previous NSF- funded projects at Mills College and Department of Energy-funded collaborative education programs. Interactive environmental studies allow middle and high school students and their families to enrich their knowledge by discussing real life science questions. Teaching and learning in both formal and informal settings will help teachers, students, and community members of an urban multilingual, multicultural population explore environmental issues that effect their lives on a daily basis. *** 9554188 Austin This project will determine how transactional writing, i.e., writing used to develop, construct and express mathematical understanding, effects females' achievement in, and attitude toward, their college and middle school mathematics classes. The project will target three different groups of student participants in the basic and intermediate college algebra sequence, as well as in one group of participants in a three-year middle school mathematics sequence. College level achievement will be measured by the Elementary Algebra Skills test; the Stanford Achievement Test will measure achievement on the middle school level. Attitude toward math will be measured by the Revised Mathematics Attitude Scale. Teams of mathematics and English faculty investigators, and their female students, from a large, urban two-year college and participating middle schools from a large, urban public school system will create an academic community through the use of the college's electronic bulletin board. The project will intervene at the two critical points that hinder girls staying with and succeeding at mathematics and hence, women successfully pursing mathematics-based careers and reaching higher income levels: lack of achievement and poor attitude. Transactional writing can be an instrument in the construction of knowledge and the reshaping of beliefs. Writing about math helps students more easily learn mathematical concepts. Students from middle schools and a community college will use a technique called transactional writing to make them active learners. This, along with mentoring and career counseling, will help them become more interesting in math and science careers. *** 9555817 Fontaine Elizabeth City State University and five rural, economically disadvantaged, predominately African-American public school systems will implement a comprehensive regional project, entitled the Dr. C.D. Turnage Science, Math and Technology Scholars Program for Girls. The goals are to create positive and permanent changes in academic, social, and scientific climates in order to allow the interest and aptitude women and girls display in science, engineering, and mathematics (SEM) to flourish and to add to our knowledge about interactions between gender and the SEM infrastructure. The program will include: teachers, counselors, and central office staff, female eighth graders, parents, business and industry. The project will train 300 educators, 200 teachers, 50 administrators, 25 counselors, and 25 central office staff members in the areas of enhancing access to equity education and equitable opportunities, gender equity expectations for student achievement, EQUALS Training, multidisciplinary mathematics and science, constructivism in science and mathematics, and alterna tive assessment. 240 eighth grade girls will participate in after school clubs, a Saturday academy, and a summer enrichment institute designed to enhance their education and careers in the fields of science, mathematics, and technology. Parents will attend activities with their daughters to provide input in their educational programs. A Scholars Program manual will be made available to each state's division of science, math and technology to help them replicate this program. A partnership among university, public school and local businesses will work to create a positive climate for mathematics and science learning among middle school students. Led by Elizabeth City State University faculty, school personnel will examine how to deliver equitable education to all students. This will result in more students enrolling and succeeding in upper level math and science courses. *** 9555724 Kraemer Girl Scouts in grades K-12 will learn and apply science, engineering, and mathematics principles using interactive computer systems in conjunction with math and science badge work. PLUGGED IN! is a collaboration of Ottawa University and Mid-Continent Council of Girl Scouts. Girls will advance in computer and science literacy by completing age-appropriate computer assisted modules to develop skills in computer science, problem- solving, research and critical thinking; explore Internet communication and international perspectives of scientific data gathering; experiment with microscopes, telescopes, weather station output technology, and computer- interfaced data analysis; explore careers in science, engineering and mathematics through mentoring; and completing Girl Scout science and math activities from mobile units, as well as at remote sites. This project will serve as a model for Girl Scouts of the USA, which serves a membership of 3.5 million. Ho
