Posted by:
Gail Paulin
Posted on: May 22, 2001 at 2:48 AM
Message:
In response to Jeanne's comments, in our project we have noticed that for many in the district who had no intital sense of urgency with regard to science education, we have made considerable headway in promoting & developing "best practices" in teaching which can be applied to all subject areas. Our efforts to show how exemplary standards based science education can address language arts and mathematical objectves has created a wider demand for what we have to offer. Our district administration has been most interested in the professional development structures and strategies as opposed to improving the science instruction. While this was not our intial hope, it has become a way in which the goals of the project may become sustained. Eventually, when issues of best teaching practices and classroom climate have been established, the focus may shift more to the science. This is particularly true for k-6 folks. 7th and 8th grade teachers are the ones who require science content as the "main course", sometimes to the exclusion of the teaching skills & strategies we hope they will adopt :) We are attempting to provide the pedegogial content knowledge needed to merge these two. Gail Paulin, DESERT Project Tucson
|
