In this paper, we are interested in the emotional responses of teachers in the context of a reform effort, and our study is oriented toward describing the significance of these responses with respect to the space teachers create to deal with reform in their school. Our interest for educational reform incorporates and builds on the work of spatial theories and theories of emotions in education, and most notably the work of Andy Hargreaves whose conceptualization of ''emotional geographies'' provides an insightful link between emotion and space. This is done through a 2-year ethnographic study with six teachers that were involved in science program restructuring in their school. In this study, we explore three aspects of the spaces for coping with change that were created by this group of elementary teachers: (1) time and space as sources of social and emotional support; (2) teacher collegiality and trust; and (3) teachers' moral values and concerns. Finally, this paper explores the implications for practice and policy from the development of spaces for teachers to process their feelings about change.
Over the last four years, a series of outreach programs have been offered through the Colorado School of Mines to middle school teachers from eleven school districts in the State of Colorado in the United States. Each of these programs is designed to illustrate through hands‐on activities the application of mathematics to science and engineering. Each also has an academic year follow‐up such that a faculty member, an expert teacher, or a graduate student assists the teachers in the classroom. An expected outcome of this effort is the improvement of instruction in mathematics and science in the participating middle schools; an unexpected outcome has been the impact of these projects on the culture of the participating schools, both middle schools and university. Based on our assessment efforts, this article describes the qualitative and quantitative outcomes of this sequence of projects on middle school students, teachers, graduate students, professors, and college curriculum.
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