In 1983, the Richardson Independent School District conducted an internal audit to assess the status of science education. The audit was in anticipation of Texas Administrative Code Chapter 75 which requires an inquiry-oriented, process-approach to the teaching of science. In response to the data, and to national reports advocating a broadening of the science education curriculum to address the needs of all students, the district established a committee to implement and evaluate their new K-6 SCIENCE THROUGH DISCOVERY curriculum. The Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIIS) was adopted as the focal component of the overall curriculum with subsequent, planned innovations to occur in accordance with the Concerns-Based Adoption Model.The purpose of this study was to assess the attitudes toward science of students who had completed one year of SCIIS compared to students in non-SCIIS classes. In addition, the attitudes of teachers who received inservice education and who had instructed SCIIS were compared to non-SCIIS teachers. While SCIIS and non-SCIIS teachers possess similar perceptions of science, drastic attitudinal differences were observed between SCIIS and non-SCIIS students. The results indicate that the nature of the curriculum. in conjunction with the neces-0
The main goal of this pilot project was to improve collaboration between scientists at a large research university and K-12 educators. By involving scientists and K-12 educators in Earth systems research, we hoped to improve scientists' awareness of current pedagogy and classroom practices, improve K-12 teachers understanding of actual scientific research and expose each group to the other's unique culture. Eight research teams (comprising a scientist, pre-service teacher and an in-service teacher) participated in a four-week research experience, attended three half-day workshops, and participated in focus group interviews. This experience reinforced K-12 teachers views that scientific inquiry must be integrated into the curriculum. Several teachers indicated that the program provided a unique opportunity for collaboration and access to resources that they did not know were available. Scientists indicated that they learned more about their role and potential contributions for teaching science. However, in most cases, our program had limited success in achieving true long-term collaboration. To increase the number of successful collaborations, the following components should be included in the team-forming process: 1.
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