Regional Continuing Education on Modern Genetics for Secondary School Teachers

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This project addresses the task of keeping the high school and middle school curriculum current in the area of contemporary genetics by providing continuing education, inservice, and logistical support to a selected and diverse group of teachers throughout the state of Kansas. For maximum effectiveness the scope is focused on the specific, interdisciplinary topic of molecular genetics and the genetic effects of radiation, using yeast cells as a model system. However, the need that is addressed and the approach taken should be appropriate for any field where progress in research and technology is moving too fast for the standard teacher education and curriculum development pathways to respond in a timely fashion. The project has been designed, and will be implemented, by an interdisciplinary team of professionals with strong commitments to improvement of science education. They represent professional competence in research in the discipline, research in science education, and classroom teaching at the secondary and post-secondary school levels. They include university faculty members from the Kansas State University (KSU) Departments of Physics, Biology, and Curriculum and Instruction, a graduate student in Curriculum and Instruction, and high school science teachers. Thirty secondary school science teachers will participate in the program during each of two years. Each of the one-year periods will begin with a three-week, intensive summer workshop on the KSU campus to introduce the participating teachers to the content, teaching strategies, and technology. Using this knowledge base, the participants will develop lesson plans under the close guidance of the staff. The lessons will utilize laboratory experiments in yeast genetics, microcomputer software, video materials, and the critical thinking skills of problem solving and concept mapping. During the subsequent school year these lesson plans will be implemented in the participants' classrooms. The project staff will provide continuing support during this phase. Follow-up and consultation will be facilitated through a 24-hour computer bulletin board and electronic mail service, a series of teleconferences, one weekend conference associated with annual conference of the Kansas Association of Teachers of Science, as well as individual consultation by telephone and mail. These communication channels will provide continuing contact between the project staff and the participating teachers as well as offering the teachers several ways to communicate directly with each other. An important contingent of the project staff will be peer teachers who have taught these materials. During the first year these will be teachers who participated in a related NSF-sponsored workshop and teleconference project in 1985. During the second year of the project the pool of peer teachers will expand to include the teachers from the first year. By keeping the lines of communication open to all current and previous participants we will be developing a network of teachers who can share experiences and information and who can be provided continuing support by the project staff, and subsequently, through continuing programs that are the mission of the KSU Center for Science Education.