Zoos for Effective Science Teaching: A Training Program forMiddle and Secondary Level Science Teachers, Phase II

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

In September, 1986 the New York Zoological Society, funded by NSF, initiated a program for 30 outstanding middle and secondary school science teachers from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The program was entitled "Zoos for Effective Science" (Z.E.S.T.). The present proposal is a continuation of the program for two additional years. Six hour sessions, held on 8 Saturdays, January through March 1987, involve behind-the-scenes touring, animal observation and data-gathering activities, audio/visual programs and presentations by zoo staff on animal behavior, cooperative breeding and demographic management for zoo animals, and care of classroom animals. Segments are conducted on how to design innovative materials linking classroom curriculum with use of the Zoo and on assisting participants with peer-training techniques. Role-playing exercises are used to enhance the confidence of the teachers in peer training. Participants receive a wide range of printed materials including WIZE (Wildlife Inquiry through Zoo Education) classroom kits: Diversity of Lifestyles and Survival Strategies. WIZE, the winner of several prestigious awards for excellence in science education, is a life science curriculum for grades 6 through 12 developed by the Bronx Zoo with major funding from the National Science Foundation. Each participant will select a subject of special relevance to his or her science discipline and develops an instructional unit on the topic. The best of the instructional units will be reviewed for inclusion in a Z.E.S.T. Teachers Manual, which will be made available to science teachers in the tri-state area for use in conjunction with class visits to the Bronx Zoo. The topics teachers chose to concentrate on and the materials they received in their Z.E.S.T. training also serve as the basis for peer training the teachers are expected to conduct in their own schools. Prior to the Z.E.S.T. program, administrators from the participants' schools attend a conference at the Zoo for an overview of the project. The importance of their support to the teachers, particularly in their efforts to train their peers, is also stressed. This project has a number of features which justify its funding as a Teacher Enhancement Project. The following are the more significant: 1) it broadens the perceptions about zoos being educational; 2) it presents techniques and materials using animal exhibitions in conjunction with classroom instruction; and 3) develops a model for use by zoos throughout the country.