Research Experience for High School Master Biology Teachers

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This is a three year project for 28 exemplary high school biology teachers from a region within a 200-mile radius of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. It is designed to implement the following goals: (1) identify and recognize these teachers for inservice training in research methodology and application of the inquiry process to teaching high school biology; (2) improve the quality of education by enhancing the professional competence of biology teachers and to engage these teachers in all phases of laboratory research, allowing them to become more confident in practicing science and inquiry approach; (3) offer these teachers pedagogical training in science teaching strategies to support the content in teaching high school biology; and (4) honor those teachers in a socially significant and tangible manner. Fourteen professors of science with active research programs will serve as mentors and will work with 2 teachers each for the duration of the project. In this three phase program, teachers will be given a thorough preparation and background for conducting their research, will actively work on their research project under the tutelage of their mentor, and will develop materials that will enable them to carry the results and the methodology of their research to their students. Rural clusters of experienced teachers will provide inservice for their peers and the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) electronic bulletin board network will facilitate dissemination among the teachers and between the teachers and their University mentors. In addition, coursework of the participant's own choosing is offered tuition-free by the University.