MITS: A Collaborative Institute for Improving Science Literacy Among Elementary School Teachers

大波士顿地区的八个博物馆合作，帮助来自合作学区的96名小学教师提高他们的整体科学素养，并提高他们将这种素养传播给他们所教的孩子的能力。暑期学院和学年后续项目在课堂教师和博物馆的各种资源（包括工作人员和藏品）之间建立了专业的合作伙伴关系。这种伙伴关系有助于发展对科学过程和内容的更多认识，并提高教师和学生对科学的热情和态度。暑期活动的重点是帮助教师理解不同科学领域之间的共性，使每个领域都成为“科学”，并培养对探究本质的理解，以及在校内外培养儿童探究的方法。教师也有机会真正“做”科学，并在他们选择的科学领域扩大他们的信息背景，因为他们选择了他们将要学习的博物馆。在整个学年中，各种各样的项目帮助教师进行课程规划、资源咨询、借阅材料和其他支持活动。这种方法被认为是新英格兰和全国其他地方的博物馆和学校之间扩大合作的潜在模式。相当于国家科学基金会要求的28%的费用由私人基金会、博物馆和学区分摊。//

Eight museums in the Greater Boston area have collaborated to help 96 elementary teachers from cooperating school districts improve their overall science literacy and their ability to transmit such literacy to the children that they teach. The summer institute and school year followup program has created a professional partnership between classroom teachers and the diverse resources of the museums, both staff and collections. Such partnerships contribute to the development of greater knowledge of the processes and content of science as well as heighten the excitement and improve attitudes towards science by both teachers and their students. Key summer activities focus upon helping teachers understand the commonalities among diverse scientific fields that make each field "science", and developing understanding of the nature of inquiry and ways to foster it among children in school and out. Teachers also have the opportunities to actually "do" science and to broaden their informational background in an area of science of their choosing, since they select the museum in which they will study. Throughout the school year a variety of programs help the teachers with lesson planning, resource consultation, loan materials, and other support activities. The approach is perceived as a potential model for expanded collaborations among museums and schools in New England and elsewhere around the nation. An amount equivalent to 28% of the NSF request has been cost shared by private foundations, museums and school districts.//