Improving Urban Middle School Science: A Collaborative Approach

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Educational Development Center's proposed project, Improving Urban Middle School Science, is a multidisciplinary science program for the seventh and eighth grade that is targeted to the needs of early adolescents in urban environments. Modules integrate scientific concepts and understandings from the physical, human and health, life, and earth sciences within the context of science, society, and technology problems. This project will build on the conceptual framework and pedagogical strategies, school district partnerships, teacher training design, and assessment and publishing partnerships established through the NSF-funded Improving Urban Elementary Science Project currently under development at EDC and Sunburst Communications. School districts and teachers in Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Montgomery County, Maryland will collaborate fully in the development effort and field-testing. Operation SMART, a research and development project of the Girls Clubs of America, will consult on informal science education strategies which are particularly responsive to urban youth and which will complement the curriculum. The materials will be reviewed for scientific accuracy and pedagogical soundness by a distinguished advisory panel, while field-testing and evaluation will be conducted by the Boston College Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy (CSTEEP). Sunburst Communications, Inc. will publish the final product and field test materials, contribute to a Teacher Development Fund, and provide technical assistance throughout the project to ensure marketability of the proposed modules.