South Carolina Earth Science Resource Mobilization and Teacher Resource Agent Development Program: A Cooperative Effort Involving Industry, Education and Government Agencies

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A partnership of the University of South Carolina, the South Carolina Geological Survey, the Mining Association of South Carolina, and the South Carolina Earth Science Teachers Association will: 1. Mobilize, develop, and disseminate those resources available in South Carolina which will strengthen the teaching of earth science at all levels; 2. Develop a cadre of fifteen geographically distributed Earth Science Teacher Resource Agents capable of distributing these and other resources to their peers; 3. Implement a peer education and support system utilizing the Earth Science Teacher Resource Agents. This program will respond to three broad needs which have been identified among the state's earth science teachers: 1. South Carolina mandates that earth science be taught in the eighth grade, and the state has established earth science as one of three broad areas of science which will be tested as a "basic skill"; 2. South Carolina's earth science teachers are under-prepared with respect to knowledge of content, teaching strategies based on "inquiry", and recent advances in science education; 3. There exists no mechanism to mobilize and disseminate human and material resources for the earth science classroom, or to identify and develop such resources where they are needed. Cost sharing by the partners will total 73% of the National Science Foundation funding.