Microbiological Concepts: A Pilot Program for a National Improvement of Biology Teaching and Learning in the Secondary School

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Microbiological Concepts will be a national project to improve the teaching and learning of basic microbiological concepts in the secondary schools. In its first stage, this pilot project will test and refine the overall project concept prior to its extension to each of the states and U. S. possessions. This first stage will train three-member replication teams geographically distributed in Southern New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the state of Texas. Eight teams (24 persons) each year will participate in an intensive activity-oriented four week workshop at the American Type Culture Collection facility in Rockville, Maryland. Educational kits have been designed by the professional staff of this project. The kits consist of a basic introduction to Microbiology plus the 12 basic microbiological concepts typically suggested for use in the secondary school biology courses. The teams trained will receive assistance from the University of Rhode Island's science education staff in using these kits to plan and conduct a required minimum number of in-service workshops in their local areas. These will train additional teams to replicate these workshops for delivery to Biology teachers in the local school districts. A support system will be developed for the teams and teachers receving this training. An amount equivalent to 66.4% of the NSF award is being contributed as cost-sharing.