Mathematics and Science Teacher Enhancement through Chaos and Fractals

9550052佩根通过混沌和分形学增强数学和科学教师佛罗里达大西洋大学的目标是佛罗里达州布罗沃德县的200名中学和中学教师，他们在混沌和分形学的探索和创新方面具有增强经验。这个为期39个月的项目的第一年致力于准备和规划：15名主讲教师参加一个为期三周的暑期学院；在该项目随后几年的更大规模教师强化活动之前，编写、试验和修改几个CATE(课程和教科书改进)。在第二年和第三年，从布罗沃德县系统的中学和中学招聘数学和科学教师的学校团队。他们完成最初为期三周的暑期学院，并在学年期间参加后续活动，并在随后的暑期参加一周的活动。CATES的开发、实地测试和修订是该项目的一个组成部分；这些活动是探索从混沌和分形图中得出的想法的活动，用于加强课程中的主题或将主题与课程的其他部分联系起来。Cate的课程是根据布罗沃德县学区的课程和州政府采用的系列教科书编写的。在整个项目中使用以及进一步的评估和测试之后，将对CATS进行修订，以便更广泛地使用并出版。纽约的Springer-Verlag已经承诺担任出版商。项目评估除了为形成性评估收集持续的数据外，还解决了一些更大的问题：随着教师变得更加专注于解决问题，他们的教学风格是否会改变(如采访和他们的档案中所反映的)？学生的学习(如访谈和他们的文件夹中所反映的)是否表明，他们在数学方面也采用了一种更开放、更具探索性/验证性的模式？评估活动包括访谈、录像、标准和开放式项目以及课堂观察。佛罗里达大西洋大学和布罗沃德县学校系统分担的费用占NSF奖励金额的83%。

9550052 Peitgen MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE TEACHER ENHANCEMENT THROUGH CHAOS AND FRACTALS Florida Atlantic University targets 200 middle and secondary school teachers in Broward County, Florida, with enhancement experiences in the exploratory and creative aspects of chaos and fractals. The first year of this 39-month project is devoted to preparation and planning: fifteen lead teachers participate in a three-week summer institute; and write, pilot, and revise several CATEs (Curriculum and Textbook Enhancements) prior to the project's larger-scale teacher enhancement activities in subsequent years. In years 2 and 3, school teams of mathematics and science teachers are recruited from the middle and secondary schools in the Broward County system. They complete an initial three-week summer institute and participate in follow-up activities during the academic year plus one-week in the subsequent summer. Development, field testing, and revision of CATEs is one component of the project; these are clusters of activities that explore ideas drawn from chaos and fractals, and which are used to enhance a topic in the curriculum or to connect a topic with other parts of the curriculum. CATE's are written and based on the Broward County School District curriculum and their state-adopted textbook series. After use throughout this project and further evaluation and testing, the CATEs will be revised for broader use and published. Springer-Verlag of New York has made a commitment to serve as publisher. Project evaluation, in addition to collecting ongoing data for formative evaluation, addresses some of the larger questions: Does the teaching style of the teachers change (as reflected in interviews and in their portfolios) as they become more focused on problem solving? Does the learning of the students (as reflected in interviews and in their portfolios) suggest that they, too, are adopting a more open-ended, exploratory/confirmatory model with respect to mathematics? Evaluation activiti es include interviews, videotaping, standard and open-ended items, and in-class observations. Cost-sharing from Florida Atlantic University and the Broward County School System represents 83% of the NSF award amount.