Pattern Exploration: Integrating Math and Science for the Middle School

9819428PEITGEN这个为期三年的教师领导力和专业发展材料项目建立在目前由NSF支持的初中和高中项目“教师通过混沌和分形增强”的基础上，专注于通过中学年级的分形几何探索和发现模式，并将该项目目前的地理覆盖范围扩大到佛罗里达州南部的七个城市和农村县：布罗沃德、科利尔、迈阿密-戴德、亨德里、马丁、门罗和棕榈滩。该项目分两个阶段针对大约300名中学数学和科学教师。第一阶段包括第一年，规定最初的区域干部由54名带队教师组成，他们参加写作和发展研讨会、学科领域的教师强化和领导能力培养。第二阶段包括第二年和第三年，规定每年增加120名中学数学和科学教师。该项目的目标是从参与地区的每所中学培养教师团队。该项目的核心活动包括：(1)春季写作和发展研讨会，与项目的领导团队一起，领导教师编写、重写和测试为下一个夏天的研讨会设计和教案提供基础的研讨会材料；(2)为期三周的暑期班，包括大小小组会议和一个有中年级学生的教学夏令营；(3)周末后续会议；(4)在接下来的学年里，小组辅导。在教师通过混沌和分形学加强项目的四年中，其领导团队和主要教师制作了一系列关于混沌和分形学的课程和教科书增强版，这些课程在1995年、1996年、1997年和1998年春天在佛罗里达大西洋大学的专门写作研讨会上经历了写作、测试和重写的几个阶段。这些课程分为六个单元，它们构成了1999年春季第一次写作研讨会的基础，旨在为中学教师生成改编后的课程。

9819428PEITGENBuilding on the current NSF-supported middle- and high-school project, "Teacher Enhancement through Chaos and Fractals," this three-year teacher leadership and professional development materials project has a focus on the exploration and discovery of patterns through fractal geometry for the middle grades, and an expansion in the project's current geographic reach to seven urban and rural counties of south Florida: Broward, Collier, Miami-Dade, Hendry, Martin, Monroe, and Palm Beach. The project targets approximately 300 middle school teachers of mathematics and science in two phases. Phase one, which covers the first year, provides for an initial regional cadre of 54 lead teachers, who participate in writing and development seminars, teacher enhancement in the subject area, and leadership development. Phase two, which covers years two and three, provides for the enhancement of an additional 120 teachers of middle-school mathematics and science each year. The project has a goal of preparing teams of teachers from each middle- school in the participating districts. The lead teachers who are prepared in phase one assist in the enhancement, coaching, and mentoring of the phase two teachers.Core activities of the project include: (1) spring writing and development seminars, where -- with the project's leadership team -- lead teachers write, re-write, and test the workshop materials that provide the basis for the workshop design and lesson plans in the following summer; (2) three-week summer institutes, with both large and small group sessions and a teaching camp with middle-grades students; (3) weekend follow-up sessions; and (4) small group mentoring throughout the following school year.Over the four years of the Teacher Enhancement through Chaos and Fractals project, its leadership team and lead teachers produced a series of CATEs (Curriculum and Textbook Enhancements) on chaos and fractals, which underwent several stages of writing, testing, and rewriting in dedicated writing seminars at Florida Atlantic University in the springs of 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998. These CATEs -- available in six units -- form the base for an initial writing seminar in the spring of 1999 aimed at the generation of adapted CATEs for middle school teachers.