Pattern Exploration: Integrating Math and Science for the Middle School

9819428 PEITGEN建筑在当前NSF支持的初中和高中项目，“通过混沌和分形教师增强”，这个为期三年的教师领导力和专业发展材料项目的重点是探索和发现的模式，通过分形几何为中年级，并在该项目目前的地理范围扩大到七个城市和南部佛罗里达农村县：布劳沃德科利尔迈阿密戴德亨德利马丁门罗和棕榈海滩 该项目分两个阶段面向大约300名中学数学和科学教师。 第一阶段涵盖第一年，为最初的54名首席教师提供区域骨干，他们参加写作和发展研讨会，提高教师在学科领域的能力，并发展领导能力。 第二阶段包括第二和第三年，规定每年增加120名中学数学和科学教师。 该项目的目标是培养参与地区每所中学的教师队伍。 在第一阶段准备的主要教师协助提高、指导和指导第二阶段的教师。该项目的核心活动包括：（1）春季写作和发展研讨会，在那里--与项目的领导团队--主要教师编写、重写和测试讲习班材料，为下一个夏天的讲习班设计和课程计划提供基础;（2）为期三周的暑期学习班，包括大、小小组学习班和一个有中年级学生参加的教学营;（3）周末后续学习班;以及（4）在下一学年进行小组辅导。在通过混沌和分形项目提高教师能力的四年中，它的领导团队和主要教师制作了一系列CATE（课程和教科书增强）的混乱和分形，这经历了几个阶段的写作，测试，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， 这些CATE-分为六个单元-构成了1999年春季第一次写作研讨会的基础，研讨会的目的是为中学教师编写经过改编的CATE。

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.