Science Laboratories for Prospective Elementary Teachers (K-8)

该项目将为西密歇根大学的小学教师培养计划建立四个实验室。一个实验室将用于物理科学，一个用于地球科学，第三个用于生命科学。第四个实验室将供学生在课外用于课程和项目，也将被用作公共房间。在FIPSE的支持下，用借来的设备为未来的小学教师开设了六门科学课程，每门课程在上述三个大的领域各有两门。这些课程以及目前正在开发的“顶石”课程将在新的实验室提供。该实验室及其支持的课程是西密歇根州小学教师培训计划发展过程中的重要组成部分。该计划目前每年培养250多名小学教师，将培养能够按照密歇根州科学教育基本目标和目标(MEGOSE)中概述的内容和教学标准授课的教师，并由最近的几项全国性研究倡导。

This project will establish four laboratories for the elementary teacher preparation program at Western Michigan University. One laboratory will be used for the physical sciences, one for the earth sciences, and a third for the life sciences. The fourth laboratory will be used by students to work on lessons and projects outside of class time and will also be used as a commons room. Six science content courses, two in each of the three broad areas above, for prospective elementary teachers have been developed with borrowed equipment and with FIPSE support. These courses together with a "capstone" course currently being developed will be offered in the new laboratories. This laboratory and the courses it will support is an important component in the evolution of Western Michigan's elementary teacher preparation program. The program currently graduates over 250 elementary teachers each year and will prepare teachers who will be able to teach in line with both the content and pedagogical standards outlined in the Michigan Essential Goals and Objectives of Science Education (MEGOSE) and advocated by several recent national studies.