Science Laboratories for Prospective Elementary Teachers (K-8)

该项目将为西密歇根大学的小学教师准备项目建立四个实验室。一个实验室将用于物理科学，一个用于地球科学，还有一个用于生命科学。第四个实验室将供学生在课外做功课和项目，也将用作公共休息室。利用借来的设备和FIPSE的支持，为未来的小学教师开发了六门科学内容课程，上述三个广泛领域各两门。这些课程以及目前正在开发的“顶点”课程将在新的实验室提供。这个实验室和它将支持的课程是西密歇根州小学教师准备计划发展的重要组成部分。该项目目前每年有250多名小学教师毕业，并将培养能够按照密歇根科学教育基本目标和目标（MEGOSE）中概述的内容和教学标准进行教学的教师，并得到最近几项全国性研究的支持。

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.