SEDNet II: Expanding an Exemplary Nationwide Educational Leadership Program

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The goal of the four-year project is to revitalize and retain grades 3-8 teachers of the physical and space sciences, and in so doing improve the instructional quality and increase the overall quantity of these sciences for students. The collaborative effort, to further teacher retention and renewal nationwide, is managed by the Science Education Department (SED) at Harvard College Observatory and the McAuliffe/Challenger Center Learning Center (MCLC) at Framingham State College (FSC). The aim is to build on the pilot SEDNet project, which was an exploratory effort designed to revitalize and retain grades 3-8 teachers of the physical and space sciences, and in so doing improve the instructional quality and increase the overall quantity of these sciences for students. Three person teams from16 Challenger Learning Centers (CLC's) attend two, two-week SEDNet summer institutes in alternate years for in-depth professional development on inquiry science embedded in the physical science concepts that form the basis of the ARIES modules. These team leaders then provide (at their own locale) fee-based implementation workshops, which support teachers using ARIES modules with elementary and middle school students. Built in sustained support for teachers will include CLC-based focus meetings, distance learning opportunities and Web-site support. Over time the SEDNet programming will be self-sustaining. Evaluation includes summative pre/post test measures to assess changes in science content knowledge of both team leaders and second-tier teachers and some comparison testing of students in schools.