Institute for Chemistry Literacy through Computational Science (ICLCS)

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Abstract 0634423The core partners of the Institute for Chemistry Literacy and Computational Science (ICLCS) are the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (including the Department of Chemistry, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and the College of Medicine), A-C Central Community Unit School District #262, and Regional Office of Education (ROE) #38. Supporting partners include four rural ROEs (55, 3, 25, & 11) located in the northwestern, west-central, south-central, and far south sections of Illinois, the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, Illinois Petroleum Resources Board, Illinois Science Teachers Association, National Center for Rural Health Professions, Three Rivers Educational Partnership, the National Board Resource Center at Illinois State University, and Argonne National Laboratory. The program intends to improve student achievement by developing 120 rural Illinois 9th -12th grade chemistry teachers to become Teacher-Leaders equipped to teach and lead based on cutting-edge research, computational methods of visualization and communication, and extensive leadership development experiences. The ICLCS has identified the following goals: (1) Strengthen rural high school teachers' and students' understanding of chemistry within the context of 21st Century scientific research; (2) Increase teachers' use of, and comfort with, computational and visualization tools in their teaching; (3) Create a cadre of 9th-12th grade and university-level faculty teacher-leaders who will become advocates for excellence in science education; and (4) Promote institutional change in university and school district partners. The Institute features two-week residential sessions in three successive summers with extensive academic year online support, two academic-year regional meetings, and academic-year on-line interaction among partners and participants. Central to the Institute are: the use of computational methods to describe molecular behavior, including internet-based molecular visualizations; the establishment of an on-line community of participants and project staff via Access Grid (AG) communications technology and Moodle, a course development tool, as a means of fostering comfortable, mutually beneficial on-going interchanges about chemistry content and pedagogy; chemistry understanding informed by cutting-edge scientific research; and leadership development for teachers at various levels of their professional careers. The project employs a randomized control trial research/evaluation design intended to contribute to the research base on improving teacher quality.