Awesome Athletes for teacher and school development

对于英国的科学和工程教学来说，这是一个非常激动人心的时刻。政府正在推出两项主要举措，即“卓越和享受-小学战略”和“每个孩子都重要”，旨在拓宽课程，使教学更加灵活和包容，并打破学科之间的障碍。这些发展将要求教师的方法发生重大变化，许多教师在发展技能和智力投入方面需要支持。本提案建立在一个非常成功的科学主题日的基础上（由EPSRC PPA和PPE赠款GR/T25774/01和EP/D 067634/1资助），所有这些问题都以一种创新但经过充分评估的方式进行了探索。本项目将以既定的Awesome Athletes主题日形式为基础;然而，项目的目的和目标发生了重大变化。这次的主要目的是为科学教学发展提供支持，与最近的政府举措相一致，利用主题日作为一个例子，说明如何将科学和工程学的各个方面纳入一个完整的课程。该项目将通过三条相互关联的路线实施：1）在个别学校促进主题日（资源密集，但提供了尝试概念的机会），2）举办在职培训活动（同时访问几所学校，但没有促进教学实践），3）为新合格的教师举办特别活动（正式承认专业发展）。虽然我们在第一阶段和第二阶段的经验让我们对学校和研讨会的培训将如何进行有了很好的了解，但评估哪条路线对教学和课程开发最有效将是一件有趣的事情。

It is a very exciting time for science and engineering teaching in the UK. The government is introducing 2 major initiatives, 'Excellence and enjoyment - a strategy for primary schools' and 'Every child matters', designed to broaden the curriculum, make teaching more flexible and inclusive and break down barriers between subjects. These developments will require a significant change in teachers' approach, and many will need support in developing their skills and intellectual engagement. This proposal builds on a highly successful science theme day (funded through EPSRC PPA and PPE grants GR/T25774/01 and EP/D067634/1), where all these issues are explored in an innovative but well evaluated way.This project will be based on the well established Awesome Athletes theme day format; however the purpose and aims of the project have changed significantly. The primary purpose this time is to provide support for science teaching development, in line with recent government initiatives, using the theme day as an example of how aspects of science and engineering can be incorporated in a fully whole curriculum way. Delivery of the project will be by three linked routes; 1) facilitating theme days at individual schools (resource intensive but offering an opportunity to try out the concepts), 2) running in-service training events (accessing several schools at once, but no facilitated teaching practice), 3) running special events for newly qualified teachers (formal recognition of professional development). Whilst our experiences with Phases 1 and 2 of Awesome Athletes has given us excellent insight into how both school and seminar based training will run, it will be interesting to evaluate which route is most effective for teaching and curriculum development.