Goal

The goal of the Project Inquiry project is to systemically ensure that all students in targeted schools receive high quality science education that is rich in inquiry and problem solving, relevance, and conceptual learning through the infusion of technology.

Objectives

1. Assist teams of teachers from selected inner city schools in utilizing technology for student investigation and inquiry and in providing staff development to their school faculties.

2. Provide regional K-12 Science of Cities workshop series that are content-specific and utilize telecommunications in scientific investigations and reporting.

3. Provide Science of Cities web page content on topics such as land use issues, transportation, demographics and populations, green space, and sustainability.

Summary of Activities

Staff Development for School Teams: to provide technical assistance and professional development services to infuse technology into the school-wide science program for 18 schools over the course of three years. Teachers and their students will use technology to find information, acquire and analyze data, and report results in addition to doing scientific investigations in the field. Teacher teams will be able to visit the classrooms of lead teachers from other schools to observe successful teaching practices in action where students are engaged in scientific inquiry utilizing technology.

Regional Science of Cities Workshops: 16 hr. workshops will integrate technology within content specific topics dealing with Science of Cities. Participating teachers learn new strategies in infusing technology into sound pedagogical practices and gain support by networking with other teachers in their geographic area.

Telecommunications Services and Science of Cities Webpages: The participating teachers will receive training to use telecommunications as a learning tool to gather information, share investigation results and resources, and discuss environmental issues and action projects on-line. The content and resources of the Science of Cities web site will be developed from the experience and knowledge gained from the K-12 Science Workshop content and activities. They will include content updating from university faculty and other experts, virtual field trips, student fieldinvestigations, classroom activities, interactive online activities, and related web sites and other resources for teachers to use as they construct teaching units on particular topics.

Intended outcomes and anticipated systemic impact(s)
School-wide Infusion of Technology into the Science Curriculum: Each school team in Project Inquiry will develop and implement a school plan for professional development and infusing of technology into the curriculum.

A successful school-wide science plan which infuses technology has:

1. Equal access to technology and technology use.
2. Choice of excellent curricular materials.
3. A shared understanding among teachers, administrators, and parents for what students should know and be able to do in science and technology.
4. Local science curricular standards that are aligned with nation and state standards.
5. A professional development plan to meet the needs of the faculty in science and technology.