Summer Workshop Plans

Keystone Summer Workshop Agenda

1. Course Description
   1. What are the special goals or purposes of the course?

      This five-day institute course will provide participants skills and materials that will enable them to design and deliver inquiry experiences in professional development settings for novices as well as veteran teachers. This experience will also enhance individual participant's capacity to review and revise existing the science units to be more in line with the standards and inquiry research.

      This Institute Course includes:

      • An exploration of the fundamental elements of designing successful inquiry-based professional development programs
      • A series of inquiry experiences to develop an understanding of scientific concepts
      • Experience with materials and activities that can be used to provide inquiry experiences in professional development settings
      • Small group discussions to examine strategies for implementing inquiry-based learning in professional development settings
      • Development of a collegial network for future support
      • Strategies for integrating curriculum

      In this professional development design experience, participants explore the questions that are fundamental to developing inquiry experiences, including: What are good starting points for investigations? What is the role of materials? How can good questions be encouraged? How is inquiry learning best facilitated? How can conceptual understanding be developed through inquiry? Participants have the opportunity to experience inquiry, and to analyze its anatomy and structure.

   2. Course Outline containing all the major topics plus a brief description of the material to be covered under such major topic headings.
      1. Participants in this course will:
         • use action research and review the school's science and math curricula prior to attending this course which will provide background for areas to be covered during the class. Each participant will report on their findings and submit a written report. (research questions attached)
         • read and review articles provided by the instructors prior to and during the class.
         • experience small and large group activities
         • develop a plan based on their curriculum for conducting an inquiry staff development session in their individual school or school districts

      2. Instructional Strategies
         • effective questioning
         • planning
         • constructivism in hands-on science
         • inquiry
         • action research
         • involving the school staff
         • assessment to guide instruction and assess program

      3. Reading list to be used
         • Teacing Science as Inquiry, Steven J. Rakov, Phi Delta Kappa Foundation
         • The Art of Questioning, Dennis Palmer Wolf, Academic Connections, Winter 1987
         • Inquiry Strategies for Science and Mathematics Learning It's Just Good Teaching, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, May, 1997.
         • Inquiry Based Science: What does it look like?, Vermont Elementary Science Project, Connect, Mar-Apr 1995
         • Reflecting on Practice, Sylvia Weir and Tim Barclay, Hands On!, Spring 1994
         • The Teaching of Science, Wynne Harlen, David Fulton Publishers, London, 1992
         • Selected articles from National publications notebook

2. Level of Offering
   1. Has the course been offered previously? -- no

   2. Does it represent an upgraded version of an undergraduate course? -- no, but it is a follow up to Keystone Summer Institute that has been recognized as a course for Keystone members

   3. What are the prerequisites for the course?

      Participants must:

      • be an administrator, curriculum director, curriculum committee member, staff developer or a teacher from one of the collaborating organizations
      • come as a team of at least two
      • have attended Keystone Summer Institute: Science and Technology a Beginning

   4. What performance requirements are placed on students which makes this a graduate level course? State the written requirements or products of the course. How is student learning assessed and graded?
      • The course will be evaluated on a daily basis and with a final evaluation at the end of the class.

      • The participants will be evaluated based on:
        • The report that will be submitted concerning the required action research. (see the attached form)
        • Participation in all sessions of this course.
        • The development of a plan to implement the institute's staff development strategies in their schools and classrooms (Plans will be submitted to instructors.)

3. Relationship to Other Courses, Curricula, and Departments
   1. Does the course build on or interrelate with other courses in your curriculum or related curricula?
      • Since this course or institute addresses many topics that are common to teaching, this course will be a complement rather than a repeat of Montana State University classes. One intent of the class is to have participants involve other staff members in on-going science staff development.

   2. Does course replace one or more courses which will not be offered? -- no

   3. Do the topics in the proposed course duplicate or reiterate those in other courses in this or any other departments? If so, how do the coverage and educational experiences differ and why is the duplication or reiteration necessary? -- no

   4. What liaison has been conducted with other departments? State reactions both favorable and unfavorable.
      • Ruth Johnson has discussed this proposal with Dr. Elizabeth Swanson of the Department of Education, and she discuss it with Dr. Gloria Gregg, and Dr. Michael Bordy this week. Dr. Swanson confirmed that there is no conflict with Montana State University course offerings. Ruth felt that she reacted favorably to the ideas and the concept of this offering of Exploring Inquiry Through Questioning.

      • This will be the first summer for this course. It appears that this class' content will not conflict with Montana State University classes. In the past years, our other class called the Keystone Summer Institute: Science and Technology a Beginning has not conflicted with any university efforst. In fact, my discussions with MSU staff members such as Greg Francis, George Tuthill, Tim Slater, Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, John Etgen, and others indicate that Keystone's efforts enhance and complement the university endeavors in the science area.

4. Students Served
   1. Who or what group is this course particularly designed to serve?
      • This course is primarily designed to meet the needs of teachers and administrators of the Keystone collaborating projects. If there is space others may attend at their own expense.

   2. What is the anticipated enrollment?
      • There will be one session offered on June 14-18, 1999, with an enrollment limit of 50. The class will be held on Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm each day and Thursday evening reception at the Museum of the Rockies for Star Station One.

5. Resources:
   1. Are the department's financial resources sufficient for this course?
      • This course will be self-sufficient in that it will not require financial resources of the education department or from MSU in general. It will be supported by the Keystone Project.

   2. What is the instructor's background for offering this course?
      • The presenters have all been trained in this inquiry model at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Many of them have been assisting Keystone staff development for the past three years.
      • The instructors of record will be Myra Miller and Dr. Ruth Johnson.

        Myra has organized and presented similar institutes with one difference: only OPI credits were awarded; however, she has taught the science methods class as an adjunct professor in which she used MSU's grading system. She has also been a teaching computer lab assistant for the Department of Education at Montana State University. Myra has finished her course work toward a doctorate but has not completed the dissertation. For the 1996-98 Keystone summer institutes, she had to read and grade about 400 papers on which she wrote individual comments. She has been involved in many factes of education for the past thirty-one years. At the present time, she is the Keystone Project Director and the Science and Technology Center Coordinator for Bozeman Public Schools. (See attached vita)

        Ruth has been an adjunct professor for Montana State University. She has taught the Department of Education's EDCI 360 assessment as well as such courses as statistics. She also observes student teachers and consults with schools on curriculum development projects. (See vita on file at MSU with the Department of Education)

   3. To what extent has the adequacy of library holdings pertinent to this course been examined?
      • I have found the library resources to be adequate to meet our needs.
      • The Keystone Project has purchased an extensive library to support our objectives.

6. Other supporting Material or Resources:

   Participants will be provided with a notebook of the staff development activities, a notebook of selected articles, and follow up help from Keystone in their staff development efforts.

Our project has been offered the following summer institutes. They are not funded by Keystone. These workshops will be held in Bozeman. I will announce the exact location (probably room 284 of Willson) in the acceptance letter. I am sorry about the short notice, but I just got this information on Thursday, May 12. The workshops are from the following universitites:

University of Nebraska: 4 days

Title:	Environmental Change, an International Issue
Who:	upper elementary, middle and high school teachers teams: preferably a science teacher and a social science teacher, need at least 12 participants
When:	July 19-22, 1999
What:	topical seminars integrated with hands-on / minds-on activities to provide a knowledge framework, data collection and it its use in the classroom, methods for implementing national and state visions for science education, develop curriculum
Requirements:	* 5 day multidisciplinary unit on environmental change from each team * presentation of materials to other Montana teachers
Benefits:	* stipend of $75 per day * travel and lodging
Deadline:	May 28, 1999 or until workshop is full

University of Miami at Oxford, Ohio: 4 days

Title:	Teaching Science with Toys and Literature
Who:	K-6 teachers
When:	August 9-12, 1999
Requirements:	* none known at this time
Benefits:	* 2 graduate credits * 2 teaching resources: Teaching Science with Toys and Teaching Science with Literature * no stipends, lodging, or travel
Cost:	$100 to cover credit and materials
Deadline:	June 1, 1999 -- or until filled

Please contact Myra Miller at 522-6063 to register (leave a detailed message) or fax your info to 522-6050. I hope to see you there. These offerings sound very good.