Approve Agreement for Technical Services with Technology Educators, Inc. for Middle Grades Science Teachers Summer Workshop - $5,000 (Curriculum and Instruction Division)

We request approval of the Agreement for Technical Services with Technology Educators, Inc., for the services of Larry Chew to plan, conduct, and evaluate a Science Inquiry in Middle Grades Workshop at Wilson Middle School, June 16-20, 2008. This workshop is open to all middle school science teachers. The flat rate includes workshop materials and travel.

Inquiry is the method used to help teachers attain a deeper content understanding which enables them to construct the learning process themselves. Training content includes demonstrations of hands-on activities to ensure lessons qualify as inquiry; instruction in how to ask leading questions; and how to relate inquiry to grade-level content. Participants will conduct four activities: presentations, cookbook labs, guided inquiry, and open-ended inquiry in order to examine the differences. Participants will be trained to teach specific benchmarks using inquiry pedagogy. Having learned inquiry and how to conduct inquiry activities in the classroom, the next step for teachers is how to take existing textbook labs and activities and modify them to be inquiry based. The train-the-trainer model will be used so district teachers can provide this training to teachers in the future.

Goal 3 - Student performance on FCAT science will increase a minimum of five percentage points.

Funds of $5,000 are available through the Middle School staff development budget, Project 4502.

2009 FCAT science scores for students of participants will be analyzed to determine effectiveness of training.