Professional Development for Enduring Understanding of Science via Inquiry (EUSI)

Project Title: Professional Development for Enduring Understanding of Science via Inquiry (EUSI)

Project Director:  Dr. Gouranga Saha

Lead Institution:  Lincoln University

Duration of Project:  One year

Grade Level Focus:  4-9

Credit Hours to be Provided:  3 graduate credit hours 

Project Summary:
The professional development (PD) program, Enduring Understanding of Science via Inquiry(EUSI) has a goal to increase the number of highly qualified teachers who teach science. The project proposes to design and implement a high-yield professional development curriculum for teachers following the best instructional practices that lead to enduring understanding of science. This PD program will involve multiple partners to help serve 3 high-need school districts of Missouri for increasing the academic achievement of students in science through inquiry. Five objectives: To (1) increase 4-9 grade students’ overall science achievement in the areas of Processes and Interactions of The Earth’s Systems (GLE Strand 5) and Composition and Structure of the Universe and the Motion of the Objects Within It (GLE Strand 6), (2)  increase 4-9 grade partner teachers’ content knowledge in the above target MO-GLE areas, (3)  improve 4-9 grade partner teachers’ skills in the areas of backward designing of curriculum, modeling- and best practices in inquiry-based instruction and effective use of technology, (4) enhance 4-9 grade partner teachers’ use of student assessment (formative & summative) data to monitor and make reflective instructional decisions of their instruction, and (5)  improve LU’s pre-service teachers’ science preparation strategies through improvements in their science content knowledge, will guide this study.

Twenty-five 4-9 grade science teachers from three high-need school districts will participate in best practices model of professional development program to achieve all the project objectives. Using the project team developed curriculum the participants will model teach in grade-alike classes for “lesson study research” and finally implement the project prompted strategies into their classrooms. Two time classroom mentoring and coaching and 6 Saturday follow-up reflections will be employed to reinforce the knowledge & skills learned during the summer and to support implementation process. A virtual classroom will connect instructional team with all the participants during and possibly beyond the life of this grant for an on-line PD support and cross-grade level communications to enhance the quality of teachers for their students’ enduring understanding of science. Multi-faceted assessment strategies will be employed to evaluate the extent to which the objectives of the project are achieved.