The Partnership consisting of nine Silicon Valley school districts and
San Jose State University's (SJSU) Colleges of Engineering and Education
is taking a regional approach to improving science education by building
institutional capacity, instructional quality, and student achievement
in a major urban region.
Sustainable institutional changes are created
to support high quality science education. Science teaching and learning,
grades K-8, is improved through a continuum of university preservice preparation,
new teacher induction, on-going inservice and leadership development for
over 1300 preservice students and inservice teachers. Establishing a
career spanning professional development model, which includes rich content
and methodology workshops, provided by regional leaders for professional
development, retains a pool of well-prepared K-8 science teachers.
Elementary
and middle school students experience exemplary inquiry and laboratory-based
lessons linked appropriately to math, literacy, and technology resulting
in higher achievement.
Engineering faculty devote time as consultants
in middle schools. While they contribute scholarship and content background
they also learn by viewing the variety of teaching strategies that serve
diverse student needs. Undergraduate engineering education is improved
through close collaboration between engineers and teachers.
Preservice
instruction at San Jose State University is improved with the development
of a new MA degree in Elementary Education with a focus on science, which
should be readily transportable.
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