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5
exemplary Programs
major Points in chapter 5
The ChemEd conferences held in odd-numbered years provide high school chemistry teachers with hands-on activities and
other professional development opportunities.
The University of Pennsylvania Science Teacher Institute offers a master’s of chemistry education for high school teachers
that has yielded significant increases in chemical content knowledge for participants.
The AirUCI Summer Workshop for Teachers uses issues being studied in the Environmental Molecular Science Institute
at the University of California, Irvine, to immerse teachers of chemistry and other subjects in scientific concepts and lab
activities.
Evaluations of the “Terrific Science: Empower Teachers Through Innovation” program at Miami University in Ohio, which
has provided more than 22,000 teachers with inquiry-based science workshops, demonstrate that the program has had a
substantial influence on classroom activities and student learning.
Michigan State University in 1965, Irwin Talesnick from
Many outreach programs have sought to improve the qual-
Queens University has delivered somewhere between 1,500
ity of high school chemistry teaching in the United States.
and 2,000 presentations at professional development sessions
Presenters at the workshop described four such programs
around the world. Such an outcome probably would not
in detail. The programs were not necessarily chosen to rep-
appear in a program evaluation, yet that 1965 workshop was
resent the best of all the programs that have been offered,
the “defining moment” of his life, Talesnick said.
but they demonstrate some of the ways in which chemistry
The ChemEd conferences originated not long after. Fol-
instruction can be dramatically improved.
lowing the 1972 Biennial Conference on Chemical Educa-
tion (BCCE), a group of high school teachers and chemistry
The chemed coNFereNces
professors decided to organize a similar conference directed
primarily toward high school teachers rather than college
Since attending a chemistry education summer workshop
and university faculty. Since 1973, the ChemEd conferences
sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) at
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EXEMPLARY PROGRAMS
have been held in odd-numbered years, while the BCCE has The program is based on the hypothesis that increasing
been held in even-numbered years. The ChemEd conferences the content knowledge of science teachers and influencing
attract 800 to 1,000 attendees, with about 80 percent high their classroom practices will increase the content knowledge
school teachers and 20 percent college and university faculty and change the attitudes of the students they teach. “It’s this
(percentages approximately reversed for the BCCE). The hypothesis that drives our institute, drives our programs, and
publication Chem News, an informal magazine published also drives evaluation,” Blasie said.
by the Department of Chemistry at the University of Water- The program was developed by University of Pennsyl-
loo, has helped build support for the ChemEd conferences. vania chemist Hai-Lung Dai and has been funded by the
Many teachers pay their own way to the ChemEd confer- National Science Foundation since 2004, with additional
ences because of the difficulty of gaining support for travel support from the Rohm & Haas Company, the Camille &
and attendance. To encourage teachers to attend, ChemEd Henry Dreyfus Foundation, and the university. It is a col-
organizers build in a family program, with child care, a sci- laborative effort of the School of Arts and Sciences and
ence camp for children, and various family activities. “The the Graduate School of Education. It offers two degree
families get a vacation out of it, which makes it easier for the programs—a master’s of integrated science education for
chemist in the family to travel to a different area every two middle school teachers and a master’s of chemistry education
years, enjoy the chemistry, and enjoy whatever else there is for high school teachers. The program also offers a Science
to be enjoyed.” Education Resource Center that is supplied with many items
The conference generally consists of four days of ses- that teachers can use while in the program or borrow to take
sions, 50 percent of which involve hands-on activities, that back to their classrooms. In addition, the program provides
encompass everything from 15-minute presentations to full- mini-grants for which teachers can apply and two-day profes-
day sessions. Approximately one-third of the attendees at any sional development workshops that have been co-developed
conference have come to previous conferences, which is a and are co-presented by one of the teacher graduates and a
measure of their success, said Talesnick. “Teachers have had University of Pennsylvania chemist.
only, in my experience, positive comments to make about the The master’s of chemistry education program began in
conferences.” Furthermore, teachers forge friendships and the year 2000, so the ninth cohort of teachers began the
collaborations at the conference that they maintain for years program in fall 2008. To foster support for teachers within
even if they are in widely separated locations. their schools and school districts, the program seeks to have
However, most chemistry teachers say that they cannot each teacher attend with an administrative partner. As both
attend the ChemEd conferences because of the expense. partners learn about inquiry-based science, the administra-
Talesnick therefore has been seeking financial support for tors also learn what teachers need to make changes in their
the conferences to reduce the registration fee and associated classrooms.
costs. “If we had support from governments, industry, and so The program tries not to take teachers unless they have
on—some of which we get but not enough—the registration had more than two years of experience, so that they know
fees could be reduced, the number of people will rise, and how to manage a classroom and have decided that they want
the costs will decrease.” His other ambition is to make the to remain in teaching. At the same time, many teachers in
conferences truly international, with attendance by chemistry the program, who are drawn largely from the Philadelphia
teachers around the world. Achieving those two goals would school district, are poorly prepared in chemistry.
have “a payoff for chemistry teachers, for universities, and Teachers take ten courses to earn a degree, eight on
for our students.” chemistry content and two on chemistry education. The
program covers 26 months of coursework over three con-
secutive summers and two academic years, with the peda-
The UNiVersiTY oF PeNNsYlVaNia scieNce
gogy courses delivered during the school year. The content
Teacher iNsTiTUTe
courses, which are taught by chemists at the university, are
The Rising Aboe the Gathering Storm1 report cited the organized not around lectures but around inquiry-based
University of Pennsylvania Science Teacher Institute as a learning experiences. The courses also cover such topics
model program for in-service teacher preparation. “That’s as the nature of science, equity for students, and enduring
a great honor,” said program director Constance Blasie, understandings. The program relies heavily on technology
but “it’s also a huge responsibility to provide excellent and emphasizes nontraditional assessments. “This is not a
programming.” program for everyone,” said Blasie. “Teachers have to be
absolutely committed.”
To gauge its effects, the program has instituted an exten-
sive evaluation effort. Two research associates work on
1National Research Council. 2007. Rising Aboe the Gathering Storm: internal and formative evaluations so that the program can
Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future. Wash- make on-the-fly, real-time adjustments if its goals are not
ington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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STRENGTHENING HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY EDUCATION
being achieved. As part of a broad external evaluation, the about 20 teachers in the region annually. Most are from
research associates also gather data on such topics as content public high schools and middle schools located near the
knowledge and teacher understanding of the nature of sci- University of California, Irvine (UCI), and most teach chem-
ence. Teachers take a specially designed chemistry content istry at least part of the day. Some also teach environmental
examination before they enter the program and again after science, physics, earth sciences, biology, and integrated sci-
they have completed all the coursework. ences. Most have bachelor’s degrees, with a small number
The content examination has revealed that teachers dem- having Ph.D.s and a small number having no college degree
onstrate a highly significant increase in chemistry content at all. The workshop lasts for two weeks and teachers are
knowledge over the course of the program. They also develop paid a stipend of $1,000, which is less than they would get
a better understanding of the nature of science. for teaching summer school. “We don’t have people who
To assess changes in teaching practices, teachers prepare are in it for the money,” said UCI’s Sergey Nizkorodov. The
a baseline teaching portfolio at the beginning of the program program estimates that each teacher interacts with approxi-
that describes a four- to five-day lesson plan. At the end, they mately 150 students per year. The program therefore is able
prepare another such lesson plan based on their thesis topic. to reach 3,000 additional students each year, along with the
Program evaluators then use a lesson plan analysis tool to students’ parents and members of the community.
analyze the two plans. The analysis shows that the later les- The hypothesis behind the program, said Nizkorodov, is
son plans reflect a much deeper understanding of how to deal that “if we convey enough excitement to the teachers, they’ll
with equity issues in the classroom, how to use technology, become better teachers and affect students that way.” The
and how to encourage students to practice their own analytic workshops involve faculty, graduate students, undergradu-
skills. The one area in which they do not improve, Blasie ates, and doctoral researchers—“everyone who participates
noted, is in using formative assessments to understand what in the AirUCI Institute.” Prominent faculty at UCI deliver
students know and what their misconceptions are. lectures on a wide variety of topics, including atmospheric
Teacher and student questionnaires compare the char- chemistry, climate change, air pollution, the interaction of
acteristics of classrooms both before and after a teacher life and matter, surface science, and hydrogen bonds, and
participates in the program. Results from both perspectives guest lecturers who are working at the institute provide talks
show significantly increased use of standards-based instruc- on additional topics.
tion once teachers have graduated from the program. The workshop also features labs adapted from those that
Measures of student performance have been hampered are offered to upper division undergraduate students, scaled
by the fact that different groups of students are being tested down so they can be completed in four hours. The labs use
each year. However, a content examination given to suc- equipment recently purchased and refurbished through a
cessive groups of students showed that students of program grant from the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Groups
graduates did significantly better than students of teachers of three or four teachers work with a graduate student from
before they entered the program. Also, student questionnaires the institute, with the graduate students receiving $1,000 for
revealed that students had a much better attitude about sci- their assistance. For example, one lab uses spectrometry to
ence after their teachers attended the program. measure the amount of alcohol in vodka; another measures
Much more can be done with evaluation data, Blasie the concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in
noted. For example, the electronic portfolios that teachers cigarette smoke; another measures the particle removal of
keep could be probed for many different types of informa- auto emissions by air purifiers; and another measures aro-
tion. One interesting suggestion made during the question- matic compounds in gasoline. A newly developed lab uses
and-answer period addressed the difficult issue of finding laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy to analyze metals.
a control group against which to make comparisons. Eric Besides five wet labs in each workshop, two computer labs
Jakobsson from the University of Illinois discussed a project are offered—one based on a model of air pollution in the Los
called Chemistry Literacy Through Computational Science. Angeles basin and the other based on the greenhouse proper-
As a control, half of the teachers recruited to the program ties of various pollutants. Finally, at the end of the program,
were delayed for a year and served as a control group for the the teachers do a half-day lab tour of institute activities.
teachers who began the program. “We don’t do a very good job of evaluating our program,”
said Nizkorodov. Mostly, the program has relied on self-eval-
uations by teachers immediately following the workshop.
The airUci sUmmer WorKshoP For Teachers
Recently, however, the program has been able to follow up
The AirUCI Summer Workshop for Teachers was founded with teachers in the previous workshops with an anonymous
in 2005 as an outreach program of the NSF-supported Envi- survey. When asked the question, “Have you been able to
ronmental Molecular Science Institute, with additional sup- integrate any new information from this program into your
port from the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Since course syllabi?” 84 percent responded, “Yes, to a certain
2005, four workshops have been offered that have served extent.” An additional 13 percent responded, “My syllabi
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EXEMPLARY PROGRAMS
have changed significantly as a result of taking this course.” the companion sciences to life for teachers and students at all
When asked the question, “Do you feel you are in a better levels,” said Pacey. Workshops are organized around hands-
position to discuss topics associated with climate change, air on activities, so that instructors do things with teachers and
pollution, and atmospheric chemistry with your students and not for them. Teachers learn via modeling and constructive
colleagues after participating in this program? “97 percent discourse and are encouraged to take risks in a supportive
responded, “Yes, my understanding of these topics definitely environment. In turn, teachers are encouraged and supported
improved a lot.” to take activities back to their schools and use them with
Teachers have many opportunities to attend other work- their students. Students experience the fun and excitement
shops, Nizkorodov noted, though perhaps not with equip- of doing inquiry-based science rather than having science
ment as sophisticated as that available at the institute. The done to them. By nurturing students’ curiosity, science
teachers at the workshops had attended an average of five motivates them and inspires their innovation and creativity.
to ten workshops before. The survey asked, If you attended Doing science this way also promotes critical thinking and
more than one teacher development program over the last problem solving, which is “absolutely necessary” in today’s
10 years, please rate this program relative to the others. economy, Pacey said.
Thirty-two percent of the teachers felt that it was the best The program partners with approximately 150 colleges
program they had participated in so far, while another 42 and universities, 1,000 school districts across the United
percent said it was superior to the other programs they had States and abroad, and 100 other organizations. For example,
attended. When asked to rate the most effective aspects of the the South Korea Metropolitan School district recently sent
program, the majority of teachers cited the close interactions 50 people for two weeks in two consecutive summers to
with faculty members, with the laboratory experience being participate in the program. Corporate partners also have used
the second-most cited factor. the program as a conduit to provide nearby schools with
The AirUCI Institute plans to continue the workshops for desperately needed supplies.
the foreseeable future, which may provide additional oppor- The Center for Chemistry Education has established a
tunities for evaluation. Nizkorodov also noted that the work- set of best practices that call for the extensive use of teacher
shops provide a valuable opportunity for graduate students leaders, mentoring teams, and collaboration with stakehold-
and postdoctoral researchers to learn to accept responsibility ers, including government and industrial labs. The best
for training teachers and communicating with the public. practices also call for learning activities that are content
rich, pedagogically strong, and extended over time. Teachers
and administrators participate in curriculum development,
TerriFic scieNce, 25 Years oF oUTreach iN
implementation, and evaluation using what they have learned
chemical edUcaTioN
in workshops. For example, after learning to measure pollut-
Since “Terrific Science: Empowering Teachers Through ant levels in lake water, participants in a workshop might be
Innovation” was founded 25 years ago at Miami University asked what kind of inquiry-based module they could develop
in Ohio, more than 22,000 teachers have participated in the for their students, given the constraints on equipment, sup-
program. The leaders of other programs often ask how Ter- plies, and other resources. Teachers then implement the
rific Science has reached such a large number of teachers, module in their classes, test it, improve it, and disseminate
said Gil Pacey, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at it to other teachers.
Miami University. The answer is that all of the workshops The program follows up with teachers for at least a year
offered through Terrific Science, which range in length from after each workshop. For example, teachers might meet with
a few days to two weeks, offer credit; Miami University has Terrific Science educators to discuss the implementation of
waived all tuition in most cases; and funding agencies have a newly developed module. Some graduates of the program
helped pay for housing and have offered stipends to teachers. also become facilitators for other teachers and eventually
“We hand out quite a lot of carrots,” Pacey said. teacher leaders who run workshops themselves. Pacey esti-
Terrific Science, a nonprofit organization run by Miami mated that 10 percent of the teachers who go through the
University’s Center for Chemistry Education, has produced program give papers at regional and national meetings based
more than 250 professional development programs; more on what they have accomplished. He also estimated that the
than 80 books, kits, and other resources; and an online average graduate of the program reaches 35 other teachers
repository of more than 200 resources for teachers (http:// in the first two years after the workshop, greatly multiplying
www.terrificscience.org). The program has received more the program’s effects.
than $16 million in federal, state, and private funding to Pacey cited a number of lessons learned from the pro-
increase scientific literacy and to stimulate interest in and gram. Scientific explanation without related experience has
understanding of science. little impact on learners. Lifelong scientific literacy begins
The vision of the program is to create engaging, motivat- with the attitudes and values established in childhood. How
ing, and fun learning experiences. “We bring chemistry and physical science is taught is as important as what is taught.
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8 STRENGTHENING HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY EDUCATION
Instruction should build on children’s innate curiosity, pro- Teachers’ comments about the program are extremely
vide firsthand experiences that involve all of the senses, be positive, as are comments from their students. In particular,
connected to everyday experiences and observable phenom- students express more interest in science-related careers after
ena, and provide connections among ideas. their teachers have participated in the program.
Evaluations of the program have shown that the students The program also has found it necessary to do outreach to
of participants spend more time doing laboratories that parents to convince them that science education is important
involve taking measurements and doing graphical analyses for their children. But “we have a major public relations
of data. The students of teachers reached by the program problem, probably across the whole country,” Pacey said.
also spend more time testing student-generated hypotheses. Ohio offers many examples of good and available jobs
In tests of physical science learning supported by the Ohio that are related to science and technology. For example,
Board of Regents, post-test scores for students in grades 3 Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton will need 7,000
through 9 increased dramatically when their teachers had bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. scientists and engineers to
gone through these programs. “Teachers learned how to replace retiring workers in the next five years. “We don’t
translate information to their students in a more effective know where we’re going to get them, so we have to do a
way,” Pacey said. sales job on parents,” said Pacey. “We probably also have to
do a sales job on [high school] counselors.”
