School in the Exploratorium Partnerships for Leadership in Science Teaching: 1991-1994
The School in the Exploratorium is implementing a three-year, multi-tiered program designed to prepare a cadre of Lead Science Teachers from the San Francisco Unified School District and three Marin County school districts to implement district-wide hands-on science teaching. Working in partnership with the SFUSD's San Francisco Science Leadership Project and similar projects in the Marin County districts, the School in the Exploratorium will provide intensive training in physical science, inquiry-based learning and school leadership for the Lead Teachers to support implemen tation of hands-on science and the introduction of the new California State Science Framework.
This project will result in the creation of Lead Schools in which the Lead Teachers will work closely with colleague Partners, also trained by the School in the Exploratorium, to conduct on-site workshops for their colleagues and principals both in their schools and throughout the districts. Additional activities in clude year-long residencies at the Exploratorium which will develop science special ists for the districts. By the end of three years, one-third of the elementary schools in SFUSD and one-fourth of those in Marin County will have experienced a high degree of intensive hands-on science development leading to the implemen tation of the new sci ence curriculum district-wide. The project exemplifies a flexible model of school-based change using a partnership between systemic efforts in both a multi-ethnic, large urban district and decentralized, suburban districts and the indepth educational activities of a regional public science resource center.
Participants in the School in the Exploratorium program include Teachers-in-Residence, Lead Teachers, Teacher Associates, Classroom Teachers, and Parents, as described below:
District Science Specialists/Teachers-in-Residence
Each year, four teachers are selected by the districts and the School in the Exploratorium to train for one year at the Exploratorium and at district administrative offices to become Science Specialists. During the residency, these teachers co-teach Exploratorium workshops, lead in-service trainings in the schools, conduct classroom visits with School in the Exploratorium staff, and help to develop science curricula. They serve as key links between the Exploratorium and the district, ensuring a continuity in approach and application of science reform efforts.
Lead Teachers
Lead Teachers participate in our intensive three-week Summer Institute. In the ensuing academic school year Lead Teachers are visited in their classrooms by School in the Exploratorium artists
and scientists, return to the museum for follow-up workshops, and receive free field trips for their students.
Teacher Associates
All graduates of past years' Summer Institutes are invited each year to attend a series of follow-up workshops and special events. These teachers are also able to apply for small grants allowing them to fund special science projects and events for their schools or classrooms. So far, 120 Teacher Associates use the Exploratorium as both a professional resource and a base for a collegial support network.
Classroom Teachers/Introductory Workshops
Since 1985, over 1,500 classroom teachers have taken a three-day School in the Exploratorium Introductory Workshop on topics such as Vision & Visual Perception, Light & Color, Sound & Hearing, and Electricity & Magnetism. These workshops introduce teachers to hands-on science teaching and set the stage for further development. Seventy-six percent of Lead Teachers come from these Introductory Workshops.
Family Workshops
With funding from the USDOE, School in the Exploratorium has conducted a pilot program of hands-on, discovery-based workshops for students and their families from Spring Valley Elementary School in San Francisco. The aim of the workshops is to encourage parent
participation in their children's learning.
Elements of the School in the Exploratorium program include Summer Institutes, Forums and Follow-up Workshops, Classroom Visits and Leadership Training, as described below:
Summer Institute
An intensive three-week institute where teachers participate in hands-on investigations of natural phenomena, discuss and reflect on pedagogical goals and techniques, and explore their own scientific and artistic capabilities and processes.
Mini-Summer Institute
A one-week institute devoted to hands-on activities which reinforce pedagogical and scientific concepts and issues raised during the academic year's Forums and Follow-Up sessions.
Classroom Visits
School in the Exploratorium staff spend 15 to 20 hours co-teaching in the classrooms of that year's Summer Institute graduates. In the classrooms, Exploratorium staff model interdisciplinary teaching techniques for the teachers, and help them to explore methods of implementing hands-on investigations for their students.
Leadership Training
Differing levels of leadership training are available to all program participants. Teachers-in-Residence co-teach introductory workshops; with Lead Teachers they also conduct in-service trainings in their district schools, work on curriculum development both in their districts and at the Exploratorium, and offer assistance and guidance on special extra-curricular projects initiated by Lead Teachers and funded, in part, by the Exploratorium.
Physics Exploratories
Each year, three series of these 4-day high level physics courses are offered to program participants. The Exploratories are hands-on investigations of fundamental principles of physics and are designed for the personal edification of the teachers, rather than specifically for classroom use.
Teacher Associate Forums
Throughout the academic year, the School in the Exploratorium offers Forums and Follow-Up workshops to all program participants. Teachers come to these workshops to reinforce scientific and artistic concepts and pedagogical approaches, to meet and converse with their fellow teachers, and to pursue new methods and topics of investigations. Often noted artists, scientists, or education leaders are invited to address the teachers on areas of mutual interest and concern.
Introductory Workshops
Two to four series of these three-day workshops are offered each year on topics such as Light & Color, Sound, Electricity & Magnetism, and Vision & Visual Perception. The workshops introduce teachers to methods and ideas for teaching interdisciplinary, hands-on art and science. Frequently, teachers in our Summer Institute are graduates of one or more of our introductory workshop series.
Other Workshops
As part of our ongoing effort to achieve far-reaching, systemic change, the School in the Exploratorium offers special workshops for principals, students and their families, teachers from schools which have been identified as Chapter One, and other specific groups.
For more information write to
School in the Exploratorium
3601 Lyon Street
San Francisco, California 94123
Tel 415/561-0330
Fax 415/561-0307