The Research Experience for Teachers (RET) supplement to the Central Arizona–Phoenix Long Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) program, funded by the National Science Foundation, provided an extraordinary opportunity for a pair of teachers to work with faculty member Dr. Kevin McGraw at Arizona State University. The transfer of scientific learning from this experience to the teachers’ classroom is the typical outcome for similar experiences. However, our team scaled up this outcome to impact 5th – 8th grade teachers across the 19-school Roosevelt School District of south Phoenix, a community recognized as under-served. We utilized the 5E Instructional Unit Model, a process developed by BSCS Science Instructional Learning. Leveraging our RET funding, our team trained with BSCS, the Arizona Department of Education, and the Arizona Science Teachers Association for ten days over the school year to become instructional unit designers and lead trainers for the Roosevelt Schools. The model employs the Five Tools and Processes to support educators in translating disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and performance expectations into a coherent unit plan for phenomenon or problem-focused units of instruction.
Results/Conclusions
This intense 60-hour training was employed to train 27 teachers from across the district through three separate professional development workshops. These workshops incorporated learning resources and materials of our CAP LTER Schoolyard project, Ecology Explorers. The Five Tools and Processes were utilized to translate our new Arizona Science Standards into usable instructional units for teachers’ classrooms. Our post-workshop survey results from the participating teachers demonstrate increases in understanding Unit Storylines for instruction and in understanding of and comfort using the new Arizona State Science Standards for their classrooms.