Project Description
Elementary school teachers in Chester and Trinidad will learn to use inquiry based teaching practices in environmental education using new technologies (electronic field trips) to teach children ecological concepts as they explore, respectively, local marshes and mountainsides, and interactively share their learning about those environments and the differences between them.Purpose of the program
Based on the professional development literature, further research is necessary in investigating alternative programmatic models for the professional development of teachers that will lead to actual change in participants’ teaching behavior in their classrooms. Though school systems have traditionally placed much time, effort, and financial resources into the field of professional development, Borko describes the majority of these experiences as “woefully inadequate” (2004). One of the reasons sited for this state of affairs has been linked to the fact that professional developers do not take situational factors into consideration. Though many professional development sessions receive high satisfaction scores from participating teachers because many teachers become energized and passionate about new ideas, when they return to their classrooms, many of these new ideas and approaches lay fallow due to some pre-existing construct in the school structure, schedule, finances, school climate, external mandates, etc.