Thirty-three K-4 teachers from the Mississippi River Delta region of Louisiana are currently involved in the first year of a three-year professional development program in science. The project staff believe that a constructivist approach to learning is more effective than traditional methods and have employed this form of instruction throughout the project. The investigators’ hypothesize that teachers (1) will improve their skills in communication, problem solving, and linking and generating of knowledge; (2) will improve their classroom instruction of science by using reform-based methodologies; (3) will enhance their knowledge about the physical, life, and earth and space sciences because of the understanding they gain from inquiry-based activities; and (4) will motivate their student to become better, life-long learners by relating science to the world around their students.
In order to test these hypotheses, a set of pre- and post-project assessments of attitudes about science and science teaching, cognitive development level, content knowledge, and science process skills are being administered to the participants. The instrument used to assess science content knowledge was developed from items used in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study of third and fourth grade students. The pre-project assessment reveals that the participants generally have a good knowledge of basic science facts but have difficulty with the application of these facts and with the processes involved in scientific investigations. Hypothesis 3 above is tested by comparing these results to those of the post-summer-institute assessment. The findings from this comparison and the implications of these results with respect to the preparation of primary school teachers are discussed