Science Curriculum & Instruction Institute
This is an innovative professional development program that brings middle school and high school teachers together to collaborate on synthesizing 21st century curricula. This program is to completely revise the current science curriculum at Abington Heights High School. The Institute is currently comprised of three middle school teachers, three high school teachers and Dr. Petula.
The Institute is currently rewriting the freshman Earth & Space Science curricula. The goal is to pilot the new curriculum during the 2009-2010 academic year. This Institute seeks to reinvent how science is taught in school. Significant learning qualities incorporated into the new curriculum will not be dependent on a single textbook, multiple resources will be used during instruction, students must engage in scientific phenomena, and students must be excited about science.
A pilot new curriculum for the Honors Earth Science classes will be ready for the fall of 2009. After we pilot this brand new curriculum, the program will be used for all incoming freshman. The plan is to expand the institute to include interested 10th grade teachers as well as both a 7th grade and an11th grade teacher to begin drafting a new Biology curriculum with the goal of piloting, in a similar fashion as the freshman curriculum, the following year. In a sense, the institute spirals upward and keeps communication open between the middle school and high school while creating a brand new curriculum that emphasizes essential understanding and gives students 21st century experiences. The proposed course will integrate mathematics and technology into science as well as being writing intensive.
Currently there are six Abington Heights teachers involved in the program. These teachers will grow professionally as a result of their participation in the institute.
This program will involve over 600 students which will compound over time. The process will greatly affect and revise the current science curriculum within our school district to enhance the learning process of the students. All participants are teachers within the Abington Heights School District, which is in Lackawanna County.