Reflections from the end:

We have learned that these assumptions were overly optimistic and while our vision is unchanged it is now tempered by experience. Our experience has taught us that time and teacher turn-over (the shifting sands in our analogy) are challenges to achieving our vision and have provided direction for our thinking about sustainability.

Time - We have learned that we seriously underestimated the time necessary to affect change in student achievement, to develop the content pedagogical knowledge required for a high degree of implementation of the STC units, and to bring district curricula and testing practices into alignment with NYS Core Curricula. We have also learned that science competes with mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) for the precious and scarce professional development time in our district schools, where students' scores on grade 4 and grade 8 state mandated mathematics and ELA tests are primary accountability measures.

Shifting Sands - The statistics on teacher turn-over speak for themselves. When we proposed the project (Spring 2000), we had 326 eligible teachers. By September 2000, only 80% remained; by September 2001, 67% remained eligible; and as of September 2002, 56% remain eligible. We have anecdotal evidence and teacher interview evidence that there has been a shift in focus from marching through a kit to one that acknowledges the worth of science and that is strongly connected to national and state standards. Teachers who have attended CRSEP activities have indicated an increase in content knowledge, greater understanding of the expected learning outcomes students should achieve, a stronger awareness of the standards and the quality of their instruction improved. So, informally, we know we will have some well-prepared teacher leaders when the project closes (the five different Professional Development Specialists and other teachers who have engaged in more than the suggested number of CRSEP professional development hours). However, with the 44% turnover rate, we also know we will have to provide some form of support or materials for remaining teachers to use in mentoring new teachers. Two of our approaches to supporting sustainability derive from time and the shifting sands. Both address pedagogical content knowledge. These are weekly e-mails and concept maps.

Weekly e-mail - Each week teachers receive an e-mail of one of two types. The Perplexing Pairs e-mails derived from our observations of pairs of science concepts that students and teacher do not adequately differentiate, for instance, revolution and rotation, breathing and respiration, and mass and weight. The Perplexing Pairs e-mails do not simply define the concepts but discusses the scientific conceptual connections between the pairs, and distinguishes their meaning in everyday use from their scientific meaning.

Fifteen Minute Inquiries, the second type of weekly e-mail, span several weeks, pose questions related to the content of STC Units, and lead teachers through "thought inquiries" to explore the question. Examples of the Inquiries are the Plant in a Jar series that examines the life of a plant in a closed system, a closed glass jar. Initially teachers were asked to predict how long the plant would live. Their responses lead to discussions of changes in the atmosphere in the jar, accounting for the constant supply of oxygen in up-state New York in winter when there are few green plants in the local ecosystem, distinguishing photosynthesis from synthesis, and distinguishing plant food from animal food. The focus of the Fifteen Minute Inquiries is on scientific reasoning, modeling the kind of explanation that students should be encouraged to develop after they engage in hands-on activities. (The weekly-e-mails are at http://www.crsep.org, Science Inquiries.)

Concept Maps - Concept maps provide teachers with summaries of the content contained in each STC unit implemented in CRSEP districts. In addition each concept map contains content related to the STC unit that is part of the Elementary and Intermediate Core Curricula but is not included in any of the STC units implemented by the districts. Concept maps provide teachers an overview of the STC content organized in networks rather than in the sequential presentation of science content in text books. We believe that providing teachers with this alternative way of representing science content will help them understand the structural features of science knowledge. Up to this point in time we have used the concept maps only in professional development session primarily to provide teachers with an elaborated overview of the science content of STC units and related NYS Core Curriculum concepts and principles. We have limited experience with using the concept maps to design lessons to supplement STC units with related Core Curriculum Content and to design unit and end-of-year assessments.

SUSTAINABILITY

We believe that with the development of appropriate strategies for use, the e-mails and concept maps we have developed will contribute to the sustainability of the CRSEP Project. They can be used to support the introduction of new teachers to STC Units and to provide content support to teachers developing competence in the implementation of STC Units. We do not see any change in sight for the high rate of teacher turn-over or the demands on teacher time. Consequently we see the materials we are developing as a legacy to our districts.

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