Susan M. SchelbleDepartment of Chemistry, (MSCD) Metropolitan State College of Denver Denver, Colorado
TExtending Chemistry is in the News
to High School Programs
TDenver Public Schools(DPS)
Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant(TQE)
Te5 Year Collaboration through
TWHOxt
Teacher Education Department (TED)Liberal Arts School (LAS)
at MSCDText
TWHATxt
Populations
MSCD DPS22,500
Downtown Denver
300-40010-40
Enrollment
Campus
Education Majors
Science
78,000
Metro Denver
10 HS, 18 MS
WHY
DPS MSCDImprove teacher
retentionIncrease science
licensure
Science redesign of
curriculum
Secondary scienceredesign
HOW
Change current course structure for science curriculum at DPS
Grade 6Grade 7
Grade 8*Grade 9
Grade 10*Grade 11Grade 12
Mixture of all science topicsMixture of all science topicsMixture of all science topics
Life scienceElectiveElectiveElective
HOW
New structure for DPS science curriculum (Field Testing 2006/07)
Grade 6Grade 7Grade 8*Grade 9Grade 10*Grade 11Grade 12
Weather, atmosphere, earthLife sciencePhysical scienceEarth science and/or electiveLife science and/or electiveChemistry or physics and/or electiveChemistry or physics and/or elective/none
* CSAP for Science given to all students
STANDARDS
123456
Scientific inquiry & investigation
Text
Physical science
Life scienceext
Earth and space science
Interrelationips with IT, humanities
Connections among sciences
Changing Strategies90/90/90 Schools*
Text
* Reeves, Douglas, Accountability in Action, 2006
1. Strong emphasis on achievement 2. Clear curricular choices3. Frequent assessment and chances to
improve.4. Strong emphasis on writing.5. External scoring of student work.
Becoming Successful
Reality in most schoolsState Norm TestsPD daysTraditional gradingIndependent contentTeaching isolationTeaching is a secretTests only grading objective
Successful schoolsAssessment w/ shared rubricOn-going peer coachingSome shared assessmentIntegration of contentCollaboration Clear expectationsMultiple types of assessments are used
EFFECTS OF GROUP INQUIRY
Term ACS %tile Retention
S 1998S 1999S2000S2001S2002S2003
616063636165
788389879496
Challenges
Universal computer accessLibrary accessClass timeGroup grading???

Funding1) NSFCCLI- A&I
2)Colorado Section ACSStudent Travel Grants
3)UCDHSCUndergraduate Research Opportunity Fund
4)US Dept. EducationSecondary Teacher Enhancement Project
5)ACSProject SEED
Colorado Student Assistants
Elaine Martinez
Shannon Hopkins
Janene Filareki Filarecki
Eric Lupo Erik Angles
Cindy Hickel
Collaborators
DPS MSCDSharon Sikora
Jim ShortDebbie Hearty
Angie Powers (TED)Nancy Sasaki (BIO)Melanie Haas (TQE)Dennis Dell (TQE)
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