Imagination Station

COSI Toledo will partner with the Toledo Public Schools and the Lucas County Schools to provide new teachers with thorough and sustained professional development designed to promote state-of-the-art science education. Project components include content-based and science inquiry workshops, a novice teacher support group, and eight-day summer institutes. Thirty novice elementary teachers and ten mentor teachers will participate over a two-year period. The project will offer teachers effective and sustained professional development for novice and veteran (mentor) teachers, establish a support network through partnering, support elementary science reform efforts by creating a fellowship among science education professionals, and develop a model of collaborative professional development. The anticipated results are that novice teachers will build upon the teaching and learning theories they were exposed to in college, gain confidence and proficiency in teaching science, use inquiry-based teaching methods and resources, and increase their satisfaction with and desire to continue teaching, as well as learn to use the museum as a resource.