Cooperative Science Study at Arsenal Technical High School

Abstract

In 1940 it was decided to carry the work further by making a three-year cooperative study of developments in science teaching in selected high schools in various parts of the country. The schools selected were those in which good work in science teaching was already being carried on, and in which the school administrators were interested in encouraging further developments.One teacher was chosen by the administrator in each school to represent that school, to carry to the Bureau reports of work being done, and to keep members of the school staff in touch with materials and ideas developed by other cooperating schools and by members of the Bureau staff. The representative was to be freed from approximately one-fifth of his regular teaching duties in order to carry on this work. In addition he was to attend summer workshops at which representatives from all of the participating schools would meet to discuss common problems and to make plans for continuation of work in their schools.Representatives from the cooperating schools met at Columbia University in the summer of 1940 to formulate plans for work in their respective schools. As these plans have been carried out, new courses and revisions of courses have been made. New techniques have been developed and new classroom materials made available. In several schools cooperation has de-323

Chapter VII: Teacher Education in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics

“…Other instances of group thought and action in programs for teacher preparation and teacher growth were reported by Study (21), Carothers (7), and Armstrong (2). Another case in point is a community study conducted in Indianapolis as a project of the Arsenal Technical High School (5,13). Particular attention was given to the implications of the study for science teachers, which led to changes in the direction of broadening the science offerings of the school.…”