University of Arkansas Science Partnership Program: Lessons Learned In Evaluating Year One

The University of Arkansas Science Partnership Program began in 2006 and focuses on the professional growth of 6 th , 7 th and 8 th grade science teachers through three summer institutes and follow-up activities.Teachers are teamed with engineering faculty to improve teaching skills and to increase teachers' use, understanding and application of laboratory exercises.The Partnership Program consists of three parts: 1) instruction at the institutes using a number of hands-on activities that will be used in the classroom; 2) follow-up activities at the middle and junior high schools and; 3) evaluation, both during and after the summer institutes.engineering problem-solving techniques as experiments, which they preferred most during the Year 1 Institute.If the teachers learn to design an activity, they will be more likely to use it in the classroom.The approach allows teachers to determine the level of experiment complexity to best fit their grade level.Last, this approach forces the teachers to take ownership of the created experiments so they will be more interested in follow-up activities and in utilizing such approaches in their classroom.