About Year 1

The first year of the ARCS staff development grant was designed as a companion grant to a Scientific Literacy Pilot Project proposal submitted by the Rock Island County Regional Office of Education. The two proposals were designed to coordinate with, and enhance, each other. The target population of the staff development project included 24 high school math and science teachers from four area high schools, who became designated as ARCS facilitators. These teachers were provided with needed technology through the pilot project companion grant. They each received a computer for their classroom, as well as the training, through the staff development project, to successfully integrate this technology into their instruction. The pilot project also focused on the ensuing benefits for the students in these teachers? classrooms.

The Year One ARCS facilitators participated in continuing staff development training in the summer of 1997. A nine-day ARCS Summer Institute consisted of a core program of training in scientific literacy, problem-based and engaged learning, action research, and adult education. These teachers returned to their classrooms in the fall with action research projects planned and ready to implement with students. In fulfillment of the ?train the trainer? model of staff development, each facilitator was also enabled and encouraged to train one or more of their colleagues in the teaching strategies and technologies they had been exposed to through their own training.