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A national need exits to attract better qualified students into the study of the physical sciences at all levels. The decline in the number of students in physics and chemistry courses at universities and colleges has been attributed to their late exposure to these fields. Studies show that elementary/middle school teachers have relatively little training or experience in chemistry; consequently, they do not present this important field to their students. Furthermore, these studies also show that teachers prefer to obtain new ideas and information about teaching methods from colleagues rather than from other sources.
To meet this need this program was developed and it trained 19 elementary and middle school teachers. The program, offered for ten graduate credits, introduced experiences in chemistry appropriate for the teachers who participated, many of whom had little or no background in chemistry. The chemistry content was presented in such a way to enable the teachers to do safe, hands-on, exciting activities with their students. Moreover, the teachers were trained as science in-service specialists able to act as resource persons for other teachers. This was accomplished through a series of workshops and requirements that extended over the life of the program.
The final product of this program is 19 elementary/middle school teachers able to teach simple chemical facts and ideas to their students and colleagues through manipulative, hands-on activities.
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