Course Title
Models of Professional Development in Mathematics & Science

Course Overview
Students will investigate the challenge of sustained support for effective and long-lasting professional development.

Course Goal and Objectives
The goals of this course are to explore, through journal and chapter readings, as well as through hands-on observations and discussions, a variety of approaches to professional development for teachers of mathematics and sciences in middle school, high school, and college. Questions to be investigated include how to encourage professional development, how to put Professional Development models into practice, how to get teachers and administrators to realize that they want Professional Development. Students will develop a grounding in models of professional development (in content, leadership, and pedagogy) that are appropriate in a variety of environments. Students will learn about appropriate resources for the planning and design of professional development, including on-line web resources, as well as the more traditional book and journal resources. Students will design a professional development module in this course. Partial implementation is encouraged during this course, but a plan of action is strongly recommended.

Course Content
1. Critique of OR, CO and MT state standards for mathematics and science and compare with national standards.

2. Different Models of Professional Development in general
Nuts and bolts – on giving a presentation or workshop
Mathematics and science for the diverse learner
Ineffective models – Characteristics. What makes them ineffective?
Effective models - Characteristics. What makes them effective?
e.g. Workshops and follow-up
Paired mentoring
Lesson study, action research
Distance delivered e.g. T3 workshops

3. Models of Professional Development in Mathematics
Various models will be examined, for example, students will learn about the QUASAR Project, and the mathematical task analysis framework that was developed as part of this project. Students will learn how to implement this task analysis in a classroom situation where paired teachers will use the framework as a point of discussion for their classroom teaching.

4. Models of Professional Development in Science
Various examples of Professional Development Models in Science will be explored and discussed. For example, The Framework for Designing Professional Development, found in the NSTA publication Professional Development Planning and Design.

Expectations for Students
-Weekly Threaded Discussion (4 pts weekly for 10 weeks) 40%
-Professional Development Module (Due May 1) 30%
-Implementation plan or actual implementation 5%
-Paper (Choose a topic and address PD)
-First draft Due March 6 10%
-Final draft Due May 7 10%
-Homework Assignments
-MathEdology or SciencEdology
-(Bio with picture) Due 7 February 5%

A: 90%
B: 80% and < 90%
C: 70 and < 80%
Failing: < 70%