Participants include teachers, science coordinators, and principals from the Malden Schools, teacher teams from Tufts' other partner districts, and graduate students from Tufts M.A.T. program and its M.S. and Ph.D. program in Mathematics, Science, Technology, and Engineering Education. The careful selection of partnering schools develops challenging science learning for diverse classrooms.
The Institute engages participants in how learners' understanding of scientific phenomena evolves. Its extensive curricula includes observing and making sense of scientific phenomena, learning how scientists and students grasp the same phenomena, sharing and gaining insights with Institute participants, and learning how to plan and support inquiry-based learning experiences in classroom settings. The teachers' personal experiences, enriched by the reflections of practicing scientists, enables them to better comprehend the science and understand that students perceive phenomena from diverse perspectives.
Leveraging the advances made by the successful Lesley/TERC Online Master's in Science Education project, core Institute curricula and interactions occur online. This cost-effective strategy ensures the strongest learning opportunities, the greatest flexibility for in-service teachers, affordability, and widespread scalability.
The partnership offers unique advantages. Tufts delivers highly-qualified science faculty, its Teacher Preparation programs, and its graduate programs in Science Education, the only such doctoral program in the Boston area. TERC brings extensive experience with K-12 science education, research, and online inquiry-based learning. The Malden and Mission Hills Schools provide diverse student population and high interest in improving science learning.
Intellectual Merit: The Fulcrum Institute advances the vision created by the successful NSF Summer Institute Program. It recruits accomplished teachers, substantially deepens their subject-matter knowledge and teaching skills, and helps them assume leadership positions in their classrooms, schools, and professional communities. The project creates an established and sustainable, leadership program designed to meet the need for leaders in science education throughout our country.
Broader Impacts: The Fulcrum Institute becomes an established part of Tuft's programs in science education, developing into an established part of the university's program offerings and serves as a gateway for teachers to pursue Masters and Ph.D. degrees in science education.
Moreover, the Institute introduces a radical restructuring in the way pre-service teachers are inducted into schools and supervised by mentoring teachers. The economies offered by online course delivery result in future Fulcrum Institutes being sustainable via tuitions, scholarships, vouchers, and district professional development funds.