by Susan Gomez-Zwiep.
The last week of July 2008 marked the kick off of the CPEC (California Post-Secondary Commission) sponsored elementary science program at CSULB. The CPEC grant supports elementary teachers professional development in science and English Language Development with summer institutes and yearlong on-site support. Teachers from Montebello and Garvey school districts spent the week deepening their earth science content knowledge and developing their science pedagogy skills, under the facilitation of Susan Gomez-Zwiep, Jill Grace, Dave Nickels, Bill Straits and Jo Topps. CSULB faculty and district teachers worked hard, but also had a great deal of fun as we investigated weather, rocks and minerals and astronomy topics in the tranquil setting of the DePaul seminary on the banks of the San Gabriel River in Montebello. The week also focused on integrating science and ELD instruction: helping students learn English skills through hands-on, inquiry based science. During the end of the week, our institute went mobile and participating teachers had the opportunity to apply their science knowledge to the Santa Ana Science Discovery Center, the L.A. Observatory and the geologic marvels of the Palos Verdes coastline.
The grant provided funding for only 42 teachers to attend the week long in-service but the response from teachers and principals has been so overwhelming that both districts dug deep into their own pockets and to fund an additional 60 teachers, for a total attendance of over 100 participants. Lessons learned in the summer will be continued as the project moves into the next phase: lesson study teams. Beginning in October, small groups of teachers will collaboratively design and teach science lessons in their classrooms, moving what was learned in the summer into classroom practice. This was so much fun, we are going to do it next year! Summer 2009 we will be back at the DePaul center to investigate the wonders of physical science.
