A model for graduate-level chemistry content courses that are contextualized to standards-based curricula

CHED 139

Hannah Sevian, hannah.sevian@umb.edu, Departments of Education and Chemistry, W-4-181, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125
We present an innovative model for university-based graduate-level chemistry courses for middle and high school teachers of chemistry and physical science. About 80% of science teachers in the urban district served by our math science partnership program do not have adequate content background to teach the subjects they teach. Our courses provide the adult-level content needed to teach effectively, and also prepare teachers for subject exams required for licensure. The courses are contextualized to national and state standards and support specific inquiry-based curricula taught in the district that meet these standards, Living by Chemistry and FOSS Chemical Interactions. Each course is co-planned and co-taught by a team of three: a chemistry professor, and middle and high school science teacher leaders. Instruction models current research-supported practices including the learning cycle and inquiry-oriented pedagogy. The curriculum and lessons learned from one of our chemistry courses, “Particulate nature of matter,” will be discussed.