Exploring the Impact of Specialists on Science Learning at the Elementary Level: A Conference to be Held in Boston, Massachusetts, Late Fall 2006

Education Development Center, Waltham MA

Investigators

Abstract

The Center for Science Education at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) proposes an invitational conference to define, describe and examine existing models for using elementary science specialists; explore the educational, policy and financial issues that impact the use of science specialists; and most importantly, develop a research agenda to assess the quality and effectiveness of specialist-managed elementary science programs on student outcomes. Existing literature about the role and impact of science specialists is limited. What exists focuses primarily on descriptions of various models and debates about their relative merits. Although many school districts employ different models for using science specialists as a part of their elementary science program, there currently is little about the effectiveness of any of these models in enhancing student science learning.