Case-Based Questions

CASE 12.A

As an experienced middle school science teacher, you have been using a Project-Based Science approach with your students for several years. Although you like working with the students, you feel that you could be doing even more with them if you had more resources. You were talking to another teacher in your building about this limitation when she handed you a brochure that she received at a recent professional conference. She said, "This might help."

When you looked down at the brochure you saw that it was a request for grant proposals to enhance the teaching and learning in middle grades science and mathematics. You were excited about the prospect of getting support for doing Project-Based Science in your classroom. Later, when you read the request carefully, you found that, in essence, it wanted answers to the following questions:

1		What are the key features of Project-Based Science? (Chapter Learning Performance 12.1)
2		What are the benefits of Project-Based Science? (Chapter Learning Performance 12.1)
3		How will working on the proposed project help to promote your professional development? (Chapter Learning Performance 12.3)
4		What are the potential challenges to implementing a Project-Based Science project, and how can they be overcome? (Chapter Learning Performance 12.5)
5		What is your plan for assessing your professional development as the proposed project proceeds? (Chapter Learning Performance 12.4)

CASE 12.B

You are working as a middle grades science education specialist for an educational consulting firm. A local school district has hired you to work with their middle grades science teacher to help them understand and use a Project-Based Science approach to teaching and learning. Because you need to have a high impact on the teachers you will be working with, you need to concisely and clearly answer questions that these teachers are sure to have for you. The questions they are likely to have are:

6		What is Project-Based Science all about? (Chapter Learning Performance 12.1)
7		How will it help my students? (Chapter Learning Performance 12.2)
8		How will it help me as a teacher? (Chapter Learning Performance 12.3)
9		What are the challenges when attempting a Project-Based Science curriculum, and how can I overcome them? (Chapter Learning Performance 12.5)
10		What does a professional development plan look like? (Chapter Learning Performance 12.4)