VQUEST is state systemic reform initiative funded by NSF through the State of Virginia. The VQUEST STARS project has three goals:

• increase scientific literacy of all students
• increase student positive attitudes towards science and math
• make science and math attractive to minorities and women

In order to achieve these goals, science and math can not continue to be presented as a static body of facts to be memorized, regurgitated on the test, then forgotten. Science and math must be presented and modeled as a systematic way of knowing the world. Reform 1, Teachers As Researchers, seeks to address these goals by providing in- service teachers with research experiences. Reform 2, Students As Researchers, seeks to provide current 9-12 students and pre-service teachers with research experiences.

Teachers as researchers GOALS:

The immediate goal of the Teachers as Researchers program is for the teachers to have a research experience. The ultimate goal is for the teachers, having had a research experience, to introduce research into their high school classrooms so their students learn science by doing science. The pictures above show activities in the pilot program run in 1994/1995 at Christopher Newport University.

For the latest information see the VQUEST STARS: Teachers as Researchers 1995-1996 Home Page

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