Perhaps because CAPSI's two main scientist-leaders are
experimental scientists--Drs. Jerry Pine and Jim Bower of
Caltech--the CAPSI partnership began in 1986 in a small
way, building knowledge from experience. School and
Caltech leaders also researched what had worked before in
the school districts by Mesa, Arizona; Highline,
Washington; and Schaumburg, Illinois. General principals
seen in operation there were taken into account. Master
teacher Jennifer Yure had signed on to the Pasadena
school district to run a science "discovery
room" but was not a science expert. With help from
Susan Sprague and her staff at Mesa, CAPSI's pilot school
program was launched in 1986 using the Mesa curriculum
modules and the Mesa resource teacher model. The teachers
in the first Pasadena school to go hands-on in
science--the pilot school--had participated in a hands-on
workshop led by a Mesa resource teacher, and the great
majority enthusiastically chose to try kit-based inquiry
science teaching.
During initial staff development with the new kits, a
model evolved in which a scientist participated as a
partner with teachers in exploring a new kit. The session
was led by a teacher expert, and the scientist was a
colleague in inquiry and not a leader or a source of
factual knowledge. This model of scientist participation
is now a hallmark of the Pasadena program, with well over
100 scientists involved for 1 to 4 days per year in
"kit training." All the Center districts have
also adopted this model.
The initial modest financial backing needed to launch
the pilot school program, including the visit to Mesa and
the purchasing kits, was supplied by Murph Goldberger,
the President of Caltech at that time. By 1989, the pilot
school had demonstrated its success, and the district
leadership opted to expand the program and to apply for a
large National Science Foundation grant to make the
program district-wide. In the year before that grant was
successfully funded, they backed expansion to five more
schools with district funds, building on the expertise of
the pilot school staff. Jennifer Yure became the district
coordinator. The initial NSF grant was for approximately
$500,000 which, over time, was supplemented to a total of
about $1-million. School district contributions for
professional development and materials support matched
that amount.
CAPSI encountered a diversity of conditions and
challenges among the schools undergoing fundamental
change in their elementary science education programs.
Staff began to realize that there was no single, sharply
defined model for change, only a general strategy.
Now that CAPSI has gone on to work with school
districts in California in addition to Pasadena, through
its Center Project, further experiences have confirmed
that how the CAPSI/Pasadena strategy for phasing in
inquiry-based modules works best varies from district to
district and even from school to school. Staff has
concluded that the CAPSI strategy can serve only as a
guide. And yet, certain principles are emerging from the
early years of The Center Project. For example,
- A school does not need to have completed its own
implementation to start serving as a seed for
reform in other schools. All that is required is
for the original school to have created a certain
critical mass of lead teachers so that they can
go on to help the other schools.
- It seems important for the original pilot-school
coordinator to take on that role for the
additional schools and, ultimately, to become
district coordinator. At the same time, the more
routine tasks associated with kit maintenance
will then need to be performed by new personnel
(such as clerks and kit packers).
