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Interpretations
& Conclusions:
Presents and interprets quantitative and
qualitative results
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After a year of developing or revising curricula,
nine participants met at Brockport, NY in August 1997
to report on their practicum-related curriculum development
activities during the 1996-97 academic year. The reports
assembled in this document illustrate the high level
of commitment by the participants to the GLRC/NSF
practicum. Of the 16 participants, 15 who were active
in 1996-97 created or revised curricula, including
5 (33%) who developed new courses based on practicum
experiences. Nine of 15 (60%) developed new environmental
impact statements (EIS) modules for one or more courses,
including using a real local issue (40%), extensive
cooperative learning activities (53%), and role playing
exercises (27%). Six (40%) of the 15 active participants
created new laboratory or modeling exercises that
required students to use spreadsheets (mostly on Excel
donated to practicum participants by Microsoft Corp.),
and four participants (27%) went on to use ELISA test
kits for PCTs or pesticides in their lab/field courses.
Three of the participants (20%) are creating new majors,
minors, concentrations or M.S. programs that include
one or more aspects of GLRC/NSF practicum activities
in their new curricula. Four of the participants (27%)
wrote and submitted grant proposals to obtain further
support for their curricular innovations, and two
have been funded. This last outcome was the result
of a half-day discussion of grant opportunities on
the last day of the practicum led by a 1994 GLRC/NSF
summer practicum participant who had experience writing,
receiving, and reviewing curriculum development proposals
for NSF. Her insights on how to write successful proposals
greatly stimulated the other participants and led
to external support for curricular development at
two of the participants' institutions. In sum, all
but one of the participants used GLRC practicum information
and materials to create new curricula based on their
practicum experiences.
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