| The National Aeronautics and Space Administration holds summer teacher workshops at field centers to provide materials and help motivate teachers to use space science in their lessons. Evaluation of these workshops is important to facilitate the development and enhancement of future workshops. Teacher characteristics of interest were beliefs about science and science teaching and concerns about educational change and innovation. Of special interest was how the length of the workshop, the time since attendance, and the highest grade level taught affected these characteristics.; The teachers attending four workshops in 1995 of lengths from one to four weeks were surveyed before and after using the Beliefs about Science and Science Education survey (BSSE) and the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ). These instruments were also sent to past participants and to teachers that received materials but had not attended a workshop. The BSSE was also administered to Life Sciences researchers. The responses to the SoCQ by the 1995 participants were compared using the paired t-test and the BSSE responses using the Wilcoxon matched pairs, signed ranks test. The responses for the post-tests of 1984-1995 participants, no workshops, and science researchers were grouped by workshop length, time since workshop, and highest grade taught and compared using One-Way ANOVA for the SoCQ and the Kruskal-Wallis One-Way ANOVA for the BSSE.; Reductions in concerns were most evident in the four week workshop. Changes in beliefs were also observed relative to pedagogy and teaching ability. Differences in belief about science education were observed between teachers and the science researchers. Differences were also observed relative to time since attendance and by the grade level. The no-workshop group exhibited the highest concerns over awareness of the materials. It is recommended that the workshops be at least four weeks in length and target specific grade levels, that refresher workshops be offered, that concerns over the consequences, collaboration, and refocusing be addressed in the workshops. Better instruments should also be developed, pre-post surveys should be conducted with all future workshops, participants' students achievement should be examined, and the study should be replicated. |
