The Michigan Science Curriculum Resources Network is designed to facilitate the development of high-quality science curriculum materials by bringing together a large numbers of science education professionals and providing a common unit planning architecture consistent with current understanding of student learning, a mechanism for large scale empirical tryout using student performance data, and a mechanism for disseminating and sharing resources. MSCRN is Web-based so all participants can access the resource within a Web browser. This project is funded by the Michigan Department of Education and is headed by Edward Smith, associate professor of teacher education.

According to Smith, who specializes in the teaching and learning of science in elementary schools, the network is designed to help today’s teachers become better teachers by providing everything from lesson plans to chat rooms, offering professional development on a continuing basis.

"One of the intents is that this network will be an instrument for professional development, allowing professional development to be more effective than if you didn’t have those resources to draw on," Smith says.

In 1991, the State of Michigan adopted a new set of standards for science education, providing a strong conceptual framework for the science teaching in the state. During the next five years, a new assessment program based on the adopted standards was designed.

"There are some curriculum materials that have been developed to be consistent with the standards through the department of education and there are a set of demonstration units developed," says Smith. "But by and large, there is a real need for more curriculum materials that match, or address, the standards and reflect the teaching strategies that are needed to successfully achieve the kind of learning represented by the standards."

"This network has been designed to address that need.

The MSCRN Website is located at http://www.egr.msu.edu/~ramacha2/educ.html