The roles of regional partners in supporting an international earth science education program

Abstract

This study explores the roles that regional partners play in helping to support implementation of the GLOBE program, an international earth science and education initiative. Researchers at SRI International conducted case studies of two GLOBE partners' practices in an effort to identify the factors that contribute to effective implementation of the program within a teaching approach that emphasizes student research. The chief finding of the case studies is that intermediary organizations in GLOBE help teachers both to address obstacles to implementing GLOBE-based student research in their classrooms and to align their curriculum to state standards and assessments. Such intermediary organizations may play similar roles in other science education programs, helping teachers to find ways to make nationally or internationally oriented science curriculum materials locally relevant and easy to adopt in diverse school settings. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 89: 956–979, 2005