Students who had participated in kit activities in the classroom actually ran the workshops. We are challenged by the issue of assessment. Most curriculum kits do not have sufficient appropriate alternative assessment plans. We attempted to remedy this by identifying leaders in each district and training them in the assessment process, then having them teach other teachers. This has worked in some of the districts, but we are not 100 percent sold on this approach.
Parents can be a difficult problem.
Based on their own schooling experiences, they tend to expect textbooks to be used in each class. In the past few years, they have not seen many science textbooks coming home with their kids, and that worries them. It has been a challenge to convince parents that you can teach science without textbooks. To address this issue, we have coordinated many workshops for parents to attend with their kids. They perform experiments and other investigations with the students, and they are beginning to realize that it is possible to learn science concepts in less traditional ways.