Project CATS:

Project CATS (Coordinated and Thematic Science) was a multi-year comprehensive teacher enhancement program. The focus of the CATS project was to improve the knowledge and instructional skills of science teachers (grades seven through ten) in West Virginia. This program was supported by The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the West Virginia Department of Education.Ê CATS was completed in 2000.

The CATS project enables science teachers to accelerate the implementation of the West Virginia Science Curriculum Framework. CATS provides a model that supports the National Science Education Standards, the goals of Project 2061, and the tenets of the Scope, Sequence, and Coordination projects. The CATS program provides information and training about strategies and technologies for providing equitable opportunities and access to science education for all students. Assessment practices and alternative inclusion approaches for measuring student achievement are also presented.

The Access portion of CATS for students with disabilities is designed to present experiences, training, and information in regard to the "best practices" in the use of specific teaching strategies for students with disabilities. These strategies are designed to mitigate functional limitations that affect the academic achievements of students with disabilities. Such strategies and general methods of teaching science to students with disabilities can be obtained from our ACCESS web site which is specifically constructed for this purpose.

The Equity portion of the CATS project focuses on assuring equitable and non-biased opportunities for all science students. The major emphases here concerns the opportunity to receive a science education in an equitable and unbiased manner regardless of gender, minority, or rural status. Such strategies that provide equitable science learning environments are presented on the EQUITY web site, currently under construction.

CATS activities in Equity and Access include workshops, field experiences, a teleconference, and web based resources. Below is an example of one of the activities of CATS training in access.

The photos above were taken during an access training exercise of the CATS project. This activity involved a field exercise on surveying (some portions of the handouts were in simulated "dyslexic" text).

These science teachers were performing various surveying tasks. Some of the teachers were simulating students with disabilities, viz.: motor/orthopedic, blind, and deaf. After this field simulation, the outcomes were discussed and a formative assessment compiled. Thereafter, in the debriefing/discussion session in the classroom the focus was on assessing the outcomes (those individuals simulating students with disabilities reported a significant amount of incomplete access and low achievement). Recommendations for miligating strategies derived from the participants personal experiences during the exercise were then detailed.

The participants reached several important conclusions which were derived from observations of other participants such as: "simulated" blind and deaf teachers were assigned, by the non-simulating teachers, to be pole holders, whereas the simulated wheelchair users were assigned to be data recorders. Since these assignments clearly showed bias and affected learning, the last part of the workshop was concerned with the elucidation of strategies that would make the activity more inclusive for all participants in such a field activity.

For more detailed information on equity and access in Science Education refer to our E&A sites.

Last updated: February 2, 2002

Web Master Ed Keller