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Contact: Estella Zavala or Susan Cergol, 225-6437
Posted on: February 4, 2002

Twenty teachers and administrators from Magdalena, Mexico, will visit TUSD’s Lee Instructional Resource Center (LIRC), 2025 E. Winsett, from 8:30-10:30 a.m. tomorrow, Feb. 5.

The Mexican educators, who are participating in an exchange program with the Latin American Studies Department at the University of Arizona, will tour TUSD’s Science Resource Center to learn about the district’s inquiry-based model of teaching science to elementary students, called the D.E.S.E.R.T. (District-wide Emphasis on Science Education Reform in Tucson) Project. In particular, the fifth-grade Models and Designs module will be demonstrated. (For details, see http://instech.tusd.k12.az.us/%7EDesert/Foss/fifth/science5-model.html.)

Funded by a National Science Foundation Grant, the D.E.S.E.R.T. Project creates systemic change in the way science is perceived and taught so that all students will have opportunities to become scientifically literate. Instead of the traditional reliance on textbooks, TUSD's K-5 science curriculum employs some 8,500 specialized kits filled with materials needed for hands-on investigations, maintained by the Science Resource Center.