TELS Teacher Learning
To support teachers in their use of TELS curricular activities and to create a professional development model for the future, TELS researchers have created and are evaluating a mentored professional development program based on a cyclical approach to planning, program implementation, reflection and revision. Using TELS researchers and designers as mentors, we have successfully prepared nearly 50 teachers to provide instruction using educational technology.
 
Results to Date: Teachers
Teachers report satisfaction with the TELS curricular activities, but voice frustration with the limited resources (human, technological and material) for supporting this kind of instruction in their schools. In post-project interviews, many TELS teachers report being frustrated that the technological infrastructure at their schools is under-supported; however, in general, teachers are enthusiastic about the TELS projects, indicating that students are, in general, on task and, in most cases, can make sense of the visualizations of complex scientific phenomena and respond to the embedded assessments.

Teachers whose students had low prior knowledge of science required additional professional development to identify techniques for ensuring that all students involved in TELS projects would learn from the projects. As our assessment results show, this effort was successful. Students with the lowest prior knowledge of science succeeded in the sense that the amount of understanding they gained relative to their starting point was similar to the gain achieved by students whose pretest scores were higher.
  
"I liked the fact that they tied the cancer biology stuff into the mitosis unit. And I thought that, as a feature, it was a success in tying (the unit) into the real world." - Middle school teacher commenting on the life science unit
 
More about TELS Professional Development.
 
Results to Date: Principals
In interviews with TELS researchers, the principals of the participating schools express enthusiasm for TELS, concern about the lack of technological support and infrastructure in their schools, and commitment to incorporating educational technology-enhanced instruction, which they believe will greatly improve student learning in science and motivate students to participate in science courses. For example, one principal commented:
"The more we can have them (students) engage in experiences that are abstract but are science, (the more) they will learn to appreciate the sciences. But, if we teach science the way we were taught science and math - when the teacher stands before the class, works the problems and says, ‘Okay, you understand, got it. Okay, now understand the periodic table. Okay, lets move forward.’ - If it is not tactile, if it is not' hands-on,' as John Dewey would say, if it is not real and students cannot see the connection to the real world, then it is not meaningful."
 
All the principals have expressed interest in collaborating with their colleagues to identify effective ways to bring educational technology into their schools. As budgets shrink and schools cut services, technological support becomes more and more difficult to provide.