NSRC's LASER Initiative - Programs and Activities

LASER Center Programs and Activities

The LASER Center is designed to help client school districts first initiate and then implement five-year plans for K-8 science education reform. Representative activities in the initiation phase include the following:

At one-day Building Awareness Conferences, leadership teams from client districts in a region come together to create a vision for science education reform in their districts.
At intensive, six-day LASER K-8 Science Education Strategic Planning Institutes, leadership teams from client districts collaborate with regional and nationally recognized experts and members of other teams to develop five-year strategic plans to reform K-8 science education in their districts.
At one-day K-8 Science Education Curriculum Showcases, district representatives participate in interactive workshops and discussions that focus on inquiry-centered, sequential science curriculum units developed with the support of the National Science Foundation.

Implementation-phase activities, designed to help client school districts as they put their five-year plans into effect, will include the following:

One-day LASER Beginning Implementation Conferences will provide client districts in the initial stages of implementation with strategies for the next level of science education reform.

Several-day LASER Advanced Implementation Conferences will provide district and community leaders with access to information, resources, and assistance needed to implement and sustain an effective program, including:

Curriculum piloting, selection, and adoption

Professional development for novice, competent, and expert science teachers

Materials support systems

Assessment strategies

Building administrative support

Building community support

Achieving literacy through science

At the National Science Teachers Association Annual National Convention, the NSRC and the Association for Science Materials Centers (ASMC) sponsor a LASER Networking Forum for members of the coalitions from each Regional LASER Site.