DRI President Stephen G. Wells said the Science Box program involves portable instruction modules designed during summer workshops by K-12 science teachers. The boxes-actually airline "roll-on" luggage-are circulated continuously to teachers throughout the state by DRI.
Directed by Dr. Susan Moore, DRI's K-12 education coordinator, the program has grown since 1997 to include 75 separate instructional science topics that are based on Nevada's Science Education Framework, the state's guidelines for required science instruction. The teachers selected to design the boxes meet during summer workshops using distance education technology that connects teachers at DRI's campuses in Las Vegas and Reno with remote sites in Elko and Winnemucca.
The Toyota grant allows the addition of teachers from Arizona, California, Idaho, Oregon and Utah who will participate in this summer's workshop program and return to their states to propose similar Science Box programs there.