Teacher Development Grant 2024-2025 Project Summary

Rachel Nichols

Black Rock Middle School • Villanova, PA

The Project seeks to combine the strengths of two promising educational approaches – learning from an inquiry stance and interdisciplinary learning – to enhance professional learning and student achievement while advancing equity in education. The III Project will build a comprehensive professional learning experience that integrates inquiry-based approaches and interdisciplinary learning initiatives through a culturally responsive lens, with the goal of transforming student learning.

The project aims to:

• Empower educators with knowledge and skills to implement inquiry-based approaches in their teaching practices
• Foster collaboration and interdisciplinary connections among educators to address issues of equity and diversity in the curriculum
• Create learning environments that value diverse perspectives and promote student success through explorations of background and identity

In the initial year of III Project, leaders will provide funding, structure, opportunity, and theoretical guidance for six teachers to co-create inquiry-based, interdisciplinary units for seventh grade Humanities and STEM classes. After teaching their units, team members will meet to reflect on and revise their units for implementation by additional teams. In the second year, the project teachers will share their knowledge, experience, and unit plans to transition into leaders to collaborate with school and district colleagues. Leaders will expand to working with teams across all four grade levels (5-8) to design new inquiry-based, interdisciplinary units.

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