Fostering educational innovation at the level of individual professionals in K-12: a case study

Many recent programs have tackled the challenge of reforming American precollege science and mathematics education. What makes some of these initiatives more effective and successful than others? This paper offers a case study of one reform effort which sponsors an annual summer short course to introduce high school science and math teachers to engineering problem solving. The paper focuses on the impact of the program in teachers' classrooms and discusses some program characteristics which have contributed to its success.