The Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance is looking for 25-30 teachers and teacher educators (pre-service faculty, curriculum developers, professional development consultants, science specialists, etc.) to complete an evaluation questionnaire for feedback on the NSF-funded PRISMS web site at: http://prisms.mmsa.org/ . PRISMS stands for Phenomena and Representations for the Instruction of Science in Middle School and is part of the National Science Digital Library. In return for your feedback, the MMSA will provide a stipend and nifty PRISMS lanyard with a built in flash drive.

Group A - Grades classroom 6-8 teachers who have never used the PRISMS web site who will spend some time examining the site and complete a questionnaire that takes approximately 1 hour to complete. Stipend- $200 for full completion of the questionnaire. In addition, 3-4 teachers may be selected for a follow up phone interview at their convenience which will take approximately 45 minutes for an additional $100.

Group B - Grades 6-8 classroom teachers who have not used the PRISMS web site before who will spend some time examining the site and commit to using at least 2 or three of the resources on the web site this fall. Teachers will complete the same questionnaire as Group A and in addition, will describe how they incorporated a PRISMS resource into their instruction or instructional planning. Stipend- $300 plus an additional $100 for an optional 45 minute follow up phone interview.

Group C - Grades 6-8 classroom teachers who have used the PRISMS web site and will provide feedback on a written questionnaire (about 1.5 hours) and share at least one example of how they used a PRISMS resource in their instruction. Stipend- $300. In addition, some participants will be asked to participate in an optional 45 minute phone interview (Additional $100).

Group D- Non-classroom teachers who work with middle school teachers in preservice education, designing curriculum materials, professional development, etc. We are looking for science educators willing to provide feedback on PRISMS that will help us understand how others use PRISMS to support science teachers or the development of curriculum materials. We will ask you to complete a 1 hour questionnaire - stipend $200, plus an optional 45 minute phone interview for selected participants (additional $100 stipend).

If you are available, willing and interested in giving a couple hours of your valuable time to this evaluation, please contact Laurie Mitchell at lmitchell@mmsa.org and let her know what group you would like to be in. If you know of any middle school teachers or educators who work with middle school teachers who might like to participate, please pass this information on to them. There are limited slots in each group so please contact Laurie soon if you decide you would like to participate. Once we have filled each of the groups, Laurie will contact you with further information and directions for completing the evaluation.

The evaluation will take place between October 15th and November 28th. Thanks for your help! I’m sure you will find the PRISMS web site to be very helpful in selecting web-based resources. Conversely, you will be helping MMSA collect valuable data on how this instructional resource is used by educators which will inform future NSDL projects.