Science education reform in Alabama began at the Institute for Science Education, University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), by Dr. John Wright in 1990.  Following the national movement to teach students science by having them “do” science as scientists would, he sought to develop a model for delivering guidance to school systems, training for the teachers, and materials to use in Alabama classrooms.  In 1994, the Hands-on Activity Science Program (HASP; a renaming of an existing acronym) provided funding and support to the School of Education at UAB to introduce the program to the Birmingham area.  Dr. Stephen Underwood, science education professor, and Mrs. Joan Dawson, exemplary elementary teacher, worked with six local school systems, initially.  In the second year of the UAB program, they secured their own funding from the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE) to continue the work and became known as ALAHASP (Alabama Hands-on Activity Science Program).  ALAHASP, the grown child of the UAH program, has introduced elementary science education reform to 48 school systems around the state and has been funded from a variety of sources. 

The model for the program comes from national research on how children learn in general and how children learn science in particular.  In addition, extensive research has been done in how to help school systems sustain the change from textbook driven to inquiry-centered science teaching and learning.  This same research guided the National Science Resources Center, the Lawrence Hall of Science, and the Education Development Center as they created, tested, and refined the curriculum materials that HASP and ALAHASP recommend for teaching hands-on science (STC, FOSS, Insights, SEPUP, etc.).   

In 2002, the State Department of Education held its first training sessions under the new Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI), guided by the same research and recommending the same curriculum materials that HASP and ALAHASP have used over the years.  With significantly more funding available, AMSTI will be able to provide initial training to large numbers of teachers each summer.  HASP and ALAHASP continue to run parallel to the state initiative, as it will take many years to reach all of the teachers across the state.  And school systems will continue to need on-going professional development for their teachers during the school year, including training for new and reassigned (to a different grade) teachers. (ALAHASP is certified as an AMSTI Affiliate.)  With each additional exposure to “best practices” in successful teaching strategies, the teachers find they can incorporate the new teaching strategies in other subject areas, not just in science class. 

ALAHASP, through funding from ACHE and other sources, as well as the school systems, themselves, provides a “full service” program of curriculum recommendations and purchasing, training of the teachers on those materials, and follow-up professional development.  One very exciting addition to our program, beginning in 2003, is The Private Eye_®, a way of looking closely at the world around us (using a jeweler’s loupe and analogies) and thinking deeply about form and function to guide investigations.  It has been received by our teachers and Teacher Leaders with great enthusiasm.