The supervision and mentoring of science teachers: building capacity in the absence of expertise in classroom science supervisors

The teaching of science to each new generation of children is critical to our society; and the quality and level of teaching and �science supervision� are too. We as a society and school system must move to prepare and support both the teachers of science � and the critical leaders who supervise and evaluate these teachers. This paper examines the problems and futures of quality of the following: (a) science teaching and teachers; (b) the importance of high-quality instruction and supervision in the sciences; and (c) what need to be done NOW to maintain and improve both the teaching of sciences in K-12 education, and (d) how to do it all now. It�s now or never!