Alabama Science in Motion is the High School Science component of AMSTI. Science in Motion is a revolutionary project which originated at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania in 1986. Dr. Don Mitchell started Juniata Science in Motion program with NSF funding. Seven years after the Juniata SIM program started, a story appeared on ABC News World News Tonight with Peter Jennings about the program. Senator Fred Horn from Alabama saw the story and was determined to start a similar program in Alabama. Six months later on May 3, 1994, the governor of Alabama signed the Alabama Science in Motion program legislation, and Alabama became the first state in the nation to institute a statewide Science in Motion program. Three months after legislation was signed teacher inservice training started on August 7, 1994.
There are now thirty-three Science in Motion sites around the state serving eleven inservice regions. Each of the sites is established at public colleges and universities around the state where they provide resources and training to area high schools. Funding for the program is administered through the State Department of Education
The goals of Science in Motion are to provide high-tech laboratory experiences for students and effective professional development for teachers. In many instances, the cost of the equipment involved would be prohibitive for individual schools or even systems. Sharing this equipment through Science in Motion offers equally enriching opportunities to students from different backgrounds and schools. Professional development workshops improve teacher mastery of subject matter and equipment use. Through these workshops, teachers from different school systems gain the opportunity to network with peers, sharing both content knowledge and teaching techniques. Program specialists may also team teach during classroom visits increasing the teacher-student ratio and providing additional content knowledge.
