Science, "Inside AAAS"
Sept. 30, 1994

The groundwater beneath an oil "tank farm" in a Washington, D.C., suburb has been contaminated. Two dozen teachers are assessing the damage and developing a cleanup plan.

No, they didn't spend summer break moonlighting as engineers. For 6 weeks the mid-Atlantic middle-school teachers donned hats as environmental problem-solvers in the first phase of a new program designed to help them take that kind of scientific thinking back to their students.

The program – a partnership of AAAS and George Mason University – took the teachers to a Chesapeake Bay tidal marsh, a water-treatment plant, a NASA remote-sensing lab, and other sites to learn the methods of working scientists. Back on the campus of GMU, they converted field data into spreadsheets and graphs, and used other tools to aid their analysis of real-life environmental issues.

"They always worked with real data, not simulated. It's the same data scientists are using on the job," said Donna Sterling, a professor of science education at GMU who helped organize the program, called Project Alliance.

The aim of the project, funded by the National Science Foundation, is to give teams of teachers a framework for developing courses that link science, mathematics, and technology.

Small groups from eight schools participated; at least one had to be a science teacher and one an administrator. "We believe a greater impact can be made if teams of teachers, not just individuals, participate," said AAAS project coordinator Betty Calinger. Each team works closely with a local scientist or engineer during the 2-year program.

Integrated Studies

The environmental theme is in line with an education reform movement toward integrated studies and "contextual learning."

"Many people believe science is being taught and learned incorrectly because it tends to be modulized," said Richard Tollo, a geology professor and associate dean at George Washington University who planned much of the science content. "Environmental science by its very nature is an integrated science. This program looks at science as a series of topics that are constantly interacting. That's the way science works today."

The summer workshop was built around environmental problems the teachers can tailor to lessons based on situations in their own communities. Each team was required to develop an environmental science and technology unit, with plans for implementing it. Instructors and peers critiqued the proposals and offered suggestions. The results, presented the final week, were eight different curriculum models.

Lesa Warrick, Karen Griffen, and Janice MacKinnon of Stuart-Hobson Middle School in Washington, D.C., developed a "mini-course" that weaves science lessons and activities across core subjects. The unit, "Go With the Flow," explores the ecology of the Potomac River watershed area and related pollution problems.

Kathryn Dickey and Don Rodgers of Laurel Junior-Senior High School in New Castle, Pennsylvania, took a more high-tech approach. Their 7-week unit on water, involving topics of interest to a largely rural student population, takes advantage of their school's well-equipped computer labs.

Laurel principal Leonard Rich heard Dickey and Rodgers' plan at GMU. "Eventually I would like to offer this to all seventh-graders," he said, not just to those in two science classes, as the two teachers had proposed. "I think the program is good, but it's where you go from her that counts," he said.

New Methods and Tools

Pedagogy and technology are key components of Project Alliance. Sterling said Methodology is included because education research has shown the importance of "modeling" new instructional approaches. "This program stresses that science deals with solving problems and shows teachers how they can help students learn science that way, by framing lessons in terms of questions to be answered," she said. Each teacher was videotaped presenting a science lesson to review style.

There were sessions on a wide range of computer applications and other technologies that can enhance learn ing and teaching. "Even if they can't implement all this immediately, we can provide a vision of how learning is going to look," said Sherwood Wang, and assistant professor of instructional technology at GMU who taught many of the sessions.

The project gives each team member 6 hours a month on America Online, for students to tap information and communicate with partner schools across the country. Participants will stay in touch in a weekly electronic "conference call."

The teachers will return to GMU for 2 weeks next summer to get more science basics, report the results of implementing their study units, and discuss ways of disseminating their ideas and materials. In the meantime, project staff and independent evaluators will make site visits to talk with the teachers and administrators and their students, and to provide support.

Computer science teacher Alfina Gorrell said her team from John Paul Jones Middle School in Philadelphia applied to Project Alliance because the state is pushing for a more interdisciplinary curriculum. "There's a lot of talk about integrated studies and team-teaching, but the logistics aren't there for teachers to get together and develop plans," Gorrell said.

Science and math teachers Marva Hawkins and Deatra Rider said the program would help them enrich learning opportunities for students at Clarence Pickett Middle School in Philadelphia. Said Hawkins: "You want to keep giving your kids a competitive edge, and you need to tap whatever mode it takes to reach them."

For more information, call Betty Calinger at 202-326-6629.