Inside Iowa State
August 11, 2000
Write it down
by Kevin Brown
Language can have a dramatic impact
on how students grasp scientific concepts and retain
information.
Requiring students to write experiment results in letter form to a grandparent, prepare an article for a student newspaper, or write a journal entry are useful techniques, says Brian Hand, associate professor of curriculum and instruction, College of Education.
He notes that the more conversational forms of writing force students to think and understand scientific concepts in order to explain them. Hand focuses on language as part of his work on improving science instruction for both students and their teachers.
Hand heads the College of Education's Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education. He is also a co- investigator for a recent $5.9 million grant awarded by the National Science Foundation for teacher enhancement training. Co-investigators are from the University of Missouri -- St. Louis and University of Iowa. Joanne Olson from ISU also is working on this program.
The five-year grant is geared to rural school districts in Iowa and Missouri that are not often included in major research efforts. Hand said such districts typically lack the number of teachers, financial resources and expertise to launch their own initiatives.
"We know this is a major problem in under-served areas of Iowa and Missouri," Hand said. "We chose small school districts that aren't getting much attention."
The project will match a "partner" from each district's middle or high school with an elementary school teacher. The partner will help elementary teachers incorporate language use into the district's existing science curriculums.
"The science partners are not to stand above the teachers," Hand said. "They are to work hand-in-glove to strengthen each individual's science teaching skills and knowledge."
The grant also helps improve infrastructure for rural schools. In Missouri, for example, an interactive cable system had to be developed since most of the instruction will be done long distance. In Iowa, the Iowa Communications Network (ICN) will be used.
Hand said the advantage of the interactive technology offered by the ICN is that the presentations can originate from anywhere, with many of the sessions originating from Iowa State. The project will impact almost 1,500 teachers and almost 20,000 students.
Topics to be taught this initial round include the life cycle, geology, sound, food and nutrition, and horticulture.
"This program shows that science education is more than reading a textbook," he said.
For example, a book called Porke's Taxi is about a pig that pushes a wheelbarrow up and down a hill. It deals with concepts such as friction, motion, speed, velocity and forces.
Rather than write traditional reports to teachers, students might be asked to title and caption a picture, or write a paragraph to grandparents, or create a brochure for local farmers.
The study will follow students to see how they continue to progress in math and science education in middle school. It also will attempt to assess the impact on both the partners and elementary school teachers.
The study could serve as a new leadership model, Hand said.
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