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“Children need hands-on experience with the experimental method rather than just reading about science in a book.”
- Carl Sagan
We find that this is as important for Penn students
as for K-12 students.
Moelis Access Science, now in its 8th year, works to improve
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in grades K-12
in urban public schools in West Philadelphia. This work also helps to improve
undergraduate and graduate STEM education at Penn. The project is coordinated
by the Netter Center for Community Partnerships and the Mathematics Department, and
includes faculty from the School of Arts and Sciences (Biology, Chemistry,
Biological Basis of Behavior, Mathematics, and Physics) and the School of
Engineering and Applied Science (Bioengineering, Materials Science, Digital
Media Design, Electrical Engineering). Dennis DeTurck, Professor of Mathematics
and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, directs the program, which has
been developed with funding from the National Science Foundation’s GK-12
Program.
Access Science works to reinforce and make effective the core
structure of existing math and science curricula in K-12 classrooms. The School
District of Philadelphia has adopted local and state standards, and its schools
select science and math materials from approved curriculum and textbook series.
Access Science works with teachers to make the best use of these
resources but helps teachers take advantage of a variety of supplemental
resources to support inquiry learning. Through an ongoing evaluation process, we
continually assess the operation of the program, its partnerships, and impacts,
and then use evaluation data to improve and refine the program.
Implementing the School District’s core curricula in
particular, and high quality science education in general poses a number of
significant challenges. The needs which Access Science has identified
and seeks to address include:
- Professional development for
teachers in both content areas and instructional strategies.
- Hands-on activities and
inquiry-based learning activities that promote student engagement so that they
actually learn science by doing science. These activities need to be locally
appropriate, taking into account the capacities of school facilities and
budgets, student reading and math levels, and specific Philadelphia learning
goals.
- Human resources, i.e., Penn
students, faculty and staff, to assist teachers with both the planning and the
classroom implementation of hands-on and inquiry-based learning
activities.
- Accurate, timely assessment of
students’ readiness and achievement.
Access Science directly addresses all of these areas using an
integrated approach that supports teachers and students as they engage in
challenging STEM learning. The three central components to our approach
are:
- Carefully designed professional
development that is responsive to teachers’ needs, in both content areas and
instructional approaches. Access Science Fellows and Penn faculty design
and lead sessions that are planned collaboratively with teachers, Fellows, and
program coordinators.
- Classroom support provided by
graduate and undergraduate Fellows, Penn students participating through
internships, Academically-Based Community Service (ABCS) courses, and as
volunteers, and Penn staff and faculty. Penn participants partner with teachers
to assist with planning, designing, testing, and implementing labs, small group
projects, discussions, and investigations.
- Mindful adaptation of hands-on
investigations and inquiry-based strategies tailored to the needs of local
classrooms. The material and human resources provided through Access
Science enable schools to undertake modes of teaching and learning that are
otherwise difficult to implement in many urban classrooms.
We find that all three components are critical for
making substantial change. We have found few other examples of programs, whether
local or national, that bring these components together in a coordinated way
(e.g., others might provide professional development for teachers, or hands-on
and inquiry-based activities that teachers can use, or sometimes both, but they
don’t provide the human resources and ongoing teacher partnerships to actually
implement and sustain the work in the classroom). In this approach, all
students, K-16+, learn science by actually doing science. Penn students have
noted that their own sense of mastery of their fields of study and their ability
to communicate about them effectively is enhanced as they “learn by teaching”
and by modeling and fostering inquiry. We also include opportunities to
raise awareness of college and career opportunities in STEM fields.
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We have been able to extend the impact of the NSF
grant by connecting our program to the federally funded work-study program,
which provides an ongoing source of funding for hiring undergraduate students,
and to Penn’s core mission of undergraduate education, through Academically
Based Community Service (ABCS) Courses in the sciences, math, and engineering. Moelis Access Science supports faculty and teaching assistants in a variety of
departments by developing full-credit ABCS courses offered that partner with
K-12 teachers for an entire semester. Typically, the Penn students enrolled in
these courses develop what they are learning in their college curriculum into
learning activities and experiences that they carry out with K-12 students. For
the undergraduates, this “learning by teaching” approach can be very powerful in
their own science education. At the same time, the assistance the Penn students
provide in the K-12 classrooms enables intensive small group and individual
learning experiences for students that would not be possible otherwise.
Access Science works with departments to institutionalize ABCS courses in
departmental programs, so that they will be offered on an ongoing
basis.
Inquiry-based curricula that have been developed and
enhanced by Moelis Access Science are beginning to be adopted by the School
District of Philadelphia, specifically in the area of high school biology in the
2005-2006 academic year. Moreover, Access Science has been invited to
provide a monthly series of workshops for all Philadelphia Biology teachers to
help teachers implement these activities.
The 2004-05 program supported 33 undergraduate
Fellows, 1 Masters Fellow, and 10 Ph.D. Fellows. Seven ABCS courses were
offered during the 2004-05 academic year, and two additional ABCS courses have
been developed for 2005-06. Moelis Access Science partners with approximately
30 teachers in seven West Philadelphia public schools (Lea School (K-8), Drew
School (K-8), Penn Alexander School (K-8), Shaw Middle School (6-8), and the
University City, West Philadelphia, and Sayre High Schools).
For more
information, please contact:
Dr. Idris
Stovall, Program Coordinator,
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Cory Bowman, Associate Director, Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships,
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