Community partnership grant generates preservice teacher and middle school student motivation for authentic science and mathematics

School Science and Mathematics, Jan 2003 by Selover, Nancy J, Dorn, Ronald I, Brazel, Anthony J, Dorn, Denise

Our field experience prompted discussions of the importance of taking real measurements. Anecdotal discussions between math and home economics teachers at MMS turned to the recent trend of lower test scores on measurement questions in standardardized tests. Speculation revolves around students spending less time at home with parents involved in measurement related to following cooking recipes. Thus, making such simple measurements as reading an analog thermometer was a new experience for many students living in a digital age. Several students admitted that the field experience was among their first in making actual measurements of temperature.

Although our project finished before the NCES Science Achievement Report Card was released, we found that middle school students did enjoy the integration of earth and physical science in our climate project. The NCES (2002) found, "Eighth-grade students enrolled in a life science course had lower scores than their peers enrolled in earth science, integrated science, physical science, or general science" (p.12). Thus, we recommend this sort of a research project as a way to engage middle school students in integrated science/math education.

We make one final note for university faculty writing similar grants. The middle school teacher volunteer received no monetary compensation from the project. Rather, the grant paid only for supplies, equipment, and field trip expenses. In order to promote an ongoing, authentic project of this sort, we recommend providing a month of summer salary for the teacher to plan the trips and prepare for post-trip student analyses.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we asked whether grant funds from a corporation could spur a synergistic project promoting (a) preservice teacher interest in science, (b) middle school student interest in applied mathematics education, (c) a greater appreciation of all parties for basic science research, and (d) scientific knowledge gained from student research on urban ecological issues such as the climatological effects of a public water project. Our answer to all these original questions is a clear "yes," but ordered (a), (c), (b), and (d) in relative degree. Perhaps the greatest benefit of this synergistic project was the enthusiasm created for authentic science and mathematics education within elementary education majors who had a self-proclaimed dislike of science. Both the middle schoolers and the university students gained an appreciation of scientific research and the inherent difficulties in gathering quality data. The middle schoolers took more interest in, and had a better appreciation of, the mathematics lessons using "their" data, as opposed to made-up problems found in other math exercises. Some scientific knowledge of the climate effects of the lake was gained through the partnership effort. As with much scientific research, the initial efforts of this project helped to refine the measurement scales and strategies for the continuing study. One of the most important outcomes of the project was planting the seed of an idea in middle schoolers that they can indeed pursue educational opportunities in their local college.