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Posted October 4, 1999

UMaine Receives Major National Grant to Spur Science Education in Local Schools

The University of Maine has received a three-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to enable top science graduate students to be resources for four area school districts. In collaboration with classroom teachers and UMaine faculty, they will develop science lessons that will be made available to other schools statewide.

UMaine was one of 20 successful applicants out of 157 nationwide. A group of UMaine faculty and public school teachers from Orono, Veazie, Old Town, Indian Island, Milford and Bradley met for almost two months to lay the groundwork, says Susan Brawley, UMaine professor of plant biology and marine sciences, who coordinated the effort.

“We want to involve the best UMaine science students in working with teachers and their pupils,” says Brawley. “It's exciting to let these students, who are at the cutting edge of their disciplines, take their enthusiasm for science to our public school classrooms.”

The program is a major NSF initiative. NSF Director Rita Colwell cited it in remarks to Congress this summer. “There is no group of people that should feel more responsible for science and math education in this nation than our scientists and engineers and scientists- and engineers-to-be,” she said. Among the program goals are improved learning opportunities for public school pupils, professional development activities for teachers and strong partnerships between higher education and public schools.

The grant will enable UMaine graduate level science students to work with teachers and their pupils in a variety of subject areas. Plans are being made in three areas: Classifying Living Things, the Hydrological Cycle, and Forestry and Pulp and Paper Studies. Teachers, science students and UMaine faculty will meet prior to the start of the Fall, 2000 semester in a “Science Camp” to work on experiments and complete curriculum development.

The program has been designed to improve science education by meeting the goals of Maine's Learning Results. The Learning Results, an educational policy passed by the Maine State Legislature in 1997, specifies what public school students are expected to know at each grade level.

“I'm excited to have university science students coming to work side-by-side with my kids,” says Susan Eaton, third and fourth grade teacher at Indian Island School who helped to design the program. “I do general teaching in science, but these lessons will be hands-on and much more specific. I think it's going to work out very well.”

Tom Perry, Superintendent of Schools in Orono and Veazie, says the university students will be important as role models. “The program is a great opportunity for our kids to get exposed to upper level students with strong expertise in scientific areas. We also know that science is one of the big areas in which we are facing teacher shortages in the near future. We're hoping that some of these students will consider education as a career.”

The project will expand on curricula already taught in each school and provide teachers with access to new equipment and information. It does not replace existing science activities in the schools.

Up to ten UMaine graduate students, who will be known as NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows, will be selected annually for the program on the basis of their academic performance, their research and their demonstrated ability to communicate scientific concepts. Two undergraduates will also be chosen. They will receive instruction in teaching methods before they spend one to two days per week in public school classrooms. In addition to their teaching duties, they will continue their own university-based research as part of their degree programs.

Weekly seminars are planned to discuss educational strategies and curriculum development.

Other UMaine faculty who helped to write the grant proposal are Barbara Cole in Chemistry; Mike Vayda in Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Biology; Steve Norton in Geological Sciences; and Susan Hunter in Biological Sciences. Faculty members from other university departments, including the College of Education and Human Development, will be participating in the project.

After the three-year project is completed, organizers hope to continue scientific collaboration between the university and public schools. Ideas for the future include a regular summer science camp for public school teachers, a lecture series for high school students and an endowment to support students serving as science aides in the schools the schools.

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