Under the leadership of Emory cell biology professor Robert DeHaan, the Elementary Science Education Partners (ESEP) program recently completed a successful one-year pilot program involving more than 2,500 pupils in 91 classrooms in two school districts: Oak Grove and Fernbank elementary schools in DeKalb County; and White-foord, Mary Lin, Gordon and Morningside elementary schools in Atlanta.
The five-year grant will enable ESEP to expand this month to 15 schools in the Atlanta system beginning with second, third and fourth grades. DeHaan said that Georgia State University and the Atlanta University Center schools of Clark-Atlanta University and Morehouse, Morris Brown and Spelman colleges will join Emory and the Atlanta Public School system in training their students to participate in the program.
DeHaan's proposal came along at a perfect time for the Atlanta Public School (APS) system, said Weyman Patterson, APS coordinator of mathematics and science. "The Atlanta Board of Education had just approved a curriculum that will revolutionize the way math and science is taught, making problem-solving the central focus of the math curriculum and the inquiry method the focus of science education," said Patterson. "If we do not change our approach to teaching math and science our students will not be employable. They need to develop skills in problem-solving and critical thinking and be able to navigate on the information super highway in order to compete for jobs in the 21st century." With funding from this and other grants, APS expects to expand the ESEP program to all 72 Atlanta elementary schools within the next five years.
According to DeHaan, science instruction has a low priority in U.S. elementary schools, with the topic being taught only a few minutes per week in many classrooms. "The ESEP program is designed to help teachers understand the value and fun of asking questions about nature and to improve teachers' confidence about using active-learning techniques in teaching science," said DeHaan, W.P. Timmie Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology.
"Research tells us that children learn more about science and scientific thinking, retain what they learn longer, and make significant improvements in tests of self-efficacy when they have opportunities to investigate and discover facts and concepts through what is called `inquiry-based instruction,' using hands-on activities," said DeHaan.
In inquiry-based instruction, students are encouraged to ask questions and come up with possible explanations to solve a particular mathematical or scientific problem. The children then test their hypotheses through experimentation.
Emory junior Anisha Patel is one of about 100 Emory students who received college credit for participating in the ESEP pilot program last year. Patel teamed up with a teacher at Mary Lin Elementary to help prepare and team-teach science exercises to 25 kindergarten students. The projects were designed to be fun while being educational. For example, they used a Silly-Putty-like substance to illustrate the properties of matter and used Play-Doh and coins to demonstrate how fossils are formed.
Patel was especially thrilled when a kindergartner asked about last year's earthquake in Japan after a classroom activity in which different-colored Play-Doh was used to study the earth's layers. "The child's response proved to me that what I said made a difference, and they were listening," said Patel. "The children see a connection between what happens in the classroom and what is going on in the world around them."
Patel saw a real transformation in the pupils she worked with. "They were so shy at first, but toward the end of the semester they couldn't stop asking questions. I learned that they knew much more than I assumed and that they had the potential to know so much more."
In addition to the partnership between college students and elementary school teachers, each team had an Emory scientist-mentor assigned as a consultant.
Although it's too early to evaluate the ESEP program fully, a recent study of scientific attitudes conducted by the ESEP program among 3,000 elementary school children revealed a more positive attitude toward science education among those who had been in a class with an ESEP science-partner. The distinction was particularly noticeable among minority girls. "The fact that children indicate they are open to learning is important," said Patterson. "Now we have to collect hard data to show improvement in actual performance."
-- Nancy Seideman