In Partnership With Schools

Investing in the future of Wisconsin children through educational collaborations with schools

contents:
  • Program puts new face on mathematics education
  • Workshop teaches enthusiasm for science
  • UW Space Place brings space down to earth
  • Students learn hands-on prairie restoration, science
  • Upward Bound guides students to college
  • School-age child care program helps families
  • Other In Partnership With Schools examples.



  • Program puts new face on mathematics education

    A math program takes a new approach to teaching based upon research done at UW-Madison's School of Education.

    In schools all over Wisconsin, children are learning faster than their teachers ever thought they could. And they're more motivated and confident, teachers report.

    The reason is Cognitively Guided Instruction, which was developed after years of research by School of Education Professors Thomas Carpenter and Elizabeth Fennema and sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The program adopts an innovative approach to teaching mathematics.

    It encourages elementary-school teachers to take what their students already know about mathematics - and then build on that foundation. The program focuses on problem solving, giving children the chance to solve interesting mathematical problems rather than drilling them.

    "It teaches them to be problem solvers, not calculators," says Dyanne Van Den Heuvel, a second grade teacher at Northwoods Elementary School in Eau Claire who now teaches workshops on the program to teachers from around the state.

    Math problems in the curriculum focus on "story" or word problems that are made relevant to students' lives and can be approached from a variety of strategies that children have already developed by the time they enter school.

    The central philosophy behind the program stems from Carpenter's research conducted over 15 years on how children think and how teachers learn to teach. "His research showed quite clearly that children come to school with many, many skills," explains Fennema, who developed the program with Carpenter. "But school math curriculums don't build on that knowledge, and in some cases even wipes it out."

    What Cognitively Guided Instruction does, says Fennema, is help teachers understand what knowledge children bring and what problem solving skills they have in order to build on those. The key, says Van Den Heuvel, is that "instead of the teacher telling one way to solve a problem, children discover methods that work for them. And it has allowed me to understand my children's thinking and then know what are the appropriate next steps in helping them learn."

    The results of the program have been striking. Students taught from this new approach outperform their peers who learn by more traditional methods; and they seem to be more enthusiastic about the subject, too. Says Van Den Heuvel, "I'm really excited about the program because it changes how you teach and how you can facilitate children's learning. It has taught me about how children think and about how I as a teacher can help them grow as learners. This is powerful information for me and teachers all throughout the state."

    The news has spread rapidly, and teachers in all corners of the state are incorporating the approach into their classrooms. In the past five years, workshops on the program have been offered in at least 27 different Wisconsin locations, from Beloit to Ashwaubenon to the Oneida Tribal School. The Madison school district has a professional position devoted to helping teachers implement the program.

    "I've seen lots of things come and go in my 22 years of teaching," Van Den Heuvel says. "After eight years of teaching with CGI, I'm just as enthusiastic about it as when I started with it. And I learn math from my students on a daily basis."



  • Workshop teaches enthusiasm for science

    The Teacher Enhancement Program brings teachers to campus to learn the latest in scientific breakthroughs.

    Michael Anstett, who has been a high school biology teacher in Omro, Wis., for 23 years, says he has never been more enthused about his job than in the last few years.

    He gives the UW-Madison Teacher Enhancement Program in Biology much of the credit. "The program helped me be more enthusiastic and more comfortable in the classroom," he says. "Not only were the classes excellent, but I got to visit with other teachers to compare problems and concerns."

    Anstett is one of more than 300 elementary and high school teachers from around the nation who visited the Madison campus this summer to study strategies for teaching science. Teachers enroll in up to four of the more than 30 one-to-two- week modules offered in fields such as human genetics; molecular and cell biology; plant, animal and environmental biology; and elementary science. Teachers earn one or two university credits per module.

    The summer biology program is part of a larger teacher enhancement program which involves presenting workshops and programs throughout the academic year and developing curriculum for teachers.

    UW-Madison Professor Raymond Kessel, the originator of the 10-year-old biology program and its director, says classes emphasize an inquiry-based, problem-solving approach to science. "Since most elementary teachers had little, if any, science in college, we want to give them some hands-on methods of teaching science so they can go back to their classroom with the tools and the enthusiasm for teaching," Kessel says.

    Ann Bauman, an elementary school teacher from Janesville, says she had only one introduction to science in college. In the three years she has attended the program, she has studied genetics, the social implications of genetics, science for head start, preschool and primary grades, and cultural diversity in families of children with special needs. In addition to her new knowledge of science, Bauman says she has learned to integrate science into the whole curriculum and make it more of a hands-on experience

    For high school teachers, Kessel says the biology program is designed to update them on the latest information in particular fields and give them some new ideas to make the classroom more exciting.

    Instructors for the biology classes come primarily from the science departments on the Madison campus. Most modules also have lead teachers who help plan the class and assist the instructor. Anstett, for example, helped to lead the DNA module this summer.

    Kessel hopes all teachers who attend the biology program will in turn "trigger an interest in science within their own students, making them better prepared and willing to tackle science classes in college and consider careers in the sciences."



  • UW Space Place brings space down to earth

    College of Letters and Science program offers hands-on learning for school children.

    In March, when the Space Shuttle Endeavour made its longest shuttle flight ever, not only was a UW-Madison-built telescope aboard, but school children at UW-Madison's Space Place were beamed right into the center of the action.

    Using a new videoconferencing system, the team of 30 Wisconsin scientists, engineers and technicians at the control center in Huntsville, Ala., communicated directly with school groups visiting the Space Place, explained the mission, answered questions and discussed what they saw in space. The students had a direct link to understanding the findings of the unique telescope, known as the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE for short), and other NASA activities.

    This workshop is just one of the many activities offered at the Space Place, located at 1605 S. Park St. in Madison, for school children and teachers who visit from around the state, including Green Bay, Milwaukee, Madison and its surrounding areas.

    Run by the Space Astronomy Laboratory by largely volunteer faculty and staff, the UW Space Place provides hands-on activities and informative lectures, as well as workshops and programs for more than 5,000 teachers, parents and children, and the general public in each of the past two years.

    Opened in 1990, Space Place allows community citizens to learn basic scientific principles in fun and exciting ways, and gives teachers the latest resources for teaching math and science, says Kathy J. Stittleburg, assistant director of UW-Madison's Space Astronomy Lab and Space Place founder. "We've been able to use space as a hook to teach students about basic math and science knowledge," she says.

    Recently remodeled, the Space Place now houses the prototype of the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, the first astronomical orbiting satellite in space. Hands-on activities such as a grease-spot photometer, polarization exhibit and spectra display are located in the exhibit hall, along with a full-size mock-up of the aft-flight deck of the shuttle and a Hubble Space Telescope exhibit.

    In addition, Stittleburg is now setting up a Space Place World Wide Web home page that will include information for teachers, such as resource materials from NASA. "We want to take those activities that are tried and true and put them on the Web page as a way of reaching out beyond Madison," says Stittleburg.

    The center has recently hired a half-time outreach specialist funded by NASA. "With the support of the College of Letters and Science, we've been able to start new projects and increase the number of school visits," she says.



  • Students learn hands-on prairie restoration, science

    The Earth Partnership Program forms partnership with schools, Arboretum and the land while rebuilding Wisconsin's ecological resources.

    The "land ethic" conservationist Aldo Leopold promoted 50 years ago is alive and thriving today in the back lots of Wisconsin schools, where students are turning barren fields into lush Wisconsin prairie.

    The Earth Partnership Program, offered by the UW-Madison Arboretum, helps state teachers develop prairie restoration programs that give students firsthand lessons about the land, wildlife and the human obligations to protect them.

    Dennis Panicucci, a science teacher at Central Middle School in Hartford, Wis., says the program has taught him and his students the basic knowledge needed to nudge a prairie to life. "We found out there was a heck of a lot of stuff we didn't know," says Panicucci, whose school is working on creating a restored prairie on a 53-acre outdoor lab students have dubbed "The Wildcat Habitat Preserve," named after the school mascot.

    Through the program, they are learning how to identify different plants, how to analyze the soils that provide the best atmosphere for prairie plants, and how to conduct controlled burns that will insure regeneration.

    The program, now in its fifth year, provides not only instruction to get schools started, but curriculum plans on how to integrate science, ecology, history, art and other subjects into the field work.

    So far, more than 100 teachers in 50 Wisconsin school districts have taken part in the workshop. The schools need to have a commitment of at least six teachers to adopt the prairie in the lesson plans, spanning different age groups and disciplines. In total, more than 400 teachers will participate in some aspect of the program.

    The program, run by a $485,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, also brings students to the Arboretum for special tours and programs. More than 1,500 Earth Partnership students so far have been out to study the Arboretum's mature prairies.

    Cheryl Haberman, an educator in the Earth Partnership Program, says a prairie can serve as an educational tool on many levels. As a complete ecosystem of plants, animals and insects, "a prairie brings out all the complex dimensions of human interaction with their environment," she says.

    Students also develop a greater attachment to the ecology of the state through this program. Prior to settlement, the state had 2.2 million acres of original prairie spanning the state. Today, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of that prairie remains. More than a hands-on science project, the prairie can become an enduring resource to the school and the community, she says.



  • Upward Bound guides students to college

    More than 100 precollege programs introduce children and teens to campus.

    Making the transition to college life isn't always easy. That's why for thousands of K-12 students, the opportunity to participate in precollege programs on the UW-Madison campus has an added incentive: a chance to become comfortable with the university setting before they even apply.

    UW-Madison's Upward Bound program helps make college a reality for some Madison high school students who are the first in their families to attend college or who come from low-income families.

    "Upward Bound is designed to prepare students through the four years of high school with the necessary skills and with the motivation to fulfill their dreams of going to college," says Upward Bound Director Linda Lizana-Moss, who was the first in her family to attend college. "Most of the kids say they want to go to college. But knowing they want to go is one thing and knowing what they need to get there is something else. That's where we come in - we show them the path to college."

    Maya Toral, who participated in Madison's Upward Bound program while a student at Madison East High School, says the program made her path to college smoother: The 1994 Upward Bound graduate is now a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis.

    Students like Toral have the potential to do well in college, says, Lizana-Moss, but because they are the first in their generation to consider college a real possibility, they require some extra nurturing and direction. They may not know which preparatory courses to take in high school, for example, or how to arrange college finances.

    Beginning in ninth grade, selected students come to the UW- Madison campus after school and on Saturdays to receive tutoring, personal counseling, and academic and career advising, and help with study skills and social development. A computer lab provides up-to-date technical support for their work.

    With the training, tutoring and advice they received from the Upward Bound staff, 10 students facing such odds were among the successful ones this year. Eight of Upward Bound's graduating seniors were accepted at UW-Madison, one was accepted at Milwaukee's Alverno College and one at the Madison Area Technical College.

    The Upward Bound program was first created in 1964 by the Economic Opportunity Act and receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education.

    Over the program's six years at UW-Madison, 16 of the Upward Bound graduates have gone on to attend UW-Madison (14 are currently enrolled) as well as several other campuses in the University of Wisconsin System and around the country.

    Upward Bound is one of the 100 organized campus Precollege Programs, which attract more than 11,000 K-12 students to UW- Madison. The programs focus on developing new knowledge and skills in the arts, academics and athletics. They also provide educational and research opportunities and help students correct deficiencies in their backgrounds.

    The Badger sports camps for boys and girls prove to be the most popular. The largest non-sports program, the Summer Music Clinics, now in its 66th year, provides musical training for more than 1,100 orchestra, band, chorus and musical-theater students each summer. Another popular program, College for Kids, provides a full range of academic programs for gifted elementary school students.

    In essence UW-Madison serves as a "K-12 University" where campus facilities, faculty and coaches work with youth from throughout the state.



  • School-age child care program helps families

    With a growing number of children home alone, UW faculty have developed community-based programs to find solutions.

    The family with a parent at home to greet children after school is the exception these days. With economic necessity pushing maternal employment rates up dramatically in recent decades, the result has been an increase in the number of latch-key children and "the 3-to-6 syndrome," a situation observed by employers when employed parents are more concerned about their children's safety than about their own work.

    Research shows that very young children who supervise themselves are often terrified by the experience and can develop other problems as they grow up, according to David Riley, a professor in the School of Family Resources and Consumer Sciences' Child and Family Studies Department and a UW-Extension specialist.

    In response, Riley launched a program seven years ago that has helped many communities address the problem. The School Age Child Care program has recently released a seven-year report that shows its measurable and impressive impacts in communities across Wisconsin.

    Riley has found that the research on latch-key children needs to be tailored to the specific needs of Wisconsin communities. "Most research on latch-key children had been conducted elsewhere, often on the East or West Coast, and usually in large cities. People here did not see how the results applied to them and their communities," Riley explains.

    So he surveyed Wisconsin communities to identify how employed parents were meeting the challenge of after school child care and then used his survey results to help communities meet their needs. The findings led to local action, including training of families, forming local task forces and establishing new childcare programs.

    The program has provided quality care for thousands of Wisconsin children. According to the "Seven Year Impact Report," the School Age Child Care program helped establish 92 new childcare sites and 75 percent of these are still operating. In 1992, some 6,754 children were kept safe and productive in these programs, 16,359 families received face- to-face training from UW Extension agents on child care and self-care for youngsters, and 47,526 families received educational materials from Extension offices.

    In a recent follow-up study, school teachers and principals reported they have seen reductions in problem behaviors and improvements in school performance as a result of the program. For example, they credited the program with reducing aggressive behavior, such as hitting and fighting, in one-quarter of the children.

    One-third of the children have "become more cooperative with adults, more willing to follow the directions and rules of adults" as a result of the program. The educators reported that more than one-third had improved grades because of the program. They could even name 14 percent of the children in the program who would probably have been retained in grade if not for the program.

    These are big impacts, Riley says, both in quality of life improvements and in public monies saved. If the estimates educators made are accurate, then the project is saving taxpayers over $1 million per year by helping children do well enough to avoid having to repeat a year of schooling.



    Other In Partnership With Schools Examples

  • All the schools and colleges on the UW-Madison campus offer at least one partnership with Wisconsin schools. In 1994, UW-Madison partnerships to Wisconsin schools included more than 54 precollege programs serving over 11,000 students; over 40 staff development programs serving hundreds of teachers, staff and administrators; and art, geology, physics, space and arboretum tours serving over 30,000 Wisconsin students per year.

  • Each summer, high school students and teachers participate in the daily work of Earth and atmospheric scientists through a workshop coordinated by the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies. Participants work with those scientists as well as some at the Institute for Environmental Studies and in the Departments of Geology and Geophysics and Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.

  • The Center for Biology Education coordinates a six-week summer program for minority high school students that focuses on science.

  • Through its Satellite Technology Education Program, the Space Science and Engineering Center and its Cooperative Institute provide McIDAS, a system which displays and analyzes the Earth's weather patterns, to Wisconsin high schools. The new Watertown high school and Madison's Edgewood High School have systems in place now. High schools in Appleton and Verona will soon join as well.

  • The Madison Education Extension Programs conducts about 100 workshops and institutes held for 1,800 teachers, school administrators and parents, providing the latest information on a variety of topics, such as conflict resolution, multicultural storytelling and environmental education.

  • The Center on Education and Work is helping people become better prepared for the work force. As one of the oldest and largest centers of its kind, it is at the forefront of a national movement to improve vocational training and career development services. Each year some 350,000 Wisconsin residents use the center's Wisconsin Career Information System, which provides access to career information through state-of-the-art software and other materials.

  • UW-Madison has established the National Institute for Science Education in a partnership with the National Science Foundation and the National Center for Improving Science Education. The one-of-a-kind institute, funded at $2 million a year over five years, will be the nation's premier center of research and development on issues of science, math and engineering education.

  • The newly created BioNET, a statewide sharing network for biology education teachers, brings researchers from universities and industries together with biology teachers.

  • Raising Responsible Teens, a program offered through the UW Hospital, presents a series of seminars to parents and healthcare professionals who work with teens. The program has reached more than 7,200 parents of Wisconsin teens, offering information about topics such as alcohol and drug abuse, depression and suicide, sexuality and teen pregnancy.

  • The Institute for Multicultural Science Education, a two- year program for teachers from Madison and Milwaukee schools, provides 400 hours of training on restructuring the science curriculum for culturally diverse students.

  • Working to improve the teaching of science in K-12 schools throughout Wisconsin and the nation, the Institute for Chemical Education (ICE) provides publications for teachers on topics such as acid rain, the ozone hole and how to include science in elementary schools. Some 75 teachers and 150 middle school students attended chemistry education programs on campus this summer. ICE is also working on a major effort to revamp the nation's college chemistry curriculum through a nation-wide program funded by the National Science Foundation.

  • The UW Athletic Department holds annual clinics and sports camps, with more than 2,400 high school coaches attending this year.

  • The Institute for Chemical Education (ICE) has helped to develop a low-cost, easy-to-use kit that gives science and engineering students a three-dimensional handle on extended atomic structures of materials as diverse as table salt and semiconductors. The kits help students connect chemistry with common and high-tech materials.

  • The Instructional Materials Center makes its collection of 53,000 volumes available to educators and school librarians. Many educators use the library to read new school textbooks, examine testing materials and try out the latest instructional software before purchasing the items for their schools. The center offers workshops on using databases and Internet resources in education for educators.

  • College Access, a program offered in the summer through the School of Education, helps introduce teenagers of color to opportunities available on a university campus, improves their academic skills with individualized tutoring in math and writing, and encourages exploration of career goals.

  • The School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 1994 developed ONline WISCONSIN, a multimedia news journal that merges audio, video, graphics and print media into a single information source and is available on the World Wide Web. The Journalism School is exploring partnerships with public schools to introduce students to new forms of online communication and news distribution beyond the traditional newspaper.

  • The Multifunctional Resource Center for Bilingual Education provides training on how to teach students who have limited proficiency in English. The center, which conducts hundreds of workshops that have reached thousands of educators and parents, prepares teachers to create classrooms that are open to students from a range of cultures.

  • Nine programs devoted to the study of world regions provide speakers and performers for K-12 schools to educate students about the changing global community. For example, language faculty have undertaken initiatives to promote the study of Japanese, Russian and Swahili in Wisconsin schools. The area programs also offer summer workshops and maintain resource collections for use by K-12 teachers.

  • High school teachers can participate in a series of summer seminars on teaching advanced placement (AP) courses. Experienced high school AP teachers join UW-Madison faculty to team-teach each seminar.

  • Some 2,500 K-12 students benefited from outreach presentations on plasma and microchips through the Engineering Research Center for Plasma-Aided Manufacturing. Some 89 undergraduates gave hands-on presentations to 73 local-area classrooms, allowing the engineering students to learn the rewards of outreach activities while teaching K-12 students about science and engineering via semiconductor manufacturing.

  • Youth Futures, a federally funded program offered through the School of Family Resources and Consumer Sciences, helps local communities develop programs aimed at preventing alcohol and other drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and other risky behaviors in young people. Youth Futures helps communities tailor these programs to serve the needs of their youth. More than 250 Wisconsin communities have completed the assessment surveys used in the program, and Youth Futures is currently operating in 18 communities.

  • A faculty member in electrical and computer engineering has developed a unique kit that shows students the basics of how computers work. The kit, which is complete with a variety of computer parts - integrated circuits, transistors and other components - unveils the mystery of things like Nintendo games and digital watches by letting the kids take a look inside. Teachers across the country use the kit, which was developed in tandem with Project 2061, a national effort to revamp the way students learn science sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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