Title: Catalysts for Reform: a university.schools partnership in northwest Washington Institution: Western Washington University PI: Dr. Scott Linneman (WWU Geology and Science Education) Co-PI: Ms. Sandra Austin (Nooksack Valley School District); Ms. Susan Bergman (Mount Vernon School District); Dr. Alejandro Acevedo-Gutierrez (WWU Biology and Science Education); Dr. Gisele Muller-Parker (WWU Biology) Number of Fellows/year: 9 Graduate and 4 Advanced Undergraduate School District Partners: Bellingham School District, Lummi Tribal School, Mount Vernon School District, Nooksack Valley School District Target Grade Band: Middle School (Grades 7 and 8) Setting: Rural NSF Supported Disciplines Involved: Biology, Chemistry, Geology, and Physics
Narrative Summary: Catalysts for Reform will partner nine science graduate students, four advanced undergraduates, and eight science faculty from Western Washington University with 25 middle school science teachers from four neighboring school districts to improve learning in middle school science among diverse student populations.
Intellectual Merit: Catalysts for Reform will explore how to best use masters-level graduate students and advanced undergraduates from biology, chemistry, geology, and physics/astronomy departments to achieve improved middle school science teaching and learning through support of systemic reform. The thinking to Learn. Institute model will be evaluated as a means to provide university disciplinary students with research-based teaching strategies through careful research protocols. The impact of the institutes and workshops on pedagogical content knowledge on teacher knowledge and practice, curriculum selection and implementation, and ultimately on middle school student science performance will also be studied.
Broader Impacts: The project will provide a national example of how graduate and advanced undergraduate students from multiple disciplines in a master.s degree granting regional university can acquire and apply research-based teaching strategies. Participants will have a systemic impact resulting in improved middle school student science learning and teacher content and pedagogical knowledge and practice in schools with high populations of Native American and Hispanic children. As a result of involvement of science faculty, the project will have a sustainable impact on undergraduate and graduate science teaching and learning. The Thinking to Learn. Institute, which will be embedded into the graduate science curriculum, is an innovative and replicable model for all higher education institutions. This project is receiving partial support from funds from the Directorate of Geosciences.
