Education
Science grant to aid rural schools

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

A $6 million National Science Foundation grant will help the state's rural public schools improve their math, science and technology education.

•	What they'll get The schools will receive these benefits: • Extensive teacher training. • Curriculum aligned with the DOE's math and science standards. • Access to an interactive on-line center that links schools with science and math experts. • Student-teacher collaboration on projects across schools. • Partnerships between their campuses and the UH system.

"There's a real need to look at how kids are learning and how people are teaching," said Harada. "Some say we need more credits in science. I think we have to look at the quality of the teaching. Obviously, we are teaching science, but we need to look at how we can teach it better."

The program is starting up this semester, and the first 10 schools chosen by the DOE to participate are:

Kaua'i: Waimea Canyon, Waimea High.

Maui: Lahaina Intermediate, Maui Waena Intermediate.

Big Island: Waikoloa, Ho'okena, Honaunau, Hilo Union, Honoka'a High, Laupahoehoe High and Elementary.

Over the next five years, 10 more schools each year will be brought into the program.

News of the five-year grant comes after Hawai'i received yet another round of disappointing science test scores. Nearly half of Hawai'i public school fourth-graders and almost two-thirds of the state's eighth-graders tested on a national science test scored below basic proficiency levels.

The scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test could produce changes in curriculum and promotion guidelines, including the requirement that all eighth-graders take science, public schools chief Patricia Hamamoto has said.

Harada said the grant will help improve science, math and technology education in the state by focusing on developing good teachers and emphasizing project-based education, which tends to get students more excited about learning. For example, a school on the Big Island is creating a "seed bank" of native plants, cataloging them and making them available to others to help keep native species alive. Harada said project coordinators hope that other schools can pick up on that idea.

"You realize that science and math concepts have to come in, reading and writing skills have to come in," she said. "We want to encourage this kind of learning in the schools rather than questions at the end of the chapter. The DOE is looking at the most heavily disadvantaged campuses. Can we make similar projects happen at these schools?"

Using the Internet, schools will be able to compare science experiment results with other schools and talk to experts about science and math.

Daniel Suthers, assistant professor in the UH department of information and computer science, is designing a Web site that will become a "virtual community" for schools participating in the project.

Suthers said the Web site will allow for communication between classes, teachers, students and scientists who can act as mentors.

Diana Oshiro, the DOE's assistant superintendent, said she hopes the project will encourage teachers to "blend" their curriculum.

"I believe this will jump start some integrated instruction in math, science and technology and encourage problem-based learning in these subjects to make the content come alive," she said.

Officials at the Department of Education and the University of Hawai'i teamed up nearly two years ago to apply for the federal grant.

The schools selected for participation are in rural areas and have a high number of students on the free and reduced lunch program.

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.