Corporate Programs Bolster Hands-On Science In Schools

In Bonnie Hallam's class at Huey Elementary School in Philadelphia, first-graders don't just read about ecology-they make an ecosystem. Every year, a corner of Hallam's classroom becomes a pond. Filling a huge wooden barrel with water, students carefully arrange topsoil, mulch, logs-even goldfish and butterflies. "The kids get so involved," Hallam says. "Everyone has a good time." It's a different scene from a few years ago, when science was scarce in Hallam's class. "I've always liked science," she says, "but I felt I didn't know enough to teach it." Then, in 1994, Hallam attended a summer institute for teachers sponsored by the Penn-Merck Collaborative for the Enhancement of Science Education, a cooperative effort of the University of Pennsylvania and Merck and Co. Inc. in Whitehouse Station, N.J. The 13-month program includes two intensive summer sessions, during which participants create lab lessons to teach during the school year. Hallam learned how to lead kids through hands-on experiments in physical science, chemistry, and biology. Today, Hallam is a "master teacher" in the Penn-Merck program, training participants to try the same techniques in their own classrooms. HIGH PRIORITY: Merck's Carlo Parravano aims to get teachers to see science as equally as important as math and reading. "[The program] has changed my whole idea toward teaching," Hallam maintains. "Now I put more emphasis on how kids think, and I really do have a science-based day in my class." And that's just what administrators at Merck intended. Along with at least a dozen other drug and technology companies, Merck has set out to reform science education from kindergarten up. "In most classrooms, science is not considered a priority," says Carlo Parravano, director of the Merck Institute for Science Education in Rahway, N.J., which helps support the Penn-Merck program. "Teachers may not teach science at all, or they may teach a little bit of uninspiring science, emphasizing memorization and textbook learning. What we're trying to do is make science a priority-equivalent to math and reading." Each company has its own strategies for revamping science education. Merck and the National Science Foundation cosponsor the $3 million Penn-Merck program, which trains elementary teachers in the city and offers them new science materials and books. Philadelphia-based SmithKline Beecham supports "Science in the Summer," a program that teaches kids fun experiments in public libraries. Meanwhile, Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in New York, Dow Chemical Co. in Midland, Mich., and DuPont in Wilmington, Del., all sponsor science programs coordinated by the National Science Resources Center (NSRC), a Washington, D.C., organization run by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Academy of Sciences. NSRC works with more than 200 school districts nationwide to make science lessons more interactive. Various companies also independently partner with teachers, offer high school internships, and even recruit parents and community leaders into the effort. Most of these programs involve schools near corporate headquarters or labs. The education effort makes good business sense, researchers say. First, would-be employees want good schools for their kids. Moreover, today's students become tomorrow's scientists-not to mention consumers and politicians. "Our society has gotten very technologically complex, and it will only get more so," predicts Joseph Miller, Jr., senior vice president of research and development at DuPont. "It's important that scientific literacy increases, too." MESSAGE: Bassam Shakhashiri says corporate efforts "signal to the community" that science education reform is important. ROLE MODELING: Bristol-Myers Squibb's Anders Hedberg notes the need to show teachers "scientific habits." Big companies are uniquely positioned to boost scholastic science, says Bassam Shakhashiri, a chemistry professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. "It's not just that they provide funds," he notes. "They also provide technical expertise, and they signal to the community that science education [reform] is important to engage in." With a fresh perspective and the commitment to make reform happen, he says, industry can help revolutionize the way kids learn science today. For years, scientists have visited classrooms on their own time, spending an hour or so to share their work. While these talks can inspire students, the inspiration can be hit-or-miss, reaching just some students for a short while. In recent years, companies have realized the best way to beef up science education is to work directly with teachers, according to Anders Hedberg, director of the Center for Science Education at Bristol-Myers Squibb. "Our primary role is to provide the role model of the practicing scientist," Hedberg says. "We need to impart the scientific habits of the mind on teachers, so they can in turn practice that behavior and bring it across to children. We have increased the time scientists spend with teachers, giving them the model for being a problem solver." Bristol-Myers Squibb, for example, partners with NSRC in about 20 school districts in Connecticut, New York, and other areas where the company has research labs. Each district gets between $15,000 and $20,000 a year to participate in NSRC outreach programs. The center holds conferences that are attended by teams from each school district. The teams-made up of teachers, corporate scientists or engineers, and science coordinators for the district-review current science courses and teacher training to pinpoint areas for improvement. SCIENCE EDUCATION EFFORTS Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. http://www.sbm.com Dow Chemical Co. http://www.dow.com DuPont http://www.dupont.com Merck Institute for Science Education http://www.merck.com National Science Resources Center http://www.si.edu/nsrc SmithKline Beecham http://www.sb.com With corporate funding, NSRC also provides new science materials to the teachers. "We can't expect teachers to run to the corner store every time they plan a lesson-but we often do," notes Sally Shuler, deputy director for development at NSRC. "It's the equivalent of having a surgeon running out to buy Band-Aids." Science education reformers want nothing less than a cultural revolution in teaching. "The message is that science should be fun," explains Jane Horowitz, coordinator of the Penn-Merck program. "If we don't change the whole climate toward science in schools, we can't make a real difference." Hallam offers an example. Before attending the Penn-Merck program, she might spend a few minutes reading about soil science to her students. Today, she hands out samples of soil and magnifying glasses, asking the kids to tell her what they find. Is soil just dirt? Or does it also contain leaves? Rocks? Are the dirt particles all the same size? "They have to discover the answers by making observations and collecting data," Hallam says. "It's not just hands-on-it's 'minds-on,' too." LONG-TERM GOALS: Dow's Bob Henson says major efforts require a lengthy commitment. At Dow Chemical, the push is for practical lessons that will attract students and teachers alike. Each summer, partnering with the Arlington, Va.-based National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), Dow invites 16 teachers from around the world to spend two weeks at its research labs in Midland, Mich. Working with company scientists, the teachers develop lesson plans, attend lectures, and tour the labs. According to Bob Henson, manager of education initiatives at Dow, the company wants to link chemistry to real-world problems. Teachers learn how to test the absorbency of polymers in diapers, for example, and study how well soap particles degrade. Companies also recruit parents, community leaders-even future educators-to spice up science. As part of an NSRC program, Dow takes part in a "Family Science Night," in which kids staff science "stations" at local schools, impressing their parents with tricks and trivia. The Merck Institute for Science Education scouts undergraduate programs for the promising teachers of tomorrow, inviting education majors on field trips to learn how to teach hands-on science from the very beginning. Rather than take science into school, some companies bring kids to extracurricular science-in libraries, for example. SmithKline Beecham's "Science in the Summer" program offers various hands-on research courses to about 6,000 kids at 107 public libraries throughout the Philadelphia area. Using magnets and compasses, kids studying physical science learn about magnetic fields, static electricity, electric currents, and circuitry. In the chemistry course, students learn about chemical reactions by mixing solutions to clean old pennies, for example. The informal setting helps kids relax and enjoy experiments, according to Doug Bauer, director of community partnership at SmithKline Beecham. And the timing keeps science fresh during the lazy summer months. "We use it as a catalyst to keep kids interested," Bauer says. "It's like a booster to get them going into the new school year." Because science education efforts require money and energy, companies are eager to make them work over the long term. "On average, a company might spend hundreds of thousands of dollars-or even millions-on science education programs," Henson remarks. "But the educational system itself takes over $300 billion. Unless you're in it for the long haul, it's like spitting into the ocean." In its collaboration with NSRC, Dow commits to sponsoring a school district for six years at a time, to the tune of $215,000. Right now, the company is partnering with school districts around 17 of its American plant sites. INTENSIVE SUMMER SESSIONS: Jane Horowitz, rear, and Bonnie Hallum, third from right, join other participants in a Penn-Merck Collaborative program. Similarly, Merck has launched a 10-year partnership with four school districts adjacent to major Merck labs or offices. Even so, there's no guarantee that the schools themselves won't shift during a decade, notes Parravano. In Merck's four school districts, the superintendents have changed 11 times. That complicates efforts to maintain a consistent science curriculum in schools. One way to sustain today's kids is by sticking with them as they grow. Bristol-Myers Squibb offers high school internships to minorities and other underserved populations. The company also provides 35 medical school fellowships to minorities every year. These students pursue independent projects with a mentor and then meet once a year to share their results. Combined, these programs cost the company about $500,000 a year. Another challenge is one familiar to pharmaceutical companies: scale-up. "Say you're working in a school district with 15,000 or 20,000 students and hundreds of teachers," Parravano says. "How do you go from working with just 200 teachers to all the others?" Even the best programs can reach only a fraction of students. Still, the educational effort is making progress. Shuler reports that NSRC-partnered programs-supported by a blend of companies, organizations, and NSF-are reaching some 20 percent of school kids in the United States. More than 160 of the 200 participating school districts have shifted from a traditional science curriculum to one that is inquiry-based. "If a school chooses the highest-quality curriculum, based on national standards, then we've succeeded," she comments. Wisconsin's Shakhashiri, a former science and engineering education official at NSF, agrees. "Science education definitely is changing for the better," he says. "But it requires constant renewal as more students come into the educational system. Companies must continue to have a strong presence. We need to be sure the flame of curiosity that kids have is nourished, not extinguished." Kathryn S. Brown is a science writer in Columbia, Mo.

Corporate Programs Bolster Hands-On Science In Schools

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