Buffalo Teachers returm to science class

A $9.8 million National Science Foundation grant has been awarded to a group of Buffalo organizations, including Buffalo State College, to improve science and math education in middle and high school students.

The grant was used to develop the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Partnership, which targets middle and high school teachers in Buffalo Public Schools so that their students have the best possible math and science experience.

The partnership is led by Buffalo State College, University at Buffalo, the Buffalo Museum of Science, Buffalo Public Schools and other local technology organizations.

"Middle school is where kids lose interest (in science)," said University at Buffalo Professor and Chemistry Chair Joseph Gardella, who leads the project.

The goal is to provide professional development to experienced teachers, who may not have expertise in teaching science and math.

Buffalo State has been given $750,000 of the grant money, which will be used toward graduate-level courses for public school teachers of physics, technology and energy, said associate professor of physics Dan MacIsaac. The money will pay the teachers a stipend to attend courses over a period of two weeks, and pay for their tuition and books.

 A smaller chunk of the money will go towards a summer science camp for Buffalo school children, which has been run in previous years by either Buffalo State or Buffalo Public Schools. It is not clear yet where this summer's camp will be held.

Gardella said a pilot project in two Buffalo schools, provided by the Oishei Foundation, showed improved test scores for children in math and science. This helped pave the way for the partnership.

Teachers from Buffalo Public Schools will have the opportunity to work with UB professors and students and take part in research groups, as well as work in UB science labs. They will be able to form professional learning communities with help from UB and Buffalo State students and faculty.

Teachers will also be encouraged to attend conferences such as the Western New York Physics Teachers Alliance, held at Buffalo State one Saturday a month.

According to David Henry, associate professor of elementary education, the alliance is made up of about 50 Buffalo State professors and public school teachers from the area. Members share new ideas with their colleges that they can bring back to their classrooms. At their Oct. 22 meeting a professor was explaining how to use the game "Angry Birds" to teach physics.

The goal of ISEP is not necessarily to provide new material to students and teachers, but to teach them how to learn, and teach them to use their knowledge in new ways.

"When you allow (students) to learn rather than reading them the textbook, profound things happen," said MacIsaac. He emphasized that learning and teaching science and math is not about memorizing facts, but is about being able to solve problems and think critically. The new partnership will help teachers to become more creative in the classroom to keep kids interested.

"If a lecture really worked, we'd just videotape our lectures and fire all our professors, and it would save a lot of money," he said.

The grant money was awarded Sept. 1, and Buffalo State will begin planning its projects in January and February, said MacIsaac. The plan is for Buffalo State to support the development of about 60 teachers over five years. The grant is authorized for three years, and if students and teachers are showing improvement when that time comes, the rest of the grant will be awarded over the following two years.

Ariel Peters can be reached by email at peters.record@live.com.