Math & Science Graduate Fellows in K-12 Education

Fellow: Sally Goodman, M.S. graduate fellow in Geological Sciences
Teachers: Sara Hollingsworth, student achievement coordinator
Margie Menzies, grades 7-12 Earth Science, Chemistry, Physics
School: Harbor City High School, a MN public charter high school

Directed Studies, Teacher: Sara Hollingsworth

Directed Studies is a course that provides on-going tutoring and academic support to help students achieve success in their academic goal areas.  Students are typically below-grade-level in one or more subject area. Our goals were to develop awareness of who the students are as learners, where they need improvement, and what resources are available to them; improve academic achievement! Numerous students in Directed Studies have math and science goals, partnering with NSF fellow provided more direct tutoring support for those students. We implemented the Socratical method of teaching during math tutoring sessions where students could discover math concepts through directed tutoring. Sally and Sara worked together 2 days a week in 4 sections of the directed studies program which meets 4 days a week.

Accomplishments

We organized field trips to colleges, science labs inquiry day (mineralogy/petrology/microscopy lab, Planetary Science lab, GIS lab) and inspired interest in opportunities beyond high school.

Sally designed and implemented a "Student Journal" project to provide students with increased self-awareness of their learning styles and study skills development. Beyond-the-Project subject investigations helped students to find relevancy of academic subjects in local community and beyond, a motivation tool. The student reflections provided insight for school teaching staff.

We established student math study groups and saw higher math homework completion rates, more consistent math tutoring, and provided math resources (notes, lessons) beyond/in-addition to math classroom. Sally came to appreciate challenges teachers face in all subject areas!

Earth Science, Teacher: Margie Menzies

Sally and Margie worked together 1 day a week in the fall to plan and lead the 3 week winter symposium course, Geology in Death Valley. It was a great course that provided a rich experiennce for students to achieve their Minnesota high school Earth Science standards.

Accomplishments

We d eveloped & implemented Death Valley National Park 3-week symposium curriculum which is anticipated ot become an ongoing course offered for Harbor City students. In addition, we began a collaboration with National Park Service on lesson development for an Earth Science and Nature Photography high school curriculum to be used in the park.

Sally also helped Margie by adding expertise to classroom lessons, student project progress and data interpretation. She was also able to participate in collaborative peer-review study of a research lesson with Harbor City science teachers.

Teams in Action

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Curriculum