In the title of this very brief article, Marilyn Hood, of Hood Associates, poses the question "Can aquariums, zoos and museums use TV to educate?" and then goes on to cite a Ohio State University study. The study found that high school students may retain information from watching TV as well as they do from listening to a classroom lecture.
In this brief article, Pete Conroy, Curator of Natural History at the Anniston Museum of Natural History, discusses his tactics for successfully grabbing the attention of kids during his wildlife lectures. He uses distasteful potty humor to make his presentations more effective.
The middle-school and high-school years are a period of change and crystalization in terms of life goals, disciplinary and course preferences, and social and political attitudes. The literature provides a number of cross-sectional descriptions and models concerning cognitive and attitudinal development during adolescence and young adulthood, but there are no longitudinal data available to study these processes. The proposed longitudinal study will examine the (1) development of interest in science and mathematics, (2) the growth of scientific literacy, (3) the development of attentiveness to science and technology issues, and (4) the attraction to careers in science and engineering among two national cohorts of adolescents and young adults. One cohort will begin with a national sample of 3,000 seventh graders and follow them through the 10th grade. The second cohort will begin with a national sample of 3,000 10th graders and follow them for the next four years through the first full year after high school. Data will be collected from students, teachers, counselors, principals, and parents. A purposive sample of two or three school districts with exemplary elementary school science and mathematics education programs will be selected and comparable data will be collected in these districts. The analysis will consist of a series of expanding multivariate developmental models that will seek to understand cognitive and attitudinal growth and change in the context of family, school, and peer influences. Each wave of data collection will provide an opportunity to examine cognitive and attitudinal change measures in an increasingly rich context of previous measures. Periodic reports will be issued with each cycle of data collection and the data will be made available to other scholars on a timely basis. The first phase of the project, being funded at this time, provides approximately 15 months for instrument development and pilot testing, for sample selection, for monitor selection and training, and for working with the research advisory committee.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jon Miller
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This project will test an instructional strategy designed to increase the pool of minority students who are successful in their study of algebra and higher mathematics courses. Since 1979, the Comprehensive Math and Science Program at Columbia University has been developing an instructional model designed to give all entering ninth grade students the opportunity to work to their highest level of capacity in mathematics. Key features of the model are a zero-based start, which makes no assumptions on students' prior mathematics background, and a complementary curriculum, which provides a set of parallel, interlocking mathematics courses that substantially increases the rate of mathematics instruction over a four semester period. Preliminary tests of the model in New York City schools have yielded encouraging results. In the current project, the instructional materials will be completed and the model will be extensively tested in New York City and in Fulton County, Georgia. The testing will be accompanied by the development of an apprenticeship model for teacher training, which will pair new teachers with experienced teachers in the interlocking courses of the program.