Syracuse-area teachers will now be able to get a hand from Syracuse University graduate students with creating experiments and teaching their students about science, technology and mathematics.

The project, funded by a $1.4 million grant from the National Science Association, will bring 10 graduate fellows together with 10 area teachers to develop projects that largely focus on local environmental issues, said Marvin Druger, a principal investigator for the project and the chairman of the Department of Science Teaching at SU.

“In science education there is usually a gap in research and what children learn in school,” Druger said. “This will help make the gap smaller and give them a better understanding of research.”

Sometimes teachers are not able to gain enough knowledge about a certain topic or about a certain technology, and the graduate fellows will help the teachers so that these topics, which otherwise would have been eliminated from curriculum, will be covered, he said.

The project is a collaboration between The College of Arts and Sciences, School of Education and the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science and will help bring the graduate students’ excitement about learning to younger students, said Sandy Trento, a principal investigator for the project.

“Many of the students have never been around a PhD student who will bring excitement and knowledge to the learning environment,” said Trento, the director of professional and organizational relations for education.

The recruitment process for the graduate students who will participate is currently under way. Those SU students who participate will get a full assistantship equaling about $32,000, Trento said.

“It pays very well,” Druger said. “I’d take the job myself.”

Samuel Clemence, a civil engineering professor and principal investigator for the project, said the graduate fellows will help teachers explore local issues outside of the theoretical framework of the classroom.

“I envision fellows working with teachers to develop projects that will help to capture the imagination of the students,” Clemence said.

This could help students be more excited when they get to a university because they have had the experience and also would be a great experience for graduate students who could work with younger students instead of being a teacher’s assistant, Clemence said.

Often times, in high school and junior high school, when students do experiments, they rarely get the opportunity to collect data, said Peter Plumley, a systems programmer/administrator IV for the engineering dean’s office. With the new project, students will get the opportunity to be the first persons to see data and examine with access to labs at SU, Plumley said.

“It introduces students to the university and makes it less foreign to them,” Plumley said. “It may make them feel more comfortable applying here.”

Published on March 2, 2003 at 12:00 pm