The collaboration is a partnership between Case and the
Cleveland schools, with University Circle, Inc.; the
Cleveland Museum of Natural History; the Cleveland Botanical
Garden; the Western Reserve Historical Society; and the
Nature Center at Shaker Lakes. The Cleveland Clinic will
also support the program through assistance to teachers for
instructional materials and in-service training to
incorporate science, math and the arts in their classrooms.
Beginning in the sixth grade and continuing for three years,
students will engage in “real science experiences,” said
James Bader, director of the CSME at Case.
The program will center on themes from the popular JASON
Project, a middle school science and technology program
founded by explorer Robert Ballard, discoverer of the wreck
of the RMS Titanic. During the in-school component,
teachers and their students will use the multidisciplinary
JASON curriculum in the classroom, exploring
Disappearing Wetlands in the first year;
Rainforests at the Crossroads, the second year; and
Mysteries of the Earth and Mars, the third year.
During the out-of-school component, each student will
spend 20 hours over five weeks at each partnering
institution, and have the opportunity to investigate JASON
inspired questions from the unique perspective of the host
institutions. Each student will be assigned to a team that
includes a teacher, a museum staff member, a Case student
seeking a teaching license and a high school student mentor.
Parents also will be involved as they participate in some of
the activities. The program will continue in the seventh and
eighth grades with the hope that a number of these students
will pursue science courses in high school and college.
Students will gather on the Case campus in the summer to
complete the science project they began during the year and
make formal presentations before their parents, teachers,
museum educators and other invited guests—much like
scientists do at national meetings.
“The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is excited to
participate in this program. Students will have the
opportunity to see how the Museum works behind-the-scenes,
and the ability to ask and find answers to questions they
have about the natural world using real museum specimens and
artifacts,” said Carin Miller, who holds the Gertrude
Haskell Britton Endowed Chair of Education at The Cleveland
Museum of Natural History.
“As a collector and preserver of the history of northeast
Ohio, Western Reserve Historical Society has many artifacts
and documents that provide information relevant to Ohio’s ‘Disappearing
Wetlands,’” said Janice Ziegler, WRHS director of
education.
Students will combine humanities with science at WRHS.
For example, Ziegler said students will use archival
materials as well as practice surveying over obstacles using
the Gunter chain method of Moses Cleaveland’s team to
compare terminology of the past with scientific information
today, write plays dramatizing early tribulations presented
by mosquito infested, malaria-ridden swampy areas and use
artistry to create a 3-D swamp of early Western Reserve.
According to Bader, Science in the Circle hopes to reach
five goals through the program:
- Middle school students will develop an understanding
of how math and art are integral components of the
scientific process
- Teachers will implement inquiry-based approaches to
teaching, incorporating interdisciplinary and
collaborative strategies in the classroom
- Teachers and students will become lifelong patrons of
University Circle institutions
- Students will grow their interest in science,
technology, engineering and mathematics by capitalizing on
University Circle’s wealth of resources
- Case faculty and education students will continue to
strengthen their relationships with Cleveland schools.
As part of the evaluation process for the project, the
Institute for Learning Innovation, a nonprofit organization
from Annapolis, Md., that studies informal and free-choice
learning, will look at how effective this program is in
developing an interest in science as well as interest in
visiting cultural arts institutions like the ones found in
University Circle.
For more
information contact
Susan Griffith,
216.368.1004.
