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| BATON ROUGE The National Science Foundation, or NSF, recently awarded two LSU professors nearly $300,000 to support their work toward improving the science inquiry skills of middle-school students. Yiping Lou, associate professor of educational technology, and Pamela Blanchard, assistant professor of science education in the Department of Educational Theory, Policy and Practice, are the principle and co-principle investigators in the study. They are working to develop a Web-based inquiry skill analyzer and activity portal that will help first teachers, then students, evaluate and improve these important skills. “Inquiry skills are basic scientific protocol ... asking testable questions, designing experiments, collecting and analyzing data and interpreting the results,” said Lou. “We want to develop an assessment tool that is effective, but at the same time teacher- and learner-friendly and non-threatening.” Science as inquiry is at the heart of current national elementary and secondary science education reform. It currently represents 22 percent of the LEAP, or Louisiana Educational Assessment Program, and 44 percent of the iLEAP, or Integrated Louisiana Assessment Program, science score. “It’s about teaching students how scientists ask and find answers to questions,” said Blanchard. “However, many teachers have the misconception that science inquiry activities have to be long-term projects and they find it difficult to fit them into their busy schedules.” The final products Lou and Blanchard plan to offer teachers will be two integrated science inquiry research tools:
Currently, the researchers are working with four expert teachers, Janell Albarez, of the West Baton Rouge Parish school system; Gail Blouin and Frances Dick, both from the Ascension Parish School System; and Marcy Welch, from the East Baton Rouge Parish School System; and a team of computer programmers, led by Mike Smith of LSU Information Technology Services, to develop a prototype of the product. There are also three graduate assistants, Jaime Carnaggio, Karen Tschirn and Srividya Singampalli, working on the project. “It’s a great team to work with. Everyone is making significant contributions based on their expertise and collaborates well as team members,” said Lou. The study is funded for three years, but both Lou and Blanchard are optimistic that it will continue to be sponsored long after that. “The NSF has great hopes for this project,” said Lou. “Right now it’s focused on eighth-grade earth science. The plan is to eventually take the tools beyond, to other grade levels and subjects.” -30- |
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