A new initiative led by West Virginia University and the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) will soon bring chemistry, calculators and country roads together.

The new partnership will establish a national model for enhancing students achievement in rural areas through research on, and implementation of, enhanced teacher preparation in the integration of science and math.

Associate Professor of Science Education in the WVU College of Human Resources and Education Eric Pyle and WVDE Executive Director Phyllis Barnhart recently received a $200,000 National Science Foundation development grant to establish statewide study groups for rural science and mathematics integration.

Public school teachers at eight regional science, mathematics, and technology consortia will partner with faculty at higher education institutions including Fairmont State, Marshall University, Glenville State College and others to research and define how to best prepare teacher educators for teaching in rural areas.

The work generated by these study groups will result in multi-million dollar grant proposals to the NSF that will carry out the plans developed by members of the framework group. Proposal efforts will link, sustain and extend current science and mathematics efforts in West Virginia and serve as a national model.

“The National Science Foundation has provided us with what is essentiallyventure capitalto fully articulate the ideas we have put forth. They have made an investment in what they believe to be good ideas,”Dr. Pyle said.

Members of study groups also include individuals from the West Virginia Department of Education, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and the Governors Office for Education and the Arts.

Several other entities, including government-related agencies and private foundations, also will partner in the Center for Rural Mathematics and Integration Consortium.

They include Fairmonts NASA Independent Verification and Validation facility, the National Radio Anatomy Observatory and the West Virginia Geologic and Economic Survey.

There also will be strong connections with the West Virginia Science Teachers Association, the West Council of Teachers of Mathematics as well as the West Virginia Mathematics and Science Coalition and its linking leaders initiative co-sponsored by NASA and the National Alliance of State Science and Math Coalitions.

“The proposed Center for Rural Science and Mathematics Integration is the final major component of West Virginias large-scale systemic reform efforts in science and mathprojects CATS (NSF) and Project MERIT (NSF),”Barnhart said.”The Center would link regional consortia with institutions of higher education and the West Virginia Department of Education, as well as a magnitude of science and math related agencies, business, industry and community resources,”she added.

Dr. Pyle expects that the eventual center will develop national models for the preparation of science and mathematics teacher-leaders and teacher educators in rural areas.

“There are many good professional development programs for integrating science and math in urban areas,”Pyle said,”but very few for rural areas.”

Rural schools differ, he added, because they are often smaller and have fewer resources than larger schools in urban areas.

“There also is a dearth of professional development programs available for teacher educators,”Pyle explained,”so often times faculty in rural schools miss out on learning new methods of teaching. West Virginia teachers need better access to networks that contribute to their knowledge base on learning and teaching integrated sciences and mathematics.”

Improved access to better teaching methods also means that student teachers will learn cutting-edge techniques in teaching, he said.

A primary component of the program will be its focus on the value of indigenous knowledge, Pyle said.

“There is a lot of innate science and math knowledge in the people of West Virginia,”he said.”Indigenous knowledge is well articulated and complex, limited to a local context but possessing the potential for generality.”

For example, Pyle said a 4th grade student named Sammy from rural West Virginia has developed an”encyclopedic”knowledge of West Virginias forest life, trees and rivers through his experiences hunting and fishing.

“He knows about everything there is to know about the science of the forest and the animals around where he lives,”Pyle said.

“We want teachers to be able to recognize and value the kind of knowledge that Sammy has and learn to use it more effectively in the classroom,”he said.

Another example of indigenous knowledge might come from local or small industries, he said.”Experienced miners might not use hardwood trees for supporting mine structures,”he explained,”though a materials scientist might be so inclined. Thats because the miners know that softwoods like pine deform visibly, while hardwoods would not deform as much before catastrophic failure. By framing this knowledge in discrete concepts, the teacherwith the assistance of university-based scientistscan describe scientific and mathematical factors and add relevance to subjects that otherwise might seem dry and abstract to students.”

Still in the early stages of development, Pyle and Barnhart expect that it will take a year before the self-study work is completed and proposals for large collaborative projects will be generated well before the 2002 year is out.

“The National Science Foundation felt that,These folks really have their acts together.Its up to us to prove it now.”