An intermittent drizzle is misting the windows of Christine Maloneys seventh-grade science class at Suncrest Middle School, but dont look for that gloom to intrude within the four walls of Room 131.
Thats because Graham Porter is on the point.
And the West Virginia University education major from Petersburg is doing something amazing on this rainy Wednesday: Hes making the study of cartography and topography fun and interesting for 24 youngsters in the third-period class.
Porter, in effect, is also helping redefine the role of the land-grant university in the 21st century, since WVU is one of 75 schools across the country to sign on with the federal effort geared to the recruitment and retention of science and math teachers in K-12 classrooms.
Its known as the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative, and it operates under the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, NASULGC .
This particular teacher in training on this day, however, isnt thinking about the academic infrastructure of the collaboration. Like the point of a drill bit, Porters burrowing into his lesson plan, with great results.
Mallory!he barksall good-natured enthusiasm.Whats a contour line?
A line that connects all the points on the surface of a map,she promptly answers.
What else does it do?
It shows everything on the map at the same elevation.
Excellent, excellent,Porter says.Alright, Brandon! Whats the elevation of Morgantown? Cmon, figure it out. Use the formulas we went over.
The young man in the Mountaineer sweatshirt punches a few numbers on a calculator and scribbles in a notebook.
Uh, 960 feet,he says, smiling.
Youve got it,Porter says.Thats it, exactly.
Porter asks question after question, and question after question, hands rocket up. No lags here. Its only 10 minutes into the class. Theres a lot more learning to go.
At WVU these days, learning is an invigorated philosophyparticularly in the vigilant new approaches two of its key colleges are taking in the effort. The Imperative links the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and College of Human Resources and Education.
And before that, educators at Eberly secured a $750,000 grant through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program designed to steer math and science majors (with the help of HR&Es innovative Benedum Collaborative education program) into teaching their expertise in rural schools across West Virginia.
The new focus, HR&E Dean Dee Hopkins said, goes far beyond formulas on a blackboard or the Periodic Table of Elements. Critical thinking is the equation here, she said.
Critical thinking is part of what we call the �€~21st-century skills,she said.With critical thinking comes global awareness, and with that you have innovation, communication and decisionmaking skills. Thats what West Virginias K-12 students need in order to excel in todays technology-driven society.
Fred King, a chemistry professor and Eberlys associate dean for graduate and research studies, said the new mission will change the way WVU does business with its own.
I anticipate well work closely with HR&E, particularly with the new hires in math and science education, to develop programs that provide greater content mastery for the K-12 teachers,he said.
Some of this,he continued,will naturally involve interactions of graduate students interested in careers in math and science education with classroom teachers. I can picture an information exchange: A graduate student brings expertise on the subject, and a teacher shows how to actually communicate that knowledge to a diverse audience.
That means everyone literally makes the grade for success, said C. Peter Magrath, WVU s interim president who formerly headed NASULGC .
As one of Americas premier land-grant universities, WVU has been working hard to put more science and math teachers into classrooms across our state and our nation,he said.
Our partnership in this new Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative will encourage even more WVU students to consider science, math and engineering as a teaching career,he said.I truly believe its up to us in higher education to take a leadership role in providing more highly skilled K-12 teachers in these high-demand disciplines. The future of our economy is highly reliant on it.
Meanwhile, back in Room 131 at Suncrest Middle, Porter was continuing to work on his investment portfolio: the students of seventh-grade science.
The students didnt bolt for the door when the bell rang. Instead, they took a few seconds to finish up their work.
OK, everybodys got it, right?Porter asked.
Yeah!they sang out.
It was appropriate that the lesson was on maps since this class and its student-teacher couldnt have had a better sense of direction.