YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY Area middle school science teachers learn the importance of inquiry

Teachers are learning at the YSU workshop, but students stand to benefit.
By MATT BIXENSTINE
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Is it easier to tear paper along its length or width?
That was the question Sherri Lovelace-Cameron, Youngstown State University assistant professor of chemistry, posed on the chalkboard Wednesday morning after deciding to shift her class's focus temporarily away from chemistry.
The eager class members' replies varied. "Depends on how you hold the paper, which side is length." "Depends on the type of paper." "It doesn't matter; both are the same."
A simple experiment soon answered the question, but it was not the class that stands to benefit most from the learning experience. The 26 students are primarily Mahoning County elementary and middle school science teachers refining skills and techniques to bring back to their respective classrooms come fall.
A $117,398 competitive grant awarded to YSU from the Ohio Board of Regents is funding, "Inquiry Matters: Teaching Physical Science Through Inquiry."
Stacey Lowery Bretz, YSU associate professor of chemistry, and Lovelace-Cameron are teaching the graduate course in the form of a workshop this week and next week at Ward Beecher Science Hall.
"For a lot of kids, science is taught with definitions, much like a foreign language," Bretz said. "They miss out on what science really is -- a way of looking at the world around you."
Here's the focus
The workshop, which consists entirely of hands-on experiments, focuses on developing creativity while eliminating science's abstract nature. The teachers will incorporate learning science via inquiry and experimentation into lesson plans during the upcoming school year.
They will then report their students' reactions to the techniques at monthly meetings, during which the grant will pay for substitutes in their classrooms.
"Our premise is we want them [teachers] to start teaching science the way scientists do science," Lovelace-Cameron said.
Karen Anness, seventh grade science teacher at Springfield Intermediate School in New Middletown, is attending the workshop in preparation for her 29th year of teaching. She said learning -- and learning to teach -- are lifelong processes.
Anness has had to adjust her curriculum and techniques to meet changing education standards as well as to maintain students' attention.
"It's very challenging to keep it interesting," Anness said. "Students don't become engaged until they become active. But once they're engaged, they're very excited about learning."
The workshop's inquiries, based on National Science Education standards for Ohio, involve using household products like vinegar and glue to perform chemistry experiments and create simple chemical reactions.
Class members have out-of-class assignments and are graded to receive credit for the course. Sharyn DiMuzio, third grade teacher at Dobbins Elementary School in Poland, said teachers sacrifice part of their summer vacation because they are devoted to improvement.
"This is not a requirement," DiMuzio said. "We come so when we return to the classrooms we become better teachers."
mbixenstine@vindy.com