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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > February > 14 > Entry
Science education in Dayton wins big
Berhnardt and Bodary
The Dayton region got a big Valentine’s Day kiss Thursday from the state that will bring nearly $2 million here for science education.
The crown jewel among four large grants was $600,000 to fund the start up of a science-focused high school on the campus of Wright State University, which was given the green light to open in the fall of 2009. The first class will have 80 ninth graders and the school eventually will expand to serve up to 600 in grades 6 to 12.
“We believe the school will spur tremendous individual achievement as well as the economic growth of our region,” said Greg Bernhardt, Wright State’s education dean.
Dayton’s science high school was one of just two that won start-up grants, even though eight groups around the state applied for what could have been up to five grants.
But the good news did not stop there. Three other local science education projects won funding. Among them were:
—A New Lebanon-led consortium with Oakwood, Dayton, Valley View, Jefferson Twp., Brookville and Northridge school districts won $545,000 to improve science instruction in elementary grades.
—A Fort Recovery-led group including St. Henry and New Bremen school districts along with Sinclair Community College, Wright State, Edison Community College and the University of Cincinnati won $545,000 to implement a middle school engineering program.
—Dayton Public Schools won $250,000 to expand its Challenger Center at Kiser Elementary School, which offers space shuttle mission simulations to kids throughout the Miami Valley.
All told, the Dayton area won nearly half of the $4.2 million awarded by the state for science education Thursday.
The science high school — a collaboration of several school districts, career technology centers, education service centers, universities and businesses — will be open to all students in Montgomery, Clark and Greene counties. It is tentatively named the Dayton Regional STEM School. STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The state hopes to eventually see several of the schools open around Ohio.
“We are thirlled today to be home to one of the first STEM schools in the state of Ohio,” said Susan Bodary, executive director of EDvention, a collaborative advocating for better science instruction locally.
The first class will be selected next year. For more information, call 775-2821.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: Teaching and Learning
Comments
By Scott Elliott
February 16, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this
D.T. is correct. The classes will be taught by a combination of K-12 teachers and college professors with expertise in the STEM disciplines, who will be loaned to the school by the partner colleges. The school will be a full-blown high school, also teaching liberal arts. It will be full day and students will take all their academic classes there. It will not have sports and extra curriculars. But students at the STEM school will be allowed to participate in activities at their “home” schools in the districts they came from. The school will have relationships with high tech businesses and the plan is for them to be in the Air Force Research Lab and other top notch labs, but exactly how that will work (interships? projects?) is not yet defined.By D.T.
February 16, 2008 9:28 AM | Link to this
Mary, my understanding is that they will not use professional scientists. The stem center’s goal is to create collaboration between highly qualified educators, professionals, and colleges. They will work together to create curriculum for the STEM high school but also for other interested schools in the Dayton area. Classes will for the most part be taught by educators with the help and support of other “STEM fellows.” To answer your other question Mary about how the day will look, I don’t know the specifics but I will tell you for certain that STEM does not exclude the arts. One of the primary goals of the movement is to create connections between all content areas so that students can see the relevance of STEM. I’m fairly certain that the STEM students will have to fulfill the state mandated graduation requirements (4 English, 3 social studies, etc.).By Mary
February 15, 2008 6:04 AM | Link to this
It is not clear to me from the articles how the school day will go. Will they take other classes at the science school or just science? Oldprof, I think they are also going to use professional scientists, which will also make a major difference.By Oldprof
February 14, 2008 9:42 PM | Link to this
Ah—an alternate school that relies on professional educators rather than the charter-school amateurs. This experiment, I predict, will work as predicted. Wonder if Checker Finn will want to get on board a successful effort for a change?By Scott Elliott
February 14, 2008 8:49 PM | Link to this
Oops. We had a little html coding problem there. Sorry. The story jumps correctly now.By karen
February 14, 2008 7:39 PM | Link to this
Ack! Where’s the rest of the article?? I can’t stand the suspense!