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Story posted April, 2008

Results:
• 87% of 3rd graders have passed the state math test each of the past two years, up from 63% in 2005

Parma City Schools in Parma, Ohio, and General Motors have collaborated in a program for third-grade students at the district's Thoreau Park Elementary School to boost math and science performance.

The program evolved after the school community focused on the fact that students were performing poorly on the Ohio state tests in math and science. At the time, General Motors was a business partner with Thoreau Park Elementary and offered to provide volunteers to implement a proposed program, called World in Motion. The premise was that students learn best when they can connect their learning to real-world aspects of life. In science and math, that involves connecting abstract theory to something tangible.

The program involves students creating small skimmer boats with the help of about 10 GM engineers working in the school's third-grade classrooms for an hour a week for six weeks.

The program curriculum was created by GM and correlated with the third-grade Ohio standards in math and science. The Society of Automotive Engineers developed a curriculum that had students take on the role of engineers to create, build, test, revise and ultimately develop the best-performing skimmer boats.

The program started with more than 100 students the first year, and more than 300 have participated over the first three years.

GM engineers working in the classroom help students view scientific thinking in a positive way and see science and math options as viable career choices. The engineers portrayed their work and careers as exciting and rewarding, inspiring the students to consider career choices in those areas. The school district has found having exemplary role models working with students in a process-oriented laboratory to be invaluable. Students work collaboratively in groups and have specific jobs and goals. They learn how to hypothesize, test, observe, record data and analyze their product performance. The students also learn cooperation, tolerance, and acceptance while working with others, and they see how volunteering, like the engineers in the program do, can benefit their community.

Through testing, trial and error, students are able to see how their skimmer boards react to various design changes. Together the students have to decide on one design change to improve the boat's performance. Volunteers help the students learn how to reach such a consensus, and students learn to improve their listening and communication skills in the process.

As part of the final project presentation, students demonstrate their engineering efforts by racing their skimmer boats and testing them for the straightest path over a long distance.

Part of the success of the program has been seen in the turnout at the final project presentations in the school gymnasium. Attendees have included parents, community members, district office staff, school administrators, GM employees, and students.

Success can also be seen in their third-grade math scores at Thoreau Park on the Ohio Math Achievement Test, which rose from 63 percent of students passing in 2005-2006 to 87 percent passing in each of the following two years.

Plans are to expand the program to the fifth grade. Meanwhile, GM is using the PowerPoint presentation used during the final project demonstration to recruit additional volunteers for the program.

This story came to LFA's attention as the Ohio winner of the 2008 National Civic Star Award, presented by the American Association of School Administrators and Sodexo School Services.

For additional information, please contact:
Sarah Zatik
Superintendent, Parma City Schools
440-885-8661
zatiks@parmacityschools.org

Karen Hronek
Principal, Thoreau Park Elementary
440-885-2351
hronekk@parmacityschools.org

Story reprinted by permission of Sodexo School Services and the American Association of School Administrators, 2008.

Photo courtesy of the National Civic Star Award