Eighth-graders can factor simple quadratic polynomials. Fifth-graders use the periodic table—a tool their parents were introduced to in 11th-grade. And kindergarteners are practicing the basic principles of the scientific method—observation, description, prediction, experiment, and explanation—by performing simple experiments in their classrooms.

Science and math education is beginning earlier and earlier, and teaching methods for these subjects have changed drastically since they were suddenly emphasized in the curriculum after the Russians launched Sputnick in 1957.

The 21st century has launched new educational paradigms and technology that require specialized knowledge of science and math. During the last decade, the Puerto Rico educational system has established a new curriculum and standards, with teachers scrambling to keep pace. To support Puerto Rico teachers in their professional development, Josefina Arce, Ph.D., a chemistry professor at the University of Puerto Rico Río Piedras Campus, submitted a grant proposal for Alianza para el Aprendizaje de las Ciencias y las Matemáticas (AlACiMa) to the National Science Foundation (NSF) Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) Program. More than 200 proposals were submitted to MSP in 2002 for funding, and only five were chosen that year, including AlACiMa. In 2003, UPR received a $34.9 million grant over five years—the largest grant an institution on the island has ever received—to implement the project.

“We are very proud, but we have a great responsibility. We are one of the twelve projects the NSF currently funds with the goal of improving students’ comprehension in science and math. The NSF is interested in the project’s results and also in documenting how they were achieved, so it’s expected that we do research on our process. The NSF wants to identify the teaching practices that truly support learning math and sciences,” says Arce, the project’s principal investigator (PI).

“Learning math and science is a social imperative. AlACiMa is relevant because we live in a technological society where knowledge and skills in these subjects are fundamental for social evolution. The nations that don’t recognize this and don’t take the necessary measures to adjust education to scientific advances will be left behind,” adds Edwin Vázquez, Ph.D, biologist at UPR, Cayey and AlACiMa’s co-principal investigator (Co-PI) for the Cayey zone.

click to enlarge (+)

AlACiMa now guides the professional development of teachers of science and math, supplies them with necessary tools to effectively transfer knowledge in the classrooms, and generates a change of attitudes at the community level to create a supportive environment for both teachers and students. The plan is to transform each participating school into a learning community. The project sees its own team members as a learning community that models the changes in attitude and practices they expect to achieve in schools.

Through an intensely selective process, AlACiMa has allied itself with 10 percent of the island’s public schools, 161 altogether. The project can be seen at the macro level as a coalition between the Department of Education and UPR’s Río Piedras, Humacao, Cayey, and Mayagüez campuses.

“The majority of education project grants fund the universities and work fairly independently from the Department of Education. But with AlACiMa this doesn’t happen. When the proposal was approved, we met with the Secretary of Education to be sure that everything in the proposal was exactly what the Department of Education wanted or had among its objectives. When AlACiMa’s funds end, we want the Department of Education to be able to continue the project,” says Arce.

AlACiMa has succeeded in breaking away from the idea that the university is at a higher level than K-12. It has developed a supportive method, a shared vision, in which no lines separate the university level from the rest of education, says Sara Santiago, Ph.D., a community psychologist and consultant to AlACiMa. “We have to understand that only one education system exists, that it is continuous. The Ph.D begins in kindergarten. Without kindergarten there is no Ph.D. The university receives the product of K-12 education. The ‘higher’ level universities have to learn about the previous levels and vice versa. It is a dialectical relationship, without division. We all have something to contribute to this alliance.”

Content specialists, evaluators, psychologists, and sociologists are working together for educational transformation. “The NSF Assessor Committee’s opinion of AlACiMa has been very favorable because it is the first project that integrates many fundamental elements of education. We have placed future teachers in training with university professors, and the professors will, in turn, be evaluated. These future teachers also have been to the College of Natural Sciences to do research. Most importantly, we are conducting this project with professors from the College of Natural Sciences, the College of Education, and teachers from public schools. Teacher preparation is not only the responsibility of the College of Education; the departments that teach the subjects are also responsible,” says Arce.

Through the continuous training program for K-12 teachers, AlACiMa focuses on professional development that inspires teachers to practice and master innovative methods of teaching and assessment. The chief objective is to make each science and math teacher an expert in the subject with the necessary skills to transfer knowledge to their students. AlACiMa’s first task is to train the trainers, who, in turn, will educate teachers through workshops, study groups, and instruction in teaching techniques. The techniques help teachers improve students’ and their own inquiry methods, by presenting concept maps and guided questions to promote critical thinking and understanding of basic science and math concepts.

next