I recently had the unique opportunity of attending PRISM Demo Day 2011. Problems and Research to Integrate Science and Mathematics (PRISM) is an NSF-funded program aimed at improving scientific and mathematic learning in K-12 school children. The program pairs graduate students in the sciences and mathematics with middle and high school teachers in Georgia who collaborate to create engaging problem-based learning (PBL) lesson plans for classroom implementation. During Demo Day, the PRISM fellows from the previous year present their experiences with the PBL they used in their classrooms throughout the year.
I should mention that I am neither a graduate student nor a K-12 teacher. In fact, I’m barely a year out of high school and currently preparing to venture into my second year as an undergraduate at Emory. Though I don't fit the target audience member for such presentations, I still found them very interesting and worth sharing my perspective.
Like many of my peers, I definitely felt like a product of a formulaic educational system which became predictable and boring around the seventh grade—especially in math and science (I feared math, but still maintained some interest in science). I didn’t begin having "fun" learning those subjects again until the 11th and 12th grade!
What was missing during those years? Cases that come out of programs like PRISM: engaging lesson plans that are applicable to real life - a shift in the educational paradigm.
Each PRISM presentation reminded me of the necessity for PBLs to be implemented at such a critical stage in students' personal and educational development. I've seen too many peers become so jaded by their formulaic primary/secondary education that by the time they’re in college they’ve sworn off anything science- or math-related. They automatically deem the subjects as "boring" or of little use. The PRISM fellows testified to the positive student reception to their creative lessons, which speaks to the pedagogy’s effectiveness. Plus, even if the students didn’t leave with a burning passion for science or math, at least they gained thinking skills applicable to other subjects and to life in general.
The fellows' results illustrate that sometimes it takes a short theatrical introduction to chemicals like toxins or relating a fundamental biological concept like meiosis to a pop-culture hit like the Twilight series to enliven the inanimate scientific/mathematic portion of the student’s mind—unlocking the potential of the next generation of thinkers who have the power to impact every aspect of our society.
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