Street roots., November 22, 2013, Page 3, Image 3

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Street roots
Nov. 2 2 , 2013
Veering from the learning clifft
the unpopularity of STEM
For two years, an OSU team has tracked the S T E M
interests and activities of 16 Parkrose fifth-graders
BY NATHAN GILLES
S T A F F W R IT E R
obody’s q uite su re why, b u t tow ard th e
e n d of m iddle school stu d e n ts lose
in te re s t in scien ce and m ath.
R e se a rc h e rs at one P o rtlan d school w ant to lea rn
why. By solving th e m ystery, th e y hope to
re v e rse th e tren d .
N o rth e a st P o rtla n d ’s culturally diverse,
w orking-class P a rk ro se M iddle School is th e
su b je ct of an investigation by O regon S tate
U niversity re s e a rc h e rs hoping to discover why
scien ce, technology, e n g in eerin g , and m ath , or
ST E M , no lo n g er ap p eals to m any kids once they
re a c h th e eig h th g rad e.
S T E M h as b eco m e a w atchw ord for ed u ca to rs
w an tin g a tra in e d w orkforce capable of
flo u rish ing in an increasingly science-and-
technology-driven global econom y. O th e rs say
S T E M is e sse n tia l to c re a te an inform ed
citizen ry able to w eigh in on issu e s from clim ate
change to b ioengineering.
However, w h e re a s m uch of ST E M education
is c u rre n tly dom in ated by in-school cu rricu lu m
ch an g es, th e OSU P a rk ro se p ro jec t is traveling a
d ifferen t p ath .
“T h e d ata says if th e y [students] have
in te re s ts and a re engaged, good th in g s will
h a p p e n ,” says OSU p ro fesso r Jo h n Falk.
Falk h e ad s O SU ’s C e n te r for R esearch on
Lifelong S T E M L earning. H e ’s organizing th e
P a rk ro se p ro jec t and its sm all team w ith his
wife, OSU p ro fesso r Lynn D ierking.
F o r d e ca d es Falk and D ierking have trail-
N
b l a z e d a n i c o n o c l a s t i c e d u c a t i o n t h e o r y . C a l le d
free-choice learning, th e th e o ry says individuals,
w h e th e r young o r old, are m o re likely to learn
w h en it’s self-directed, th a t is w h en th e y ’re
in te re s te d and personally invested in a subject. It
se e m s obvious, y et it can be a h ard sell.
B ecau se self-directed learn in g often h ap p en s
in “in fo rm al” settin g s - th in k m u seu m s, clubs,
and after-school p ro g ram s - Falk says
policym akers and foundations are often re lu c ta n t
to fund th e s e efforts.
“P eople th in k th a t if som ehow it’s self-directed
and fun, th e n th e r e ’s so m eth in g su sp e c t ab o u t it
in te rm s of lea rn in g ,” says D ierking. C o n trary to
th is, h e r re se a rc h has show n how im p o rta n t self-
d irec te d childhood play is for S T E M learning.
Falk says re se a rc h has also show n self-directed
learn in g can pow erfully a u g m en t classroom
learn in g . As an exam ple, he poin ts to a nine-year
study h e p e rfo rm ed th a t tra c e d m o re th a n a
doubling of L os A ngeles re s id e n ts ’
u n d e rstan d in g of h o m e o sta sis — a com m on te n th
g rad e biology lesso n — to an exhibit a t th e
C alifornia S cience C enter.
T h is is one goal of th e P a rk ro se M iddle
School p ro jec t and it’s being em ployed to figure
o u t why stu d e n ts go over w h at th e re s e a rc h e rs
call th e “S T E M cliff.”
“N ationally,” says Falk, “and o u r d ata su p p o rts
this, 10-year-olds — fifth-graders — say th ey like
science. E ven w hat little scien ce th ey get in
school th ey th in k is cool. T h en by eig h th g rad e
th a t nose-dives to w h ere m aybe a q u a rte r say
th e y ’re in te re s te d in scien c e.”
F or two years, th e OSU team h as track ed th e
ST E M in te re s ts and activities of 16 P ark ro se
fifth g ra d e rs and th e ir fam ilies, recen tly adding a
17th stu d en t. T h e re s e a rc h e rs p e rfo rm ed
in-depth interview s w ith th e s e case study
stu d e n ts and fam ilies. T h e tea m also sp read its
n e t wide, settin g a baseline by ad m in isterin g
surveys to non-case-study stu d e n ts in th e sam e
grade.
T h e first of th e s e surveys show ed th e
P ark ro se stu d e n ts w ere on a ST E M trajec to ry
typical for th e ir age: stu d e n ts show ed an in te re s t
in science, b u t h a d n ’t y et displayed a dislike for
it. In th e ir sixth g rad e, th e survey w as
a d m in istered again. T h is tim e th e children
diverged from th e norm : exhibiting an in creased
in te re s t in ST E M .
T eam m e m b e r N ancy S taus, w ho h as b een
com piling th e p ro jec t’s data, says th is a p p a re n t
gain could re su lt from how th is stu d y ’s q u estio n s
differed from o th e rs. U nlike p a st stu d ies th a t
asked m o re g en eral qu estio n s, such as, “Do you
like scien ce?” th e OSU team ask ed m o re specific
q u estio n s ab o u t th e stu d e n ts ’ in te re sts, su ch as,
“A re you cu rio u s ab o u t w h at it is like on o th e r
p lan ets?” and, “A re you cu rio u s ab o u t how
c o m p u ters and cell p h o n e s w ork?”
T h e r e s e a r c h e r s are now grap h in g th e
stu d e n ts ’ learn in g b ehav io r by e x a m i n i n g h o w
f a c t o r s l ik e p e e r s , a d u l t su p p o rt, and out-of-
school p ro g ram s affect th e ir learn in g . However,
th e P a rk ro se p ro jec t isn ’t ju s t research ; w ith th e
stu d e n ts now in sev en th g rad e, and th e ST E M
cliff near, th e tea m is looking for com m unity
su p p o rt.
“I t’s really a balance of bringing in p a rtn e rs
th a t w an t to be doing th is for th e long haul,”
says T ricia H arding, P ark ro se com m unity
c o o rd in ato r for OSU.
Since late May, H arding has b e e n reach in g o u t
to p o tential out-of-school ed u ca to rs th a t can
p a rtn e r w ith th e p ro ject and, hopefully, walk th e
kids back from th e edge. M any are in te reste d ,
including th e O regon Zoo and th e O regon
M u seu m of S cience and Industry.
A t a re c e n t m eeting, th e OSU team m et w ith
re p re se n ta tiv e s from th e s e and o th e r Portland-
area educational nonprofits. Also p re s e n t w ere
re p re se n ta tiv e s from P ark ro se and th e O regon
E ducation In v estm e n t B o ard ’s D irecto r of
ST E M , M ark Lewis. All told, ab o u t 30 people
m e t to discuss how to u se th e re s e a rc h e rs ’
o b serv atio n s to change th e stu d e n ts’ ex p ected
trajectory.
H arding says several p o ten tial p a rtn e rs are
now looking into creatin g out-of-school c o u r s e s -
o r creatin g g re a te r access to existing c o u rses—
for th e P ark ro se stu d e n ts. She says p a rtn e rin g in
before you now.
A m I going crazy?
T he co n stan t dam pness m akes you feel like
you are carrying a hundred pounds of extra
w eight. You im agine a nice ho t bubble bath
w ith candles and w atching m eaningless
sitcom s for hours on a couch w ith a big furry
handle this, I ju st cant.
You let it all go and begin to cry. An affluent
businessm an w ith an um brella walks past.
Young students looking at th e ir phones pass
you by. You are invisible to them .
It feels like th e only perso n you’ve talked to
in days are th e voices in your head. T he
loneliness you feel is unbearable.
You see a police officer and ask him for
help. He gives you th e address of th e sh elter
w here you’ve already been.
“They don’t have anything available right
now. W here should I go?”
T he officer shrugs and walks away. “Have a
blanket.
T h en th e rain tu rn s into a dow npour and
you are forced to huddle u n d er a downtown
bus stop. Your socks and shoes are soaked.
You feel your feet beginning to wilt. You sta rt
to get a chill and feel a sickness coming on.
W hat does someone do i f they get sick? I can’t
nice day.”
You take a deep b reath and sigh. A m o th er
walks past you with h e r child. She pulls h e r
close, shielding you from h e r as you both
m ake eye contact. Your dignity is stripped
away, little by little, w ith every passing person.
Your feet begin to swell, b u t you continuing
DIRECTOR'S DESK, fro m page 2
uncom fortable and being em b arrassed th at
your friends m ight see you w ith your fath er
and a hom eless m an. You feel guilty for being
m ean to your fath e r after th e dinner. You wish
som eone w ith his kindness would appear
th is
way is
unconventional
in resea rch . Equally
unconventional is th e
p ro jec t’s relationship
w ith th e school
district. H arding says
b ecau se th e p ro jec t’s
goal isn ’t to c re ate a
pre-designed p ro g ram
for P ark ro se, b u t to m ore
generally facilitate and o b serv e
change, th e school d istric t n e ed s to
be an active p a rtn e r. P ark ro se
S u p e rin te n d e n t K aren G ray says th e
d istric t is onboard.
“I w as fascinated by th e ir [Falk
5 B M N w B >
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and D ierking’s] h y p o th esis and th e
te n a n ts of th e re se a rc h aro u n d w h at
it is th a t m otivates kids to stay
in te re ste d in ST E M ,” says G ray
ab o u t choosing to sign on. S he had a n o th e r
re a so n as well.
G ray po in ts o u t th a t although rese a rc h
show s eig h th -g rad ers everyw here lose
in te re s t in ST E M , sh e w an ted O SU ’s
in p u t b e ca u se h e r stu d e n ts face th e ir
own unique challenges.
A bout 70 p e rc e n t of P ark ro se
d istric t’s 3,430 stu d e n ts qualify for
free an d re d u c e d m eals. A t P a rk ro se
M iddle School, 75 p e rc e n t of
stu d e n ts qualify. M any stu d e n ts are
also first-g en eratio n A m erican s w ith
p a re n ts from roughly 70 d ifferent
c o u n tries as v aried as Som alia,
N epal, and M exico. E nglish is a
seco n d language for ab o u t 16 p e rc e n t
of th e d istric t’s stu d en ts.
“I th in k w h en you have 75 p e rc e n t
poverty on av erage,” says Gray, “and
alm o st 50 languages, and you have a
high m obility ra te of people m oving
On
to tak e jo b s th a t can pay th e ir ren t,
O SU ’s end,
w e n eed all th e help w e can get to
th e team is
m otivate o u r kids to be successful.”
seeking
To help m ake th a t hap p en , Gray
m ore funds
will be subm itting a proposal to th e
to im p lem en t
upcom ing P o rtlan d C hildren’s Levy
th e re s e a rc h ’s
stage.
fin a l
i n te r v e n t i o n
to tu rn P ark ro se M iddle School into
Falk says a larg er outco m e of th e rese a rc h
a Schools U niting N eighborhoods
is a c o m p u ter m odel th a t could be u se d by
school, o r SU N school. T his would
e d u cato rs acro ss th e nation to tro u b lesh o o t
give th e m iddle school a full-time
ST E M p ro g ram s before im plem enting
org an izer w ho could coordinate
th em . In th e m ean tim e, th e OSU team is
in-school activities w ith out-of-school
identifying p a rtn e rs th a t can do as m uch as
ones.
possible rig h t now. D ierking w arn s th a t
A ccording to Gray, th e d istric t has
w ith o u t in terv en tio n th e sev en th -g rad ers
also received a sta te g ra n t to fund a
are ex p ected to drop STEM , and soon. “We
m e n to rsh ip p ro g ram and is already
s o rt of feel like we are a t th is hub w h ere
p a rtn e rin g w ith two educational
th e building is sta rtin g to cru m b le.”
nonprofits.
walking.
You learn from talking to a newfound friend
on th e stre ets th a t you could actually go to jail
for being hom eless, o r sitting down on the
sidewalk. He lists off so many different laws
th a t th e police could use against you th at you
can’t even com prehend w hat he is saying, or
rem em b er w hat they all are o r w hat they
m ean.
For a m om ent you think to yourself, jail
m ight be b e tte r than this. At least you could
get dry. T he thought scares you.
A nother m an on th e stre ets offers you a
place back at his camp, but you decline, not
knowing if you can tru st this person. He cam e
on a little too strong.
Realizing th a t th e re are hundreds of people
ju st like you w ondering th e streets, you do
everything in your pow er to hold onto any last
shred of hope you have. You have to keep your
head straight. Hopefully, things will turn
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around tomorrow. T hey m ust.
It’s overw helm ing ju st to think about.
H om elessness in m any ways has becom e a
new norm al in urban America. It is anything
but norm al, my friends. It’s a crim e th at
thousands of our friends and neighbors,
m o th ers and fathers, sisters and bro th ers,
sleep on th e stre ets of Portland every night.
S treet Roots challenges you to do
som ething for your community. Give a
donation, find out w hat item s local nonprofits
need to su p p o rt individuals and families, look
people on th e stre ets in th e eyes and
acknowledge they exist. G et your p eers and
family m em bers to su p p o rt S treet Roots
vendors. Follow S treet Roots and o th ers on
T w itter this w inter and find out ways you can
help. Now is not th e tim e to give up.