Though Senior Lecturer Matthew Isom regularly teaches calculus to ASU students, he says standing in front of a class of fifth and sixth graders was “terrifying.”
Isom regularly goes to Polytechnic Elementary School to incorporate his university-level research into a school eager to innovate.
For Isom, a teacher in the ASU Chemistry, Physics and Applied Mathematics Program, the collaboration was almost unbelievable.
“We knew we were going to get teachers who would do what we dreamed of,” he says. So, he started planning a math curriculum he previously thought he could never implement.
Teaming up
In 2008, Isom met with leaders of University Public Schools, Inc. to develop a “relevant math” curriculum for the fifth and sixth grade class at Polytechnic Elementary School. Now, Isom witnesses the students — his students — solving problems using their own formulas and generating their own ideas.
Polytechnic Elementary School is a non-profit charter school driven by creating innovation in education. Created by a partnership between University Public Schools, Inc. and Arizona State University, the school has access to cutting-edge education research and professors like Isom who can help implement their findings in the school’s classrooms.
Debra Gomez, executive director of University Public Schools, Inc., says the school blossomed from a vision of ASU President Michael Crow—social embeddedness. “What better way to be embedded in the community than through the school system?” she asks.
Immediately, Gomez and Larry Pieratt, former executive director of University Public Schools, Inc., set to work, developing a radically different kind of school. Polytechnic Elementary was destined to nurture problem solvers in a progressive learning environment.
“I think we’ve come from that vision, that concept, that idea to implementation in a very short time,” Gomez says. In August of 2008, Polytechnic opened its doors to more than 200 children. The teachers inside were armed with project-based learning and were ready to try something new.
But perhaps most important of all, the teachers had access to world-class education researchers: ASU professors.
Gomez says having the ASU affiliation is creating a learning environment where anything is possible.
“I will just ask them a simple question and they will go, ‘Sure, we can do that!’ ” she says.
With professors involved in the school’s every stage—from planning the vision to teaching the material—Polytechnic has truly become a laboratory for educational innovation.
Education renovation
Isom and his colleagues jumped at the chance to revamp elementary math education.
“There is a systemic problem with math curriculum,” he says. “We all looked at it as an opportunity to do something different.”
And so they did something different. Something that would create a generation of math lovers—kids who understand the “why” behind a formula.
Instead of writing a new math book, Isom and his colleagues developed a “relevant math” curriculum that focuses on creating data, patterns and formulas. Together, they created a curriculum for sixth through eighth grade, and then started the fifth graders on it.
The lessons rely upon student involvement and participation. Isom intended for the students to take ownership and develop confidence with their mathematical knowledge.
The teacher does not merely write a formula on the board. Instead, the students—set up in asymmetrical rows and working in cooperation—create a conjecture and verify it.
“We’re trying to create problem solvers,” Isom says. “The goal is to get them to transfer knowledge from a safe environment to an unknown environment.”
Granting a scientific experience
Once a week, ASU Associate Professor David Meltzer gathers a small group of inquiring minds in his Science Wizards club at Polytechnic. Meltzer, a professor in the College of Teacher Education and Leadership, brings one of his ASU students to help facilitate interactive physical science activities in the fifth and sixth grade classroom.
Meltzer says the response has been astounding.
“It’s been an incredible experience,” he says. “We’re doing some really special things — activities we’ve done with college students that are really quite challenging.”
He was so impressed, in fact, that he is drafting a research project to discover the best practices to teach elementary science. He hopes to transform Science Wizards into a weekly class where he can document the findings. The project would discover how children respond to science activities and how to best facilitate their learning.
“There is a lot of research on teaching science at a college level, like the best way to teach the concepts of velocity and acceleration,” he says. “But a lot of this research has not been tried with younger kids. I’m trying to adapt the activities that have been so successful with college students for elementary students.”
Through careful documentation, Meltzer will be able to teach a lesson on voltage and batteries. Depending on how the students handle the activity—through both difficulties and successes—Meltzer will be able to help modify current teaching practices.
“We’re taking the way we’ve been teaching science to college kids and see how the fifth and sixth graders respond,” he says. “Our goal is to see what kind of modifications and adaptations are needed while teaching science to elementary school students.”
Meltzer will then be able to relate this information back to his ASU students in the College of Teacher Education and Leadership, where he specializes in physical sciences.
“We are working with our teacher preparation students to recognize what kind of guidance they need so they can teach their future students in the best possible way,” he says.
The benefits from this project will cross the education continuum. As fifth and sixth graders learn about science in a truly innovative and interactive way, their reactions will foster research-driven teaching methods.
“I think we can potentially make a really significant contribution for teacher preparation in teaching science with this project,” he says.
Teaching the teachers
Isom’s involvement didn’t stop after he designed the math curriculum.
Gomez says Isom is always a week ahead of the teachers in the textbook, ready to answer questions on the upcoming concepts. He also regularly makes visits to the classroom, teaching students and helping the fifth and sixth grade math teacher, Steve MacClelland.
“Isom is a teacher professor himself who utilizes the same strategies that our teachers do,” Gomez says. “He is one of those hands-on professors, not just your typical lecturer.”
Through Polytechnic, Isom is able to create change in a world he was previously unable to reach.
“I put research into practice, and I was just trying to expand that through [MacClelland],” he says.
To help foster that expansion, Isom says he is a “friendly, willing tutor” for MacClelland. The teacher would often come to Isom with questions regarding the application on concepts later on.
