COUNTYWIDE : Science Program Targets Minorities

Thirty area teachers will participate next month in a National Science Foundation program designed to attract more minority students to the fields of science and mathematics.

The teachers either work with children through age 8 or instruct the teachers of such children, said Phyllis Brady, the program’s director.

Brady said the program, which is sponsored by the Santa Barbara County education office and funded by the National Science Foundation, targets teachers who work with high minority populations.

“What we’re doing is to help reverse the trend where those are the populations that are underrepresented in math and science,” Brady said.

The intensive four-week program aims “to reverse teachers’ as well as children’s attitudes” toward math and science.

For instance, Brady said, “we have to deal with math phobia and science phobias of teachers.” And even if teachers are comfortable with math and science, they may harbor unconscious prejudices about the abilities of minority students, particularly blacks and Latinos.

Besides trying to change attitudes, the program will introduce teachers to new educational materials and methods geared toward minority students.

“Somewhere along the line we’ve learned if it’s fun, it’s not learning,” said Jeri Lupton, one of the participating teachers and supervisor of Oxnard College’s Children’s Center.

Lupton and four other teachers who participated in the program last year will be senior fellows this year, helping to lead sessions for the 25 other teachers.

The other senior fellows are Carol Lefkowitz from Ventura, Diana Jones from Santa Paula, and Jackie Gonzales and Ann Munemo from Santa Barbara.