Company Helps Teachers Join the Technological Revolution

Kathleen Kepler’s idea of teaching sixth-grade science once involved plunking bean seeds into egg carton pots.

Now Kepler dazzles her students by freezing roses in liquid nitrogen, building electric motors and demonstrating the difference between kinetic and potential energy.

“I’ve come a long way since those lima beans,” said Kepler, a three-year veteran at Granada Hills’ Knollwood Elementary School. “I always thought my science instruction was boring--straight from the book. And I was much more comfortable with demonstrating life sciences.”

Kepler said the change came after graduation from a Rocketdyne program that boosts San Fernando Valley elementary school teachers’ knowledge of math and physics. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which contracts with Rocketdyne to create and build the space shuttles’ main engines, provides funding for the Education Motivation Program.

NASA instituted the program in 1989 because of concern that America’s technological future would be lost to foreign competition.

“In the international arena, the technical literacy of American students is dismal,” said Ray Tjulander, NASA resident manager at Rocketdyne’s Canoga Park headquarters. “We need these kind of programs to ensure a good supply of scientists and engineers in the future.”

Fifteen Rocketdyne scientists and engineers have trained 113 Valley teachers during seven weeklong demonstration workshops. Teachers receive two continuing education units upon completion of the course, taught at a Rocketdyne facility.

NASA has reimbursed Rocketdyne for 10,300 hours’ worth of time devoted to developing and teaching the program, which is expected to continue indefinitely on an annual basis. The company has targeted the East and West Valley and hopes to expand the program outside the Valley in coming years.

Officials from the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena helped Rocketdyne create its 300-page teacher training manual that covers math, electricity and magnetism, matter, mechanics, light, heat and sound.

School district officials say the program’s hands-on approach enables teachers to give instruction in hard sciences--subjects they usually shun.

“Learning should be based on real-life scenarios,” said Gabriel Cortina, special assistant to the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. “Schools are moving away from disconnected classrooms where books are the main focus. The emphasis is away from rote memorization skills. We need to teach kids how to think.”

Rocketdyne also has implemented a computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) training course for talented high school students, 27 of whom have completed the 15-week program. Rocketdyne uses CAD/CAM to design sophisticated aerospace hardware.

On a recent school day in Kepler’s classroom, students sat glued to a lesson she was giving using a Hot Wheels racetrack and toy cars. The setup seemed a perfect attention-getter for 11-year-old students.

“Does this car have more potential energy because it’s heavier? Is that correct?” Kepler asked, whizzing a car through the looped track. “It also has more kinetic energy because it sped up and the weight pulled it faster.”

Kepler and other graduates showed a marked increase in hard-science knowledge after the one-week program, according to pre- and post-program test results. Before the training, when asked to “Express 30 billion in scientific notation,” or “Could you hear a tree fall on the moon?” the teachers scored an average of 30% correct. Post-program test scores leaped to an average of 75%.

Upon re-entering a classroom, teachers’ enthusiasm for math and physics sometimes wanes. Rocketdyne scientists are available for consultation and in-class demonstrations, “but only a quarter of the teachers have taken advantage of that,” said program coordinator Ellen Faitelson. “We’re trying to be more proactive on that point this time around. We’re going to start calling them.”

To keep interest high, Rocketdyne also has adopted one school, Knollwood, to provide concentrated science education. The action was taken through the national Adopt-a-School program, begun in 1978, that encourages companies to mentor schools.

Knollwood was selected because of its principal’s dedication to building a strong science curriculum, Cortina said.

“A good science program modeled from the top filters down to all teachers,” said Principal Carol Valenta, who has degrees in mathematics and science. “We model the kind of support that says: ‘Take a risk. And if you’re not comfortable teaching science, don’t worry, because we’re going to back you up.’ ”

Rocketdyne engineers and scientists work with Valenta to formulate a science-enriched curriculum. The partnership also plans a children’s science museum at Knollwood, if funding is available, to demonstrate student projects.

Valenta’s office is a sort of science museum in itself. Terrariums house a frog, toad and alligator. Nearby are glass cases containing rabbit, cat, snake, chicken and frog skeletons placed among 500 science books. Teachers also have access to Valenta’s home library of 1,500 science books.

“I’m known around here as the frog principal,” said Valenta, who often reviews science experiments during staff meetings. “They call me that because I brought two frogs to school during my first day three years ago.”

Valenta also encourages her 22 teachers (17 have completed the Rocketdyne program) to upgrade their science training and has paid teachers’ science conference registration fees out of her own pocket. School district officials regard Knollwood as a “super science” role model for other area schools.

“One of the biggest hurdles we have to get over is teacher confidence,” said Valenta, who also helps teach the motivation program. “I’ve seen a tremendous interest in science build in this school. It even transfers over to students in the ESL (English as a second language) program. They tend to learn English more rapidly with a hands-on science background because they talk about what they experience.”

Science education at other elementary schools is sorely lacking, said Arie Korporaal, science consultant with the Los Angeles County Office of Education. “The recommendation in elementary school is to teach 150 minutes of science every week,” said Korporaal, adding that most surveys comparing global technical literacy show American students ranking near the bottom.

“Five years ago, the average (in California public schools) was about 25 minutes of science instruction per week. That’s pretty dismal, but it has gone up as more attention is given to science.”

Science education will receive a boost through a new performance test to be implemented statewide in the spring of 1993. The test is similar to those now given for math and reading skills.

Because of school budget cuts, partnerships between businesses and schools have become crucial, Cortina said. “We’re actively seeking these kind of corporate sponsorships,” he said. “For many years, companies that adopted schools helped out by giving small grants, that kind of thing. Recently, many of the adoptions are turning into much more sophisticated relationships.

“Many companies have gone through a half-dozen technological revolutions, and the sad truth is, schools haven’t even gone through one. Unless schools are linked to private and public companies on the outside, students are going to fall further and further behind.”

Other area partnerships include a union between the California Institute of Technology and the Pasadena Unified School District. NASA has funded efforts at a handful of other contractors around the country in the last three years to draw up programs similar to Rocketdyne’s, Tjulander said.

“We’re getting a lot more bang for the buck than if we just ordered up another turbo pump with the extra money,” Tjulander said. “The money goes further and deeper when you put it into education.”

Ultimately, say Los Angeles school district officials and Rocketdyne scientists, the greatest learning experience is the bond and enthusiasm shared by teachers, scientists and students.

“Science is not about memorization, not about knowing the names of cloud shapes or plugging numbers into formulas,” said Jeffrey Hunt, a Rocketdyne laser technician and motivation program instructor. “It’s about working in a lab and getting to play with great, big sophisticated toys. It boils down to just getting exciting about what you’re doing.”