School Tries Real-Life Approach to Learning : Education: Teaching team at Sequoia Intermediate will use such events as baseball game to impart basics.

You can learn a lot about math from a baseball game. And about physics, history and science too.

At least that’s what the five members of a new teaching team at Sequoia Intermediate School in Newbury Park will set out to prove this year through a new multidisciplinary program involving half the school’s seventh-graders, or about 195 students.

The approach will teach students the basics through common themes that relate to the real world.

“There’s some way we’ve got to relate what they’re learning back to the world of 11- and 12-year-olds,” Principal Max Beaman said.

The program’s five teachers have worked together for the past year on a curriculum that will weave math, science, English, social studies and physical education through common units such as health and animals.

At a meeting Tuesday, school officials introduced business leaders to the program and urged their participation through partnerships. Part of the program will involve a service elective, in which students can earn credit by volunteering in the community.

In addition to visiting a baseball stadium--and learning about the physics of pitching, the computations of batting averages and the history of players--students also will visit a hospital and see a production of the musical “CATS.” Their first lesson will use Stephen R. Covey’s book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” as a common thread.

“Kids learn better when they see connections between subjects because that’s the way the world is,” Beaman said. “Math isn’t just out there alone; it’s connected to things.”

The school also is implementing a new block schedule for all students this year, similar to the college-like schedule used at Newbury Park High School.

Under the new schedule, students will take three 90-minute classes each day, instead of the usual six, and alternate classes each day.

Students were randomly selected for the multidisciplinary program by computer this summer. Those not involved will study the traditional curriculum on the new block schedule. Team teachers hope to involve more students and teachers in the program next year. Twenty students are already on a waiting list.

“It makes good sense when you think about life as an adult,” said Dianne Wilson-Graham, who will teach physical education for the team. “It doesn’t make sense to put the kids in these box schedules and say now we are doing math. Real life isn’t divided up into blocks that run from 9 to 10 in the morning.”

Citing an example of the overlapping approach, Wilson-Graham said students will use the heart rates and measurements taken in her class as data in computations in the team math class.

“It’s a lot more exciting working with numbers from real things like heart rates than from farmer John and his silos or something,” she said. “The kids can say, ‘Hey! That’s my heart rate.’ ”

Administrators said the program received positive response from parents during registration this week. Classes are scheduled to begin Sept. 6.

The families of students in the program are invited to a parent-student dinner Sept. 7, followed by a students-only overnight Sept. 8, during which students will select a team name and color and design a T-shirt.

The principal said forming a bond between students and the school is a key to better learning.

“It’s hard to do when you only have them for two years,” Beaman said. “But we’re trying to meet the needs of our young students.”