Fund Raiser and Vision
“The Sciences at Work”

Proposal summary: 


The Potter’s House School proposes to purchase an existing 23,000 sq.ft. building located on a 1.6-acre lot adjacent to the present school facility. The Potter’s House School wants to convert the building to facilitate a learning center for junior high and high school students. Also, The Potter’s House School wants to establish a math and science laboratory that will create a life-like learning environment to introduce the latest interactive computer and projection technology to students.

The primary use of this laboratory is to prepare students to live and work in a world that is increasingly scientific, technical and highly competitive. In order for students to compete for college placement or be competitive in the work place, they need to be given expanded opportunities for a more well-rounded educational experience. Without exposure to a learning environment that is accessible and compelling, joined with hands on application, students will not develop a foundation for learning math and science.

Failure to lay this ground work for learning, where the heart and mind can be engaged, produce’s a superficial academic evolvement. The “Sciences at Work” will target students in grade 7th – 12th at the Potter’s House School and start up will begin in the 2007 – 2008 academic year with 7th through 11th grade students. After start up, this project will expand to adult education, after school and summer programs. The local school districts no longer offer a high school summer program for students, these needs will be met through the outreach program.
 

Need For This Project: 

The National Research Council has recently published their national report on the condition of high school laboratories, “America’s Lab Report: Investigations in High School Science 2005”. The report identifies a typical high school laboratory as an isolated add-on that lacks clear goals, does not engage students in discussion and fails to illustrate how science methods lead to knowledge. The report further states that most of the labs are of such poor quality that they don’t follow basic principles of effective science teaching. Making the argument for more urgency, businesses with tens of millions of workers are hoping to prod the nation into improving its math and science education, wary of slipping U.S. competitive-ness.

The Federal Education Department just released their findings on a nationwide science test given in early 2005. This first nationwide science test administered in five years shows that achievement among high school seniors declined in the past decade, even as scores in science rose among fourth graders and held steady among eighth graders. The drop in science proficiency appeared to reflect a broader trend in which some academic gains made in elementary grades and middle school have been seen to fade during high school years. The science results came from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a comprehensive examination administered to more than 300,000 students in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and on military bases around the world. Among high school students, 54 percent performed at or about the basic level in science in 2005, compared to 57 percent in 1996. Eighteen percent of high school students performed at the proficient level in 2005, down from 21 percent in 1996.In the Hartford community, performance scores published by the Hartford Board of School Director’s in the Student Profile Report of 2004 – 2005 show a need for improvement in math and science.
 

Students’ performance compared to set National Standards: 

* On October 11, 2006, the Vermont Department of Education released the following Math Assessment Scores for 10^th graders: Percentages represent students scoring at standard or honors. 

*   Valley News  – Thursday, October 12, 2006, “Math Scores for Vermont 10^th-Graders    Find Fewer Than Half Proficient.” 

“The Sciences at Work” project can be an important step in helping improve the learning of math and science for students in the Hartford community.

New England Common Assessment Program scores - Juniors:

* Valley News – March 11, 2008, “VT. Juniors Struggle With Math, Writing”.
Percentage of eleventh-graders who met or exceeded the standards
 

Assessment: 

The optimum time to begin learning and developing a love for the sciences is in early adolescence. Children’s ability to learn and excel in their skills acquisition and their openness to appreciating and valuing their world around them is foundational at this age.  We believe by making available this expanded learning environment, we can increase the students capacity for critical thinking, mental flexibility, creativity, problem solving and essential everyday life skills.
 

Assessment of Student Improvement: 

The “Sciences at Work” will target three specific areas to assess student improvement:mathematical concepts, problem solving and science skills. Two methods will be used to assess the performance of participating students. First, student test scores will be recorded and evaluated by staff at the close of each semester. Second, SAT scores will be compared to published local, state and national SAT scores at the end of the academic school year. This project makes available expanded possibilities for student development in these targeted areas.

 

Technology: 

Two working models have been chosen in the design of the project. One model is The Bill Gates Computer Science Building with “Smart Classrooms” located at Stanford University. “Smart Classrooms” offer high-output projectors capable of displaying high resolution graphics, as well as clear, crisp video presentation. The primary benefit of these types of classrooms are the ease in which the teacher may interact with their students. “Smart Classrooms” provide an instructor with the ability to present a larger variety of media to their students. This can include computer resources such as laptops, desktops with DVD and Internet interactive educational programs. These educational tools allow the teacher to maximize his/her delivery of information to the eyes and ears of the listeners. Through the use of these tools the student can participate in a life-like learning environment.

The second model is the “Small School” community concept at Vail High School located in the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park. To optimize student learning through personal relationships, smaller classrooms average only 20 students. Vail’s curriculum emphasizes science, technology, and math and business opportunities to help students apply their knowledge in real-world settings. Each computer lab is equipped with the latest industry-recognized software to best prepare Vail’s students.

By integrating concepts found in these models in the design of “The Sciences at Work” project, we will be able to introduce the latest proven technology for teaching the sciences to the students in our community. Students will be given access to individual student workstations and group presentations with hands on applications to maximize each student’s potential. Students will have the tools to be better prepared for entering the work place and college.

Innovation: 

“The Sciences at Work” laboratory will introduce students to the latest in educational-interactive computer software. This software is accessible, compelling and successful when joined with hands on application.  “Virtualab”, made by Pintar, begins the list of interactive resources. Their Interactive   Math Toolbox offers experience in measuring tools’ numbers and numbering systems, fraction and probability tools and much more. In science they offer “Virtualab” physic lessons in electricity, electronics, optics, forces and motion light and color to engage and challenge every student.

The next interactive resource is “Science U”. “Science U” is designed to make science fun by engaging multimedia articles and activities that bring a creative and informative science experience at the click of a button. The student finds a “Geometry Center” that provides conceptual learning through interactive programs that can be manipulated on his/her computer.

“The Sciences at Work” laboratory will also utilize interactive programs from the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) and HHMI (Howard Hughes Medical Institute). The BBC has developed interactive games that allow students an opportunity to better know and understand the human body and mind. The “Interactive Body” helps develop their knowledge of the human senses, organs, skeleton, muscles and the nervous system.  HHMI seeks to nurture children’s interest in and knowledge of science. HHMI supports innovative classroom laboratory and field activities for pre-k to 12-grade students. It also supports programs that provide teachers with opportunities for professional development and outreach activities that reinforce the important role that parents and communities play in science education.

Most recently The Potter’s House School participated in a 90-day trial period with “Explorelearning” in using their “Gizmos” interactive classroom media. Over three hundred math and science interactive programs were available for experimentation for teachers and a select number of students. This is comprehensive interactive math and science library for all grades levels. The sciences include seed germination, heredity and genetics, mouse breeding, DNA fingerprinting analysis, human karyotyping and much more. Math classes provided algebra lessons in solving expressions, equations, in-equalities, graphing applications, nonlinear functions and polynomials, rational fractions, and trigonometric functions.
 

Uniqueness:
 

“The Sciences at Work” will connect students to the work place through off-campus student internships, helping the student develop a work ethic and gain valuable onsite experience.
After a visit to Hypertherm Corporation, a local high-tech company, it was discovered that the use of a state-of-the-art computer lab is being used to train their employees.  Their lab is similar to the lab being proposed for this project. Currently, it is necessary for Hypertherm to go outside of the area to fill vacant positions. Through this project, students would be better prepared to compete for those employment opportunities. They will have had exposure to hands-on applications using the latest industry recognized computer software, and through student internships they will have been mentored by skilled workers at the work place.

What is also unique about this project is our access to students now attending Dartmouth College. A meeting with Dr. Lord, Dean of the Amos Tucker Foundation has made it possible for Dartmouth students to participate in “The Sciences at Work.” These students will have opportunities to teach, mentor and build working relationships with the students participating in this project. More companies and learning institutions will be contacted and encouraged to participate in this project to help make an impact on the teaching of  the sciences in the Hartford Community.

 

Outreach: 

The natural progression of this project will reach out to the community through after school and summer programs accessible to students and adults. After start up, the first step will be to implement a high school summer program for non-attending Potter’s House School students. This program will fill the present need in the community for a summer school English class. More information will be sought to define other specific needs in the community and the Upper Valley.  For the past two years helpful insight has been gained through the adult volunteers that have served in The Potter’s House School. Some volunteers have come to the Potter’s House School through the Path Program and Human Services of Vermont. This experience revealed that many adults lack the simple academic foundations in education.  By bringing them into an audio/visual learning environment they, too, have benefited academically and have found the experience to be rewarding. In consequence, “The Sciences at Work” project will also impact adults in the learning community. The Potter’s House welcomes the opportunity to serve as a demonstration site for other educational agencies in the community. Particularly for small rural areas, this project will have specific significance, applicability and potential for duplication, and hope exists that others would come and exchange ideas.

 

Conclusion: 

The Potter’s House is a non-profit organization and has been a recognized private school by the State of Vermont since 1995.  The Potter’s House is a school of strong moral character and the attributes of a self-governing life are taught and modeled by a dedicated staff. The Potter’s House offers a classic academic program using a traditional approach drawn from biblical principals to provide the best possible program of studies for each student. Along with the mastery of facts and concepts, the development and exercise of reasoning will be taught and evaluated, to provide each student with a worldview.

This project will help create a learning environment to educate, energize, and inspire each student. Every student will be given the tools to be better equipped to continue their education and face the real world. “The Sciences at Work” project will help to smooth the transition from high school to college and to the work place. The Potter’s House School is a place where core decision-making skills teach students how to think and learn while also being in tune with the needs in the community.

The student tuition base at the Potter’s House will increase and ensure its ability to continue to serve the families in the Upper Valley. It is with hope that this project will be a vehicle to help awaken the business community to invest into the lives of young people.

PROPOSED BUDGET