STEM growing in U46 schools

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Freshman Jinal Shah works during a "Project Lead The Way - Intro to Engineering Design" class Monday at Bartlett High School. | Andrew A. Nelles~For Sun-Times Media

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Updated: November 16, 2011 2:00AM

Marianne Palczewski, 17, of Bartlett never would have thought she could use a compound mitre saw, she said.

And Serena Patel, also 17 and of Bartlett, summed up her experience in the lab: “All the guys are like, ‘Oh, no! She’s got a tool!’ ”

“But it feels really good to be able to do it by myself,” Serena said.

That’s the confidence both girls have gained at the Bartlett High School Academy of Science, Engineering and High Technology, where they now are seniors. The academy — a special academic program at the school, at 701 Schick Road — has been pushing science, technology, engineering and math — STEM — since it opened in 1997.

This year, all high schools in Elgin School District U46 are focusing on those four subjects through a new math curriculum and new technology, increased science-related activities and a $50,000 grant to study and close gaps between male and female students and other underrepresented groups.

“We’ve been doing a lot with STEM in the past two years, because it’s even been a push with Obama’s administration,” said Jennifer McDonnell, U46’s coordinator of math, science, planetarium and instructional technology.

“Those are the high-wage and high-demand careers, trying to prepare our students to be competitive after school,” she explained.

In November 2009, President Barack Obama named improving STEM education one of his top priorities. That includes increasing STEM literacy so all students can think critically in those four subjects, and expanding STEM education and career opportunities for underrepresented groups, according to whitehouse.gov.

Last October, the president announced a goal of recruiting 10,000 STEM teachers, needed to improve the quality of math and science teaching so American students no longer are outperformed by those in other nations, according to whitehouse.gov.

Science fairs
& beyond

Since then, U46 has increased many of its opportunities in science. For example, it added more buses to and from the U46 Observatory and Planetarium to make sure every elementary school student visits at least once during the school year.

Students competed in science fairs at every middle school in U46, Illinois’ second-largest school district. Those students also had the opportunity to compete for the first time in the You Be The Chemist Challenge, a nationally recognized chemistry competition. And the planetarium, located in Elgin, hosted a Girls’ Astrocamp for middle-school girls this summer.

“We’ve been focusing a lot on middle schools, and when we looked at high school, we looked at where our gaps are, and it’s with the girls,” McDonnell said. “That’s not just U46. That’s nationwide.”

Less than one in three students in Advanced Placement physics classes or Project Lead the Way — the district’s pre-engineering sequence — are girls, she said. Even fewer — maybe 9 percent — make up its computer classes, she added.

The difference between U46 and other school districts nationwide, she said, is “we’re going to tackle that.”

New curriculum, technology

The school district adopted a new middle- and high-school math curriculum this year that will offer algebra and geometry to middle-school students, putting them two courses ahead by the time they reach high school, McDonnell said.

The new curriculum includes increased use of new technology, including the TI-Nspire — “these very fancy calculators” — and interactive whiteboards, according to U46 Superintendent Jose Torres.

Every math classroom will have an interactive whiteboard — a device similar to a computerized chalkboard — by the end of next school year, he added. The curriculum also includes online access to textbooks, as well as tutoring and other resources.

U46 also is reviewing its science curriculum for next school year.

“A real STEM program is not like ‘science is taught here, math is taught here, maybe you have engineering, and then a little technology sprinkled in,’ ” McDonnell said. “STEM should be interdisciplinary so it’s connected, and technology is how you’re teaching it.”

And earlier this month, the district announced it had received a $50,000 grant from the Motorola Solutions Foundation’s Innovation Generation program to create a pilot STEM Equity Academy this year.

The increased planetarium visits, the science fair and the You Be The Chemist Challenge all have been funded by grants as well, McDonnell said.

“Continuing to engage in grant partnerships like we are doing at U46 is a great model for tapping into resources and opportunities at the local level to plant seeds that will continue to grow for years to come,” Torres said in a written statement from the district at the time.

No ‘quick fix’

Through the STEM Equity Academy, the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity Education Foundation will train a team of eight administrators, counselors and faculty from each of the district’s five high schools to do a “gap analysis” of STEM participation at their schools, according to Mimi Lufkin, CEO of NAPE-EF.

That analysis will look at everything from the way those subjects are taught to extracurriculars, Lufkin said.

Each team then will implement research-based practices to increase access, success and post-secondary transition of girls and other underrepresented groups, according to NAPE-EF. Gaps in STEM can appear as issues of gender, race, disability and socioeconomic status, Lufkin said.

“In junior high and high school, girls will just quit math and science much faster than boys, even if they’re doing as well,” she said. “It’s a confidence issue.”

In addition to funding from Motorola Solutions, volunteers from the company will act as mentors, tutors and experts in STEM careers, according to the district.

“It’s going to be long-term. It’s not going to be a quick fix, like we’re purchasing a program. This will be more of a long-term project,” McDonnell said.

“It’s really changing a culture, and that takes a while — changing attitudes and culture. If you think of the impact educators have on students’ career choices, next to the home, they have the biggest impact.”

That’s a culture that exists at Bartlett, where Academy of Science, Engineering and High Technology Director Lorelei Keltner said, “there’s not a tremendous gap” between male and female students, “but that’s been an area of focus for us.”

“That’s something we’re looking at, moving forward,” Keltner said.

She and several girls in their fourth year at the academy pointed to things they thought make its program different: It’s collaborative, and it allows students to “actualize the experience” through projects, rather than just reading a science textbook, the director said

Students learn about the careers possible in science, technology, engineering and math through classroom presentations and job shadowing, said Shivani Shah, 17, of Bartlett.

They also learn team building, leadership and public speaking through assignments such as the academy’s junior project, in which groups of three students come up with and build patent-ready inventions, Serena said. And it’s an experience students wouldn’t get anywhere else, she added.

“Before, I used to think not a lot of girls would do math and science stuff,” said Rani Desai, 17, of Carol Stream.

“But when you do projects, you don’t have to be a know-it-all. You can research and learn how to do it,” the Bartlett teen said.