November 17, 2008

Grad students, teacher head to China to teach and learn

The team is part of the Indiana Interdisciplinary GK-12 program, which enhances science and math classes in local middle schools using teams of science, mathematics, technology and engineering graduate students working with teachers and middle school students. The program is funded by the National Science Foundation and works with the Lafayette School Corp., Tippecanoe School Corp. and the Community Schools of Frankfort.

The group going to China, led by Purdue's Lynn Bryan, a professor in the College of Education's Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the College of Science's Department of Physics, will visit science faculty working with K-12 teachers at the institute and also will visit local K-12 schools. The group also will use science activities they developed for Indiana students to teach science to rural middle school students in China.

Others participating in the trip are Jillian Detwiler, a graduate student in the College of Science; Jianming Li, a graduate student in the College of Engineering; Andrea Blocher, a teacher at Lafayette Tecumseh Junior High School; Jody Riskowski, a former Purdue graduate student who is now assistant professor in the College of Health Sciences at the University of Texas-El Paso; and Jon Harbor, interim dean of the College of Science and director of Purdue's GK-12 program.

Blocher will have a conference call with her Tecumseh classroom to talk about her experiences and facilitate a discussion between her students and Chinese students.

After the first week, the graduate student fellows will travel to other Chinese universities and each will spend two weeks collaborating with Chinese faculty on research directly related to their graduate work at Purdue.

"There is a significant benefit for this type of international engagement in the K-12 level," said Gabriela Weaver, Discovery Learning Center's interim director. "This is something the Discovery Learning Center would like to continue to pursue. Lafayette Tecumseh Junior High School has a sister school in China. This trip offers a wonderful opportunity for Andrea Blocher to strengthen the existing collaboration. In addition, one of the former graduate research fellows, Jody Riskowski, will be conducting cutting-edge research on Olympic-caliber divers in Jinan."

Weaver said the formalized partnership with the Jiangsu Institute of Education is the result of funding from an Asian Initiative grant through International Programs at Purdue. Bryan has a longstanding relationship with the Jiangsu Institute of Education that began with her prior work at the University of Georgia. In 2006, she traveled to the institute for the inauguration of the Sino-American Center for Science Education Research and Engagement — a cross-national enter between Purdue and the institute, which is located in Nanjing.

Writer: Clyde Hughes, (765) 494-2073, jchughes@purdue.edu

Sources: Gabriela Weaver, (765) 496-3055, gweaver@purdue.edu

Lynn Bryan, labryan@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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