Program takes students in new directions
Sometimes, it takes getting one’s hands dirty and answering a question on your own to fully understand a lesson. That’s the idea behind Developmental Approaches in Science, Health and Technology (DASH) strategies for teaching. The DASH lessons are focused on science and give students hands-on activities that incorporate other subjects like writing and mathematics into the lessons. Aimed at kindergarten to sixth grades, DASH makes use of students’ questions and encourages their exploration of the answers.
The DASH teacher institute visited Uniontown for the first time this summer through a $185,211 grant from the Pennsylvania Higher Education Eisenhower Professional Development Program. The teachers got professional development credit for their attendance, as well as a daily stipend of $30 through the grant.
This national program was developed by the Curriculum Research and Development Group at the University of Hawaii and coordinated in this region by Carnegie Mellon University.
The Science Program Office at the Carnegie Mellon Center for University Outreach began teaching the DASH methods in this area in 1988, starting with two Mon Valley school districts.
Judith Hallinen of the Science Program Office at Carnegie Mellon explained the teachers were grouped into grade levels up to sixth grade and put themselves in the place of their students, doing everything just as the students would in the classroom.
Hallinen said the role reversal gives the teachers an understanding of both the frustration and elation of discovery.
The activities were many and varied, from a cardboard box house meant to demonstrate the dynamics of shelter to a song describing the activation, regulation and fabrication functions of food.
The hands-on activities have a fun factor on purpose.
“It’s got to be engaging. If they are going to learn science, it has to be fun,” Hallinen said.
By actually doing the activity and taking the steps to reach an outcome, she said, a student could be more likely to remember the lesson.
“Hopefully, the students will get the idea there is more than one way to solve a science question,” she said.
“You want the kids to come up with the answers, because they own the answers if they come up with them.”