UW to build bridge between university and K-12 students

Felicia Ishino
Daily Staff

With the rapid increase in the field of high technology, many UW staff and faculty foresee a dire need for educating Washington state's children in this area.

The UW Institute for K-12 Science, Mathematics and Technology Education is one such program aimed at improving the teaching techniques within Washington's school system.

However, it doesn't quite yet exist.

The institute is one of a number of proposals being presented to the Board of Regents under UW President Richard McCormick's new University Initiatives Fund. The institute was proposed by UW Professor Leroy Hood, chair of the department of Molecular Biotechnology and director of the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center.

About six different UW schools and colleges support the creation of the institute. The colleges of Arts and Sciences, Education, Engineering, Medicine and the schools of Nursing and Public Health all back the institute. Supporters also include a number of community businesses, industries, K-12 teachers and administrators within the state.

Ed Lazowska, UW professor and chair of the Computing and Communication department, said the institute aims at collaborating with faculty members from various fields in an effort to help teachers understand the concepts of science and mathematics.

"The schools are not very well coordinated with each other. We can change the way the UW works with K-12 education by changing the way we work with each other," Lazowska said.

According to the institute's organizers, K-12 teachers are often uncomfortable teaching the areas of science, math and technology and therefore find it difficult to educate their students in these fields.

The institute will offer courses for teachers taught by scientists in an attempt to change the use of technology in classrooms. Hands-on science education for elementary students and teachers, as well as training from UW scientists and other instructors, will be used to determine the ways students best learn the concepts of math, science and technology.

During a state Higher Education Coordinating Board meeting last month, Governor Mike Lowry told the panel that first- through third-grade educators in Washington spend less than 30 minutes per week teaching science and fewer than 10 percent of the state's K-8 teachers had majored in science.

Creators of this proposal agreed that the education of children is an issue of paramount concern in today's society. The establishment of the institute is an attempt to combat this growing social problem and simultaneously unite the separate educational entities at the UW.

Lazowska said he felt confident that the UW will fund the institute, which has an estimated cost of $500,000 a year.

"I surely hope the proposal succeeds, but I recognize the competition. There are a lot of good ideas, but not enough money," he said.

The institute would be funded through the UW's Initiative Fund. The fund will be created through a 1-percent reduction from the budgets of individual colleges and schools. Effective July 1, 1997, that money will be placed in a pool for the Fund for Innovation.

According to the president's office, one of the main purposes of the initiative fund is to invest in opportunities that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries.

All proposals must be submitted by Nov. 1, and will then be reviewed by the Board of Regents. Of the proposals selected, full proposals must then be submitted by Feb. 3, 1997.

Final initiatives chosen for review will be those that identify programs that will greatly enhance the quality of the UW.