Grant Wood AEA receives award as IOWATER Classroom of the Year

Grant Wood AEA was honored as the IOWATER Classroom of the Year for the IGISST Project during the organization's 10-year Water Monitoring Conference & IOWATER Open Forum, held April 9-10, 2010 at Iowa State University in Ames. Christopher Soldat, GWAEA curriculum consultant (left) accepted the award on behalf of the Grant Wood AEA Van Allen Science Teaching Center consultants and partners from the University of Iowa Science Education Center and Geography Department and IOWATER. The IGISST Project (Inquiry: Geographic Information Systems in Science Teaching) is a three-year math and science partnership aimed at improving science education in grades 6-12. The Math and Science Partnership (MSP) grant is a professional development grant awarded by the Department of Education and the Board of Regents. This project targets teams of secondary teachers of science and related areas. The project’s purposes are to: enhance science instruction through an inquiry and problem-based learning approach improve student achievement, and nurture collaboration among participating teacher teams. The project consists of summer workshops, academic year research lesson groups and seminars, and onsite implementation assistance from project staff. Since the program's inception three years ago, approximately 40 science teachers have been trained in IOWATER methods, and more than 1,000 students have participated in IOWATER classroom activities. IGISST helps teachers meet the Iowa Core's goals of problem-based learning in the classroom by using real-world examples of water quality in the student's environment. The teachers are trained in IOWATER methods, but also methods of investigating questions using the same approaches used by scientists to help make the experience more authentic and enjoyable for students. Soldat explained, "The IGISST grant provided secondary science teachers the opportunity to collaborate and plan Problem-based Learning instructional units which enhanced their district's existing science curriculum. As a result students had the opportunity to be engaged with problems and scientific investigations in which the results were unknown. The grant elevated the students' use of data and reasoning to support their scientific claims of understanding. This is marked departure for how students learn science in a more traditional class setting." Grant Wood Area Education Agency provides instructional and school management services for 32 school districts and 22 approved nonpublic schools in Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Johnson, Jones, Linn, and Washington counties.

Christopher Soldat