In the past, a typical GED class in our program, the Adult Collaborative of Cape Cod for Education and Support Services (ACCCESS) would look something like this: students would read a page in the GED book, answer five questions, check to see if their answers were correct, and then discuss them. The topics and the content were all dictated by what was in the book, and that format for learning was simply the one that would be used on the GED test. Recognizing that this approach is not the most effective for most learners, the instructors for adult education programs on Cape Cod began thinking there must be a better way to teach science. To find out how, we embarked on a two-year collaborative experiment that radically changed the way we did science in our classrooms.

As a participant in the Partnerships Advancing the Learning of Math & Science initiative (PALMS), we came in contact with the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (WBNERR). The goals of WBNERR are to protect the estuarine system, to conduct research, and to communicate their research to the public in order to promote science-based decision-making on coastal issues. WBNERR had received a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to carry out their educational work. Recognizing an opportunity for the two PALMS partners to work together, WBNERR joined ACCCESS in proposing an approach to teaching the science component of GED. Staff from both programs worked together to develop a grant proposal that would support the integration of inquiry-based science into adult learning programs on Cape Cod. The proposal was accepted and funded by the Massachusetts regional EPA.

The First Year
During the first year, a series of science classes were developed and team-taught in two GED classes. The goals were to make these classes interactive, inquiry-based, and relevant to the students' lives, thus moving them away from dependence on GED test booklets. The content of the science unit, however, was carefully linked to science concepts presented in the GED test. It included five components and focused on groundwater, watersheds, water use, pollution, and water quality testing. Staff from WBNERR worked in the classroom with GED students and teachers to model teaching of science concepts and inquiry methods. Teacher-training sessions on single concepts were briefly introduced at the end of some ACCCESS staff meetings. At the end of the year, the entire teaching staff (ABE, Pre-GED, and ESOL) were invited to a day-long science training session based on the GED curriculum.

Lessons Learned: Year One
One of the most important realizations of the pilot year was that it will take a long time for instructors to feel comfortable with science topics in general. The interactive approach was useful and effective, but we presented far too much science content in each class. The content needed to be more selectively presented.

It is of the greatest importance to address the goals of the GED students to pass the GED test. The program must serve the students needs. While GED students were excited about the science activities, they repeated that their primary focus was on passing the test. Students needed reassurance that the material was going to help them with the test. Teachers and students agreed that the critical thinking skills could be applied to passing the test, but they pointed out that the format of the science instruction did not match the GED test format.

Many adult learners and teachers have had no exposure to formal science classes or science methodology and often feel intimidated or insecure when science topics are presented. It takes a long time and a lot of patience for a new idea to become part of a program. It's a good idea to start small and simple.

One of the greatest difficulties was the discomfort felt by teachers and students with science topics. The key to successful implementation of science topics is to help teachers and students recognize that their life experiences include science knowledge and that they use science everyday.

Top of Page

Year Two
In year two, ACCCESS received a grant from Adult and Community Learning Services at the Depart-ment of Education to participate in the development of science and technology curriculum frameworks.

The goal of the second year was to implement the pilot GED curriculum throughout the entire ACCCESS program (ABE, Pre-GED, GED, and ESOL). We recognized that we were attempting nothing less than to bring about a paradigm shift among teachers and students. That is, we were shifting from the assumption that "science is irrelevant and too difficult for me" to "I can do science and I use science everyday."

We started with an all-day in-service workshop for teachers and included the following:

• Presentation of science concepts in the context of Cape Cod water issues.
• Methods for teaching science concepts using interactive materials, lesson plans, and materials for teaching the science concepts presented at the in-service.
• Extensive discussion on teaching the concepts to different populations of students.
• Instruction on classroom use of maps, newspaper articles, and other familiar materials with a science content.
• Demonstration and discussion of an analytical reading exercise useful for science topics.
• Information about and practice with Internet resources for Cape Cod water issues.

Having two ACCCESS teachers from the pilot year present the first two activities helped increase the credibility of the project. They added practical advice and showed new teachers that bringing science into their programs was realistic and worthwhile.

Science Kits
One of the barriers in keeping teachers from doing science is the lack of materials. Many science activities require equipment for measuring, weighing, or comparing samples, and open-ended investigations benefit greatly from having a variety of materials available for testing students' questions.

With this in mind, the partnership created kits for teaching about local water issues. The kits could also be used in teaching a wide range of other science concepts. The kits contain materials for specific activities, such as groundwater models in clear plastic boxes, and many supplies for general investigations, such as graduated cylinders, funnels, and beakers. On the advice of ACCCESS teachers, topographical maps of each area hosting adult education programs, a GIS land-use map of Cape Cod, and reference materials and background readings were added to the kits.

The most popular materials during the first year have been the maps and reading materials. As teachers gain experience and familiarity with the groundwater models, salinity and density activities, and open-ended investigations, we hope more of the materials will be used regularly.

Top of Page

Handbook for Teachers
In order to produce an over-view of content introduced in the partnership project, we developed a handbook of background information for teachers. The handbook presents concepts, terminology, and issues related to water use, watersheds, groundwater, coastal ecosystems, and human impacts on water quality. It can also serve as reading materials for classes.

Site Visits and Field Trips
Several classes made visits to the Waquoit site during the year. The visits included some formal class time with interactive presentations, discussions, and a tour of the facilities and lab at the research reserve. The site visits were positive for many reasons:

Students' experiences and knowledge were elicited and incorporated as valuable additions to the presentations. Students were not expected to have any specific scientific knowledge to understand the research.
• Students saw that research sometimes takes place in the outdoors, in boats, and with instruments designed and built by a scientist from everyday materials based on what is needed.
• Students could see examples of the concepts they were learning in the context of the real world.
• Being honored guests in a professional setting focusing on serious research made students feel appreciated and privileged.
• Visits to sites where research is actively being pursued is a powerful motivator for student learning in science. The site visit also provides a source of discussion topics and examples to use in class for the rest of the semester.

Outcomes of Year Two
We learned that teachers would continue to resist presenting class sessions on water issues until they felt better prepared and had a deeper understanding of the materials themselves. As a result, the partnership is working to provide teachers with information about content and the process of science, a discipline that does not always produce right or wrong answers. We also learned that:

• Teachers are more receptive when adequately trained.
• Partnership with a scientific community willing to adapt to program needs is vital.
• Communication on the value of science and technology inquiry-based activities among staff is critical and has greatly improved as teachers become more comfortable using science.
• Accessibility to a site where teachers, as well as students, can participate in activities in a scientific setting where inquiry is encouraged has greatly enhanced the comfort level of students and teachers.
• Vignette writing requested by the Department of Education Science and Technology Group increased interest in science and made teachers more aware of how much science they were already teaching in their classes.
• Each teacher will have a different Òbest wayÓ to use the materials.
• The partnership has been successful in communicating the importance of science in ABE and the practicality of including science on all levels. We have learned that a science program based on local environmental issues is flexible enough to provide a basis for science in a form that is useful to every teacher in the ACCCESS program.

Joan Kieran is a program specialist for the ACCCESS program at Cape Cod Community College. She can be reached at: jkeiran@capecod.mass.edu

Patricia Harcourt can be reached at Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, 508-457-0495, or at: www.waquoitbayreserve.org