National Science Foundation Grant Advances Marlborough Teachers

MARLBOROUGH, MA—Through a grant issued from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Marlborough Public School and Boston Public School teachers and university-based science and engineering education researchers from UMass Boston and Tufts University joined forces with STEM professionals from the MBTA this summer, announced the Marlborough public schools. The goal of this three-way partnership is to design a challenge rooted in a local community while exploring scientific explanations of the phenomena and mechanisms related to the challenge.

This multi-faceted project, ConnecTions in the Making, began in spring 2017 and runs until the spring of 2020. Six teachers from Marlborough and Boston participate in this project over the course of this 3-year grant involving a total of 18 teachers from each district.

This summer, the “teacher design squad” worked with mentors from Tufts and UMass to deepen their science and engineering design competencies as they fabricated solutions to a community design problem posed by the MBTA.

Kelly Hall, a 5th grade math & science teacher at Whitcomb and a key leader on this project, explained in a statement, “Our challenge was to develop a prototype to stop the flooding for the Fenway MBTA portal. During the process, we met with an MBTA environmental engineer, conducted research, visited a project at the Aquarium tunnel and built and tested our prototypes. Although we didn’t save the MBTA, the engineering design process will continue. Spending the week at Tufts Engineering School has opened my eyes to how many community problems are solved by engineers.”

In the next phase of the NSF Grant, the Marlborough teachers will develop three elementary curriculum units that serve as a national model for integrating engineering and science into culturally relevant, highly effective, community-connected learning experiences for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.

In addition, the teachers will refine and leverage two new tools for integrated science and engineering curriculum units at the elementary level, the Portable Maker Studio and the Digital Design Notebook. The Portable Maker Studio provides students with the materials and tools needed to create sophisticated, functional prototypes; the Digital Design Notebook is an easy to use documentation platform that supports disciplinary discourses of engineering, mediates collaboration within teams, and promotes reflective decision making.

“Marlborough Public Schools is honored to be part of the NSF ConnectTions research project,” stated Kathy Richov, Supervisor of Math, Science & STEM for the Marlborough Public Schools. “Each of the curriculum units our teachers develop during this project will include an engineering challenge based on a ‘community-connected’ real-world problem. When students apply their knowledge and skills in a meaningful and authentic way, they become more invested, have more fun, and gain deeper learning.”

Maureen Greulich, superintendent of Marlborough Public Schools, added in the press release, “Our students are our future problem solvers. These experiences will equip students at the elementary level with the tools, critical thinking skills, and confidence to successfully explore STEM/STEAM pathways in higher grades and may even inspire STEM careers.”

Photo #1: (far left) Karol DeAngeli, Richer Elementary School 4th grade teacher, setting up her final test.

Photo #2: (left to right) Kelly Hall, 5th grade Science/STEM teacher at Whitcomb, and Shannon Stemple, Kane Elementary 4th grade teacher, testing a final prototype in the Fenway Portal model made by an engineering intern.

Photo #3: (left to right) Alison Hathaway, Whitcomb 5th grade teacher, and Eileen Barry, Kane Elementary 3rd grade teacher, doing a design challenge warm-up; building a paper chair to hold a stuffed animal.

Photos #4: (left to right) Keary Bartlett, Jaworek Elementary 3rd grade teacher, Nick Kapura, Boston Public Schools teacher, and Alison Hathaway, Whitcomb 5th grade teacher, experimenting with materials and fluid flow.

Photos and story submitted by Marlborough Public Schools