Phillips Elementary's Proposal
A VOYAGE ON THE INTERNET
A COMMON KNOWLEDGE: PITTSBURGH PROPOSAL
Submitted By
PHILLIPS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
SUMMARY
1. Team Members
Rosemary Grogan, Instructional Teacher Leader
Julie Halapatz, Parent
Jeanne Halterlein, School Librarian
Kathleen Hammer, Teacher
Jennifer Johnson, Teacher
Amanda Lakomy, Student
Dr. Barbara Rudiak, Principal
Essie Sing, Teacher
Kay Smith, Teacher
Jeannine Tobacco, Teacher
Sharon Zietak, Parent
Ruth Martin, Project Advisor
Sarah Martin, Project Advisor
Deborah Saltrick, Project Advisor
Dr. Judy Westerman, Project Advisor/School
Support Specialist at Phillips
2. Project Summary
The staff at Phillips Elementary School has been an integral part
of the Pittsburgh Voyager project since its inception in January 1993.
Pittsburgh Voyager, Incorporated, a newly formed organization, is
acquiring and equipping a U.S. Navy training vessel so that students in
grades K through 12 can explore the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio
Rivers. This mobile learning center coupled with the Voyager�s dockside
facility will provide hands-on, multidisciplinary discovery experiences
for our students. This endeavor represents a partnership among the
following entities: the South Side neighborhood, the Pennsylvania Fish
and Game Commission, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, Carnegie Mellon
University, the University of Pittsburgh, and The Carnegie. On June 1,
1993 the scope and sequence of the Pittsburgh Voyager curriculum was
developed, focusing on investigations based on the following themes:
Water Quality and Environmental Indicators, River Navigation,
Historical/Geographical Perspectives, Ship�s Log, and Boat Safety. Due to
the proximity of the Pittsburgh Voyager and the Monongahela River to the
school, the Phillips staff seized the opportunity to integrate river
education into its curriculum. As the staff at Phillips embarks on
developing the �river� curriculum, it is their intent to utilize the
Internet technology to secure information during the curriculum writing
phase as well as incorporate within the curriculum itself both
multicultural and interdisciplinary Internet activities in which the
students will engage. At present, the school has one Apple 11gs computer
for connectivity to the Internet on loan from the former Pittsburgh
Science Institute offices. This proposal is requesting additional
computer equipment, accompanying telephone lines installed, a
telefacsimile machine, student, faculty, and parent accounts as
identified, training, and support.
3. Teacher and Student Involvement
The Phillips/Pittsburgh Voyager partnership involves the entire
faculty and ultimately the whole student body as the respective curriculum
is developed. The current number of full-time faculty members is 10 along
with six part-time teachers. The Pittsburgh Public Schools Membership
Report As Of October 5, 1993 indicates that Phillips has an enrollment of
206 students, 8.3 percent of which are African-American.
4. Planning Process Overview
Planning with Pittsburgh Voyager, Incorporated which resulted in
the Phillips/Pittsburgh Voyager partnership began approximately one year
ago. Planning for the inclusion of the Internet as an information utility
and vehicle for learning in this endeavor began in November with two
meetings on the 15th and 22nd which included the principal, parent
representatives, the instructional teacher leader, and members from the
Unit of School Support Services. The district-wide inservice day on
November 29 was then spent with the faculty actively engaged in teaming
activities led by Ruth Martin, School Support Facilitator, which involved
generating river curriculum topics in preparation for the actual research
and writing. In addition, the principal Dr. Rudiak presented and
explained various concept models for developing an interdisciplinary
curriculum. In the interim various staff members from Phillips visited
the Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh administrative center at Woolslair and
received an introduction to the Internet. Tremendous enthusiasm resulted
from this visit to the extent that certain teachers are purchasing
personal computers for ultimate Internet access from their homes.
If identified as a Phase Two Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh site,
the entire faculty will participate in the planning process due to the
nature of the Pittsburgh Voyager curriculum scope and sequence (see
Appendix) and prior involvement. Similarly, the Pittsburgh Voyager Team
from the Unit of School Support Services will be involved as well as other
community, academic, and business resources as appropriate. The faculty
has noted the need to assemble all of the related project information
already obtained into one resource area in the school and secure
information on accessing the Internet there as well for background reading
prior to receiving training. Teams of faculty members will be formed with
all teams meeting on a weekly basis. Parents, students, and members of
the Unit of School Support Services will also participate on teams as
needed. A representative will be named from each team to coordinate the
work among the various groups.
5. Evaluation Process
Evaluation activities will focus on measuring to what degree do
the students and teachers at Phillips exhibit skill in accessing resources
on the Internet to gain information about rivers. Assessments for each
learning activity will be developed within the curriculum as the
activities are determined. Professional assistance related to ongoing
evaluation will be provided by Deborah Saltrick, School Support
Facilitator.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
1. Problem Definition
Phillips Elementary School has targeted the Pittsburgh Voyager
project as a vehicle for creating a learning environment which is linked
to �real world� experiences, interdisciplinary in nature, multiculturally
sensitive, conducive to readily implementing several of the Pennsylvania
Department of Education Chapter 5 Guidelines, and which effectively
utilizes the latest information technologies. Recent standardized test
results have indicated that the students at Phillips performed as follows:
only 9% of the students scored at or above the national norm in writing;
55% of the students scored at or above the national norm in reading; and
56% of the students scored at or above the national norm in mathematics.
These percentages are lower than the school district system-wide averages
which are 29% in writing, 57% in reading, and 69% in mathematics.
The South Side region like other communities along the rivers
experienced the brunt of unemployment when the steel industry declined in
the late 1970�s. In fact, 80% of the students in this neighborhood school
qualify for a free or reduced price lunch. Day-to-day economic survival
typically replaces long-range educational goals in this somewhat
homogeneous community. Similarly, Phillips has been experiencing
declining enrollment.
The above information elicits the need to have the students go
beyond the walls of their school building via the Pittsburgh Voyager and
the Internet: to enhance their critical thinking skills; to improve
their written communication ability; to advance in reading and
mathematics; and to make Phillips a school with special emphasis.
2. Evaluation Success
Success will be evaluated by monitoring the degree of
sophistication the students attain as they progress from the primary
grades through the intermediate grades in Internet usage. Guideposts will
be how well they execute and complete each activity, how much improvement
in communication skills is exhibited, and in what ways are the Internet
searching and communication skills transferred to other learning
situations by these students.
THE CURRICULUM PROJECT
1. Curriculum/Network Project Description
The Pittsburgh Voyager Curriculum Outline details student
activities at the primary, intermediate, middle, and secondary levels for
each of the aforementioned themes as noted in the �Project Summary.� River
curriculum development at Phillips will only focus on the primary and
intermediate activities with Internet use infused as applicable. The
planning committee has generated several Internet applications for the
project with all of them falling within two main categories --
�Communicating with Others� and �Gathering Information.�
Communicating With Others
Oral History Activities: Students will communicate with the Mon
River Buffs, the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, the Army
Corps of Engineers, and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
personnel, namely a river boat captain, a civil engineer, and a Department
of Environmental Resources geologist. All of the above groups presently
have Internet access.
Buddy System Activities: Students will communicate with students
at Westinghouse High School who are enrolled in the Science and
Mathematics program which has Internet access as well. One project
planned is the Westinghouse/Phillips Bridge Building Project whereby
students from the Prep Program at Westinghouse will team with students
from Phillips to communicate ideas and plans for building models of
bridges. They will assemble for the final testing presentation of their
models. Phillips students will also be paired with civil engineering
students at Carnegie Mellon to learn about bridges and bridge construction
in Pittsburgh.
Voyager Activities: Since the Voyager will have Internet access
at its facility, the students will use electronic mail to exchange
information with other groups of students both while on board and at
school to compare and analyze findings stemming from the prescribed,
hands-on activities in the curriculum. Gathering statistics on the water
temperature and level at different intervals for further investigation is
one such activity.
Key Pal Activities: It is planned that Phillips students will
communicate with other Pittsburgh Public School students along other
rivers such as those children at Spring Hill Elementary School and also
with children in other �river� cities both nationally and internationally.
It is also planned that through circulating a lap top computer to parents,
the children can engage in writing letters to their parents about their
river experiences and, in turn, the parents can respond.
Gathering Information
Libraries: There is a dearth of current print resources for
students in grades K to 5 in the Phillips School Library about Pittsburgh
and its rivers for various reasons: there is a lack of their existence;
river education was never a curricular emphasis at Phillips; and, the
resources which do exist are not age appropriate. Therefore, students
will be trained in how to access Caroline (Carnegie On Line) in order to
locate any titles related to river topics such as water pollution, career
information, boat safety, and the like. Concurrently, teachers will be
able to identify information in various libraries via the Internet for
curriculum development purposes. In either case these patrons may
interlibrary loan the resources through Library Services by transmitting
requests via a telefacsimile unit.
Databases: Students will create databases of information in the
form of print and nonprint since the technology affords this latter
capability. For example, primary children may create a simple database of
species (in graphic form) living in the river which they have observed or
intermediate students may collect water quality data from their sampling
activities. It is anticipated to tap the Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh
staff for their expertise in database construction.
Interviews: As students increase their knowledge of the rivers,
they will construct Internet interviews to conduct with other students
located in river cities for comparison studies and to share their findings
in local government officials.
Surveys: The information gathering phase will include the
development of surveys by students which they can conduct with other
students on the Internet. The Historical/Geographical Perspectives theme
lends itself to this tool in that Phillips students will be able to
compare and contrast how events in other river communities impacted on the
natural and human elements in those areas.
2. Network Resources
Due to the current lack of access to the Internet, the staff has
identified the following resources which they will first explore to glean
river information after they have connectivity and are trained: GREEN
(Global Rivers Environmental Education Network), EcoNet, Earth Kids,
Tele-Fieldtrips, Weather, General Science Resources, Pen Pages, and
Teacher Pages, Cleveland Freenet, and various libraries. Through
electronic mail they will obtain many other resources from other parties
interested in river study.
3. Evaluation Plan
Evaluation will be ongoing as it is embedded in the design of each
learning activity. The frequency and success in finding and communicating
relevant information by students and teachers will be monitored.
PLANNING PROCESS
1. Planning Period Description
The planning period will officially begin on February 1, 1994 with
Ms. Stacy Sweeney, President of S.S.Y. Associates/Executive Training and
Development organization who will engage the staff in team building during
the morning of this inservice day. The �personal development profile� for
each staff member will be determined, i.e., dominance, influence,
steadiness, or caution, so that a collaborative spirit pertaining to the
Voyager endeavors will be in place. This initial planning phase will also
include the distribution of an Internet bibliography to the staff which
lists a minimal number of salient titles for the beginning practitioner.
Both a Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh site coordinator and
partner/alternate will be identified. Project team leaders will receive
training from the CK:P staff and in turn will train the remaining teachers
and parent committee members. As the river curriculum evolves the
teachers will be able to correlate curricular activities and specific
network resources. The staff will establish a criteria for the first
group of students who will be trained, indicating the time frame and
sequence for training other students and interested parents who will be
borrowing the lap tops periodically. Since Phillips has a LOGO lab, the
staff will pursue having students trained in some basic keyboarding skills
at Priscilla Franklin�s direction.
2. Planning Period Management
The planning period will be jointly managed by the principal, the
Voyager Action Team from the Unit of School Support Services, and the
Phillips team leaders for this project.
3. Network Exploration
When the teams and their specific curricular missions are defined,
and when training has occurred, the teachers will explore the Internet and
identify only those resources which meet the stated objectives in each
activity.
4. Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh Staff Assistance
Assistance will be needed in the areas of training, continued
support for access issues and equipment matters, and for new project
information as it emerges.
IMPLEMENTATION SCENARIO
1. Philosophy and Direction
Our philosophy is to teach students the skills to make them
life-long learners and the staff sees Internet access as a vital component
in this process.
PERSONNEL
1. Project Personnel and Roles
(This information has been provided within the context of the
preceding information.)
TECHNICAL ARCHITECTURE
1. Use of Existing Equipment
The borrowed Apple Hgs will be used to begin to familiarize
teachers with accessing the Internet for electronic mail purposes.
Planning team leaders will explore the Internet resources and begin
linking them to specific Pittsburgh Voyager activities.
2. Needed Network Architecture
Student access in retrieving and managing information in the
nontraditional manners which Internet connectivity affords is contingent
upon the receipt of four additional computers and two lap top computers.
A set of CD-ROM drives is also desired for use in accessing related
databases in that format. A telefacsimile machine is needed for the
interlibrary loan of resources located in libraries on the Internet. The
Apple Macintosh environment is preferred given the age of the intended
users.
3. Network Architecture and Education Outcomes
The network architecture requested is somewhat minimal in
comparison to what our students will attain in that the committee examined
the core goals in the Chapter 5 �Rules and Regulations� as published on
July 24, 1993. The outcomes which this project proposes to achieve are
those cited in the areas of Information and Thinking Skills, Learning
Independently and Collaboratively, Adaptability to Change, Communications,
Science and Technology, Environment and Ecology, and Career Education and
Work.