FCMS Plan

From Education

FCMS Plan 

SC07 Educator Plan of Action

Name of Team Leader(s): Stephanie Stevenson, Bill Moredock, Alex Manolis

Institution/Project: at Fort Caroline Middle School: Developing Computational Science Modules for Students for 21st Century Skills Preparation

E-mail: stevensons at duvalschools dot org moredockw at duvalschools dot org manolisa at duvalschools dot org

Team members/collaborators Curriculum Collaborators

 Bonnie Bracey

 George Mason University 

 Marty Daniel

 The Rice School
 Houston, TX

 Charles Peck

 Associate Professor of Computer Science
 Earlham College
 Richmond, Indiana

Point of Contact for math and science resources: Yukiko Sekine, PhD Program Manager Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research US Department of Energy: Office of Science

1. The team leaders want to infuse computational science and supercomputing in our newly emerging IB middle years program at Fort Caroline Middle School (FCMS). FCMS is in the first year of its three-year Inter-baccalaureate Middle Years Program Grant. Bill, Alex, and Stephanie are on the technology committee for determining the development of technology in the IB program. We plan to

  1.1.continue implementing the Kennedy Launch Academy Simulation System (KLASS)
  1.2 begin teaching using programming tools, Netlogo and Vensim with Bill and Alex’s 7th  
      grade math and science students when we return. The students will compete with students 
      at the Rice School in a programming competition-dates TBA. 
  1.3.meet with FCMS principal, Kathy Kassees, and  Kathy Leroy, Chief Officer of Math &
      Science for Duval County Public Schools, to determine directions
      1.2.1.We met with Dr. Leroy yesterday and she is enthusiastic. She is contacting the 
            magnet office for next steps to implement our action plan.
  1.4.attend IB technology training, then begin to develop computational science curriculum  
      for the content areas of math, science, and social studies.
  1.5.train teachers and students to use computational science tools over the three-year IB
      grant period.

2. Describe the computational resources and/or tools that you plan to use. We plan to use:

  2.1.NetLogo and Vensim this year for programming and modeling
  2.2.Social Explorer and Mash-Ups will be integrated as teachers are trained to use it.
  2.3.workshops and human resources provided by SC-Education community over the next three 
      years.

3. How will students’ learning outcomes be assessed? We will develop and use formal and informal assessments for and assessments of student learning and attitudes about science and math. 4. What are the challenges that you face in accomplishing your team’s goal? The challenges we will face are

  4.1.the learning curve of the tools and software and the integration of programming and 
      modeling into our existing curriculum and the district learning schedule.
  4.2.working with school administration and the district to developing a model for infusion 
      of computational science into Fort Caroline’s IB program

5. The assistance we would like to receive is training and mentoring from the SC-Education Community as we work to accomplish our goals. 6. What plans do you have for sharing what you learn throughout the process with others? We will work with teachers at our site to share applications, present and write to publish our experiences at a national, state and local level. 7. Any other project aspects you would like to share with us? We would like this to tie into our three-year grant to become an IB Middle Years Program. We want computational science, i.e. modeling and visualization to be our IB program’s unique theme.