Curriculum Research & Development Group

 

 

CRDG

Focus
• Distance Learning
• CRDG Summer Programs
• Singapore Connection
• Teaching Science as Inquiry
• International Work in Civics Education
• Phase I: SCUP Project
• Addressing the Needs of Diverse Learners
• Science Educators Address Adolescent Health Issues
• Elementary Golden Triangle
• Cross Currents
• Values for a Democratic Society
• Education Laboratory School
• MaPS

Distance Learning Programs Expand Student Opportunities
John Southworth, CRDG specialist in distance learning–enrichment (DL–E) has teamed with former Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) Marlene Hapai to create StAmP Net.
StAmP Net gives students and teachers in high schools around the state an opportunity to use computers and telecommunications systems to learn about college opportunities available through CTAHR programs. Schools that participated in the program include Waimea and Kapa‘a High Schools on Kaua‘i; Maui, Lahainaluna, and Baldwin High Schools on Maui; Moloka‘i High School on Moloka‘i; Pāhoa, Waiākea, and Kea‘au High Schools and Kanu O Ka ‘Āina PCS on the Big Island; and La Pietra School, Maryknoll School, Hanalani School, Waialua High School, Kamehameha Schools, Mid-Pacific Institute, Olomana School, Roosevelt High School, St. Anthony’s High School, St. Andrew’s Priory School, and ELS on O‘ahu.

Hapai recently relocated to Hilo to direct the newly-founded Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Center (MKAEC) where she plans to use the DL–E model for outreach education to schools. CRDG/MKAEC partnerships are also planned in the Women in Technology project funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and in a pilot project that will work with the Mauna Kea observatories to share information on astronomy and Hawaiian culture associated with Mauna Kea with up to ten schools this year.
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CRDG Summer Programs
In the late sixties, researchers at CRDG needed a group of summer-school students to field test lessons taught by a cadre of teachers being trained in the Foundational Approaches in Science Teaching (FAST) program. It was here that the idea of an inquiry-based summer science enrichment program was born. Thirty-four years later, CRDG continues to provide an active, experiential program, with offerings expanded to include mathematics and computer technology. The program is popular with students and teachers, some of whom are now in a second generation of participation. Students arrive each day expecting the unexpected. They may explore new dimensions of science through research on the Web, spend the day in a tide pool or forest, build a rocket, examine a math concept using interactive technology and problem-solving activities, program a robot, or film a TV commercial. Learning for these students lives beyond textbooks.

In 2004, CRDG Summer Programs welcomed 111 students to the ELS campus, some from as far away as Texas, Japan, and Taiwan. Six weeks of exploration and discovery in science and computer technology included a new course in marine science for eighth and ninth graders that engaged students in research activities at the University of Hawai‘i’s Institute of Marine Biology at Coconut Island in Kāne‘ohe Bay.
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Singapore Connection
In 2004 the mathematics section of the Curriculum Research & Development Group and NeeAnn Polytechnic in Singapore continued work on a collaborative production of Engineering Mathematics I, a program for engineering students in their first mathematics course. The program, based on the underlying foundations of CRDG’s Algebra I: A Process Approach (2001), focuses on developing mathematical understanding through problem solving.

Production of the program involves personnel from both sites. The initial materials are developed at CRDG, then sent electronically to Singapore where a team reviews them and makes recommendations for revisions. The revisions are then discussed between the two teams until they are agreed upon. Lessons are then piloted and, based on these trials, other revisions are suggested.

The program includes a student textbook, teacher manual, tests and quizzes, and hands-on labs. NeeAnn Polytechnic is adding a computer-based technology component using software developed at their site. Completion of this project is targeted for summer 2005.
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Teaching Science as Inquiry
CRDG has responded to the demand for improving the quality of teaching by providing professional development institutes that help teachers improve their understanding of science concepts and learn how these concepts can be taught through inquiry. The “Teaching Science as Inquiry” series of 2–3 day institutes provides an overview of inquiry as a pedagogicalapproach and engages teachers in inquiry investigations. Inquiry topics offered in 2004 include “Astronomy” and “Simple Machines” for elementary teachers, a unit on physical science called “Why Things Sink and Float” for middle- and high-school teachers, and “Aquatic Science” for high-school teachers. Additional units will be developed in 2005. CRDG-developed programs have been recognized as exemplary by the Expert Panel on Science and Mathematics Education and by the National Staff Development Council in their What Works series for improving teacher effectiveness and student learning.
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International Work in Civics Education
Through four rounds of funding stretching over almost ten years, a unique partnership has grown between CRDG and a group of researchers at the Krasnoyarsk University in Russia. One result of this partnership has been the Civics Education for the Information Age (CEIA) project, funded by the U.S. Department of State. The project began in 1996 when 6 researchers from Krasnoyarsk University came to Hawai‘i to be trained in a CRDG-developed civics education approach that took students into the community to experience democracy in action by becoming involved in local issues. Following a training course that looked at water rights on windward O‘ahu, the six returned to Russia where they developed a series of units based on local issues in their communities. Nine years later, over 174 teachers and approximately 12,000 students throughout the Krasnoyarsk region and the oblasts of Abakan, Norilsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, and Irkutsk have used the program. Recently, organizers were asked by the Education Ministry of the Russian Federation to develop a version of the program as a civics curriculum for all of Russia. The formal, collaborative part of this project wrapped up in 2004 with a meeting of all the partners to look at the structure of the curriculum and implementation techniques as they have evolved over the life of the project, and to consider possible next steps.
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Phase-I Study of the Effects of Versions of Professional Development on Curriculum Implementation and Scaling-Up (SCUP Project)
CRDG’s Program Research & Evaluation Section is in its second year of a project funded by the National Science Foundation to look at the effects of professional development on curriculum implementation and the “scaling-up” of curricula. To do this, CRDG curriculum developers and researchers are developing alternative versions of the Foundational Approches in Science Teaching (FAST) program’s professional development and are preparing data-collection instruments for the second phase of the project, which will begin in 2005. The project’s long-term findings will have implications for revising the FAST program and for teacher professional development, curriculum implementation, and curriculum scaling-up nationwide.
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Addressing the Needs of Diverse Learners
The School Success Project (SSP) was created in 2004 to respond to the increasingly diverse population of students enrolled at the Education Laboratory School (ELS). All students at ELS are educated with their peers in the general education setting, with access to all curriculum and activities. An early focus of the project is to examine the existing supports within ELS and use the findings to develop a coordinated and structured support system to meet the specific needs of each child. Important components of this support system include early intervention strategies, structured monitoring systems for children with identified needs, and effective collaboration within the student’s support team.

In addition to this basic system of support, SSP is working to create professional development to help teachers understand the challenges that arise from various challenging conditions and their implications for learning. Existing collaborations amongst teachers are becoming models of how curriculum modifications, accommodations, and teaching strategies can positively impact special needs students in regular classrooms. These will become stepping stones for school-wide professional development for teachers and curriculum developers, and will eventually lead to the design and implementation of a professional research agenda on the affects of ELS programs on student learning. The resulting research and models will then be used to help others to more appropriately address the needs of diverse learners.
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Science Educators Address Adolescent Health Issues
Under a grant from the U. S. Department of Agriculture, CRDG worked with faculty at Purdue University to develop materials to teach sixth grade girls about osteoporosis and the need for calcium in their diets to combat this disease later in life. Francis Pottenger, Don Buchholz, Sandra Shimabukuro, and the Learning Technology Section of CRDG produced a CD/DVD set in which three children, in order to help care for a loved one, learn from a doctor about the need for calcium to help maintain strong bones. Pre-and post-tests on selected groups that used the one-week program showed that it did have an impact on the target audience’s intake of calcium. In addition, the program was awarded the Gold Award in Information Technology-Class 39-Best Innovative Use of Communication Technology from the Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences. Work has begun on a second USDA funded program with Purdue called “Healthy Weight,” targeted for sixth grade girls and boys.
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Extending the Golden Triangle to the Elementary Grades
After many years of using the CRDG-developed Golden Triangle program as the basis of the ELS secondary English classes, students at the 8th and 10th grade levels consistently score very well on the English section of the Hawai‘i State Assessment. Golden Triangle co-creator Jim Harstad has always believed that the program would be even more effective at a younger age. This year he has been testing that hypothesis by working with ELS students in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. The Golden Triangle program has three components: daily journal freewriting, reading along, and dictation sentence study for grammar. Jim focused on the reading and writing portion of the program, reading all five books of the popular Harry Potter series with the students over the course of the school year. Preliminary data from a pre/post writing test as well as sample journal entries indicate that the students’ overall language skills improved significantly.
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Cross Currents
Linda Menton, Noren Lush, and Suzanne Acord began work in 2004 on a bi-national, bilingual, Web-based digital resource for the Cross Currents project. The resource features Japan and the United States, and the way the two countries haveinfluenced each other over the last 50 years.

It includes multimedia features such as Quicktime virtual reality images, film clips, charts, maps, and documents, in addition to pictures and text. The text is available in written and audio form in both English and Japanese.

Cross Currents is funded by the US-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON) and the Japan-United States Friendship Commission. The project team at the University of Hawai‘i also includes Dr. Pat Steinhoff from the sociology department, Dr. Colin Macdonald from the communication department, and a host of graduate students.

The first theme developed for the site, Work and Workplaces, is now live at www.crosscurrents.hawaii.edu. Future themes, Annual Cultural Cycles and Family Life are in progress and will be available on the site soon.

CRDG’s role is to create student activities, including a student scrapbook, for the site and to develop workshops for teachers.
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Values for a Democratic Society
Pat Alvarez of the Social Studies Section teamed up with Tom Speitel, ThanTruc Nguyen, and Byron Inouye in the learning technology section to produce the Values for a Democratic Society DVD-ROM for use in character education classes in Hawai‘i public schools. Initiated by the Go For Broke Educational Foundation, the project also involved the University of Hawai‘i Colleges of Arts and Sciences, the Hawaii Department of Education, and the Nisei Veterans Endowed Forum Series.

The DVD-ROM is a resource that promises to keep on developing and giving. Part I contains 28 short videos, each focused on an individual in the local community who has demonstrated a commitment to democratic values. Part II features sample lessons showing the videos being put to use in the classroom. Filmed with the assistance of the class of 2005 at ELS, the lessons show students watching the character profiles, creating their own stories of people who have contributed to democracy, and becoming the story themselves by engaging in a service-learning project.

The third part of the resource is an interactive DVD-ROM component through which teachers can add student products and comments. A comprehensive database underlies all parts of the DVD-ROM so students and instructors can access its contents in a variety of ways. Kealakehe High School on the Big Island is currently pilot-testing the program. It is also creating its own videos as part of the project and as part of its own civic education program.
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The Education Laboratory School
The Education Laboratory: A Hawai‘i New Century Public Charter School (ELS) is in its fourth year as a public charter school. It is unique among schools in many respects.

ELS is operated by CRDG as a K–12 laboratory for researching, designing, testing, and evaluating effective approaches to improving learning, teaching, and assessment.

Students are selected to create a student body, evenly distributed by gender, that reflects the ethnic distribution of Hawaii and includes a broad range of student academic achievement and family socioeconomic levels.
All students are in school for 7.5 hours each day, and take a challenging comprehensive curriculum that includes English, mathematics, science, social studies, art, music, performing arts, foreign languages, and athletics, as well as electives, each year. All students take the identical core program in non-segregated classes. All students graduate ready for college, work, and responsible citizenship.
The school curriculum is built on multi-year sequences of learning emphasizing creativity, inquiry, problem solving, and active learning. In most cases, students and teachers use CRDG-developed programs and approaches. The school serves as a demonstration site for these programs, hosting observers, researchers, and educators-in-training.
The broad range of activities included in the school’s core curriculum allows its students to excel in state and national level programs in all areas. Approximately 75% of ELS students participate in activities outside of school in visual and performing arts, speech, mathematics, music, writing, and athletics. This year ELS students participated in the following programs:

National Merit Scholarship Program
1 finalist and 1 semi-finalist

2004 National Scholastic Art Exhibition
1 Gold Medal award
1 Silver Medal award
1 American Visions award

2004 Hawaii Regional Scholastic Art Exhibition
12 Gold Key awards
8 Silver Key award

Kaha Ki‘i Congressional Art Exhibition
12 works selected for exhibit

Hawaii Education Association Essay Contest
2 1st place awards
1 2nd place award
1 3rd place award
5 Honorable Mentions awards
2 Special Merit awards

Hawaii Speech League Speech and Debate Championship Tournament
Extemporaneous Speaking State Champion, National Championship Tournament Qualifier
2 2nd place winners
3 4th place winners
1 5th place winner
3 6th place winners

American Mathematics Competition
3 Gold Certificate winners
5 Silver Certificate winners
5 Bronze Certificate winners

Hawaii Regional Ocean Science Bowl
2nd place and 5th place teams

O‘ahu Band Directors’ Association Select Band
13 students

O‘ahu Band Directors’ Association High School Solo & Ensemble Competition
5 Gold awards
5 Silver awards
4 Bronze awards

Hawai‘i Youth Symphony
15 students

First annual State Spanish Poetry Contest
1 Level One 1st Place award
1 Level One 2nd Place award
1 Level One 3rd Place award
1 Level Two Honorable Mention award

Pacific and Asian Affairs Council China Study Trip Scholarship
4 students

Hawaii History Day
District winner, Essay Division
3rd place, Essay Division

University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Outreach College Summer Scholars program
34 students

Interscholastic League of Honolulu
Students participated in 17 sports
2 All-State 2nd team awards
1 ILH All-Star 1st team award
2 ILH All-Star 2nd team awards
10 State Tournament qualifiers
2 Nissan High School Hall of Honor nominees
15 3-sport athletes

• Model United Nations
• Japan Bowl
• World Quest
• Interlochen Center for the Arts Summer Program
• 2004 Kennedy Center/National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute


Each year the school recognizes a department that has done outstanding work. In 2004 this award went to the Performing Arts department. Included in this department are the orchestra program led by Kevin Olafsson, the band program led by Ira Wong, the choral program led by Debbie Kelsey, and the ELS Funk Band and elementary music programs led by Chris Zorn. In addition to performing 9 concerts, both at school and in the community, the school had 15 students selected for the Hawaii Youth Symphony and 13 students selected for the Oahu Band Directors’ Association Select Bands.

The ELS Community Service Club began in 2003 after a small group of students attended a presentation by Free the Children where they heard students their own age speak about their experiences growing up in Bosnia. This year the club grew to 40 members who worked on a variety of student-initiated projects in the community with the help of faculty advisor Suzanne Acord. In 2004 students volunteered at the Institute for Human Services family shelter where they played with and read to the children, decorated the Hawaii Kai retirement home for Christmas, participated in the Great Aloha Run food drive, and organized collections of necessities and money for victims of the typhoon in Yap and the tsunami in Southeast Asia.

Educational Laboratory School’s Test Scores
A comparison of the Laboratory School’s Hawai‘i State Assessment test scores in reading and mathematics with the statewide average scores for School Year (SY) 2004 are shown in Figures 1–4. On the SAT in reading (Figure 1) and in mathematics (Figure 2), greater percentages of Laboratory School students than students statewide scored at average or above-average levels in each of the four tested grades. On the HCPS tests in reading (Figure 3) and in mathematics (Figure 4), greater percentages of Laboratory School students than students statewide met or exceeded proficiency.

For SY 2001–02, 2002–03, and 2003–04, in both Grades 8 and 10, Laboratory School students were ranked first or second (with one exception) in both reading and mathematics. Third graders were also ranked first on SAT in mathematics in each of the three years, and fifth-graders were ranked first in reading in 2003–04 and in mathematics in 2001–02.

 

 

 

 

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Marketing and Publication Services
In 2004, two of CRDG’s sections, the Office of Dissemination and Outreach and the Educational Publications Center (EPC), merged to become Marketing and Publications Services (MaPS). From its beginnings as two creative teams that supported CRDG research projects, MaPS is now a one-stop center for educational resources and support, marketing consultation, and publishing services, not only for our CRDG and College of Education family, but for other university departments, schools, and non-profit organizations. The multi-faceted MaPS office handles an array of services including marketing and disseminating CRDG-developed materials to schools locally, nationally, and internationally; coordinating professional development opportunities for teachers; creating quality layouts and graphic design; and providing photocopying, binding, laminating, and 4-color printing services.

2004 Highlights

  • In collaboration with the CRDG project staffs, MaPS coordinated 20 professional development institutes in 5 states.
  • MaPS hosted visitors to CRDG from different segments of the community through a series of open houses. The first welcomed teachers, principals, and other members of the educational community to our Spotlight on Professional Development. The second honored the Education Laboratory School’s very talented art section with a display of work by faculty and by student-winners of the Scholastic Art Awards program Gold and Silver Key awards. In October, MaPS opened its own doors to provide tours of its facilities and introduce its many services to the educational and nonprofit communities.
  • MaPS expanded capacity to print four-color jobs kept the printers busy throughout the year printing everything from journal covers and posters to its own new MaPS brochure.
  • The MaPS staff was hard at work this year revising CRDG’s website to allow for an even greater level of online customer service.

 

Co-Publishing Arrangements Expand the Reach of CRDG’s Work
Over the years, CRDG has earned a reputation for researching, developing, and designing quality programs. Once developed, it is equally important that these programs be disseminated. CRDG publishes and disseminates many of its programs. It has also established partnerships with a number of other publishers.

The University of Hawai‘i Press is recognized as a leading publisher of books and journals on Asia and Asian American and Pacific Island studies. Current CRDG titles co-published with UH Press include China: Understanding Its Past, The Rise of Modern Japan, To Find the Way, and Island Fire.

Growing Up Local, winner of the Ka Palapala Po‘okela Award for Excellence in Literature in 1999 and the Artists Embassy International Literary/Cultural Award in 2000, is a joint project of CRDG and Bamboo Ridge Press, a local press founded in 1978 to publish literature by and about Hawai‘i’s people.

CRDG has partnered with Mutual Publishing to co-publish How to Play the Hawaiian Ukulele: 10 Easy Lessons, and to distribute Mutual’s informative and engaging series of marine science reference books: Hawaiian Coral Reef Ecology, Hawaii’s Sea Creatures, Hawaii’s Fishes, and Sea Turtle Ecology.

Ethics in Thought and Action, developed at CRDG, was published by Ardsley House, now part of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group.


CRDG’s social studies section’s award winning texts on Asian history help students gain a deeper understanding of China and Japan.



CRDG’s English section has produced award winning texts focusing on literature of Hawai‘i.

 


Ethics in Thought and Action encourages students to draw connections between traditional thinkers and contemporary situations.


Mutual Publishing’s marine science books serve as ideal reference books for CRDG’s marine science curriculum.

 

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