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University of Hawai'i |
(808) 956-8856 Telephone |
For Immediate Release: |
October 4, 1999 |
Contact: Violet Harada, associate professor, Library and Information
Science, phone 956-5811; fax956-5836; vharada@hawaii.edu
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| UHM professors partner with DOE specialists on project to improve Hawai'i schools |
Violet Harada, associate professor of library and information science, and Daniel Suthers, assistant professor of information and computer sciences, will collaborate with specialists from the Hawai'i Department of Education to develop a needs assessment of schools in economically and educationally disadvantaged rural areas as well as an implementation plan to make significant improvements in standards-based education.
The National Science Foundation awarded the DOE a $191,764 one-year development grant for the reform initiative in K-12 science, math and technology education.
The team hopes to implement its "Hawai'i's Networked Learning Communities" project in these schools, which Harada says promotes learning outside of the classroom. The project encourages teachers and students to "engage in global environmental investigations and learn about Hawaiian methods of resource management," Harada says. It includes distance learning with other schools within the state and is conducive to the development of relationships between school teams and their mentors as well as working scientists and technologists.
Suthers says the project will give Hawai'i students and teachers the opportunity to "leverage the rich land, sea, space and cultural resources situated in this state, regardless of their location."
After this initial year of development, the team will create an implementation plan that could total more than $10 million over five years if funded, says Harada.
Stephen Itoga, chairman of the UH Manoa ICS department, says the project is also important because it forges a partnership between UH and the DOE. "We are collaborating on critical educational issues that are relevant to all of us," Itoga said. "The relationship is a synergistic one."
Further information will be posted at http://lilt.ics.hawaii.edu/hnlc
