Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools (LeTUS)

The Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools consists of four partners: Detroit Public Schools, Chicago Public Schools, the University of Michigan, and Northwestern University. The focus of the Center's activities is the creation of strategies for embedding and sustaining the use of computing and communications technologies in the science curriculum at the middle school level. These technologies can provide the critical support needed by students to engage in the serious, intellectual science inquiry called for by new national and state standards. Through this support, urban students will use the most recent developments in the application of new technologies to education.

The Detroit Public Schools and the University of Michigan have been working together since 1996/97. Currently, the focus of activity is in 22 middle schools in Detroit. UM and DPS personnel work together to implement inquiry-focused, standards-based, technology-pervasive, curriculum units in middle school science.

The Center's activities are designed to address major components of systemic change in schools, including the development of curriculum, the creation of technological capability in schools to embed technology throughout the curriculum, and the provision of professional development to enable teachers to help students learn science through inquiry.

Standards-Based Curriculum

LeTUS has developed and enacted six middle school curriculum projects. The projects are aligned with National and Detroit Public Schools curriculum standards. Each unit stresses inquiry, student collaboration and the use of learning technologies. Learners conduct experiments, analyze and interpret data, and draw conclusions. Curriculum projects run between eight and ten weeks.

Communicable Disease - Seventh Grade - The communicable Disease Project explores the questions "Can good friends make me sick?" This driving question will be used throughout the unit to tie the biology the students are learning to a larger issue that directly affects them. Throughout this unit, students will learn crucial biology behind different communicable diseases, including the immune system, disease transmission, and sexually transmitted disease. Students use a variety of technologies including modeling software, digital library resources, and simulation tools (Palm (TM) handheld computers).

Force and Motion - Eighth Grade - Designed for use in eighth grade, students explore the question "Why do I need to wear a bicycle helmet?" Through the exploration of this question, the learner develops an integrated understanding of Newton's laws of motion, force, velocity, and acceleration, and the relationship among force, mass and acceleration in the context of being pitched off their bike, getting injured, and learning how helmets work. Technology use includes probeware.

Basic Chemistry Principles - Seventh Grade - This air quality curriculum unit engages 7th grade students in an extended inquiry into the question "What is the air like in my community?" This inquiry provides students with a rich and meaningful environment to conduct investigations, learn relevant science content, and develop understanding of an environmental issue, air quality. In the context of learning about air quality, the learner develops an integrated understanding of science concepts such as composition of air, states of matter, chemical versus physical changes, chemical reactions, acids and bases, atoms, elements, compounds, and mixtures. Technology includes probeware and modeling software.

Water Ecology - Seventh Grade - The water project engages 7th grade students in an extended inquiry into the driving question, "What is the quality of water in our river?" In the context of learning about water ecology, learners construct an integrated understanding of science concepts such as ecosystems, watersheds, rivers, biodiversity, macroinvertebrates, biotic indexes, bio-indicators, topography, and various water quality tests, such as fecal chloroform, pH, and dissolved oxygen. Students use probeware, World Wide Web and computer modeling tools.

Weather - Sixth Grade - Kids as Global Scientists (KGS) was designed by Nancy Songer and the One Sky, Many Voice team. Using a variety of resources including multimedia CD-ROMs with Internet capabilities, students build inquiry skills as they explore how their local weather is similar or different to that of students in other parts of the world. They also use simple weather instruments to collect local weather data and share the data they have collected with KGS participants from other schools around the world. Students learn basic atmospheric science concepts such as pressure, fronts, temperature and precipitation.

Simple Machines - Sixth Grade - Designed for 6th grade students, the project explores the question "How can I move big things?" The learner develops an integrated understanding of applied and resisting forces, the types and workings of the six simple machines, and mechanical advantage, in the context of exploring how machines help people build large structures. The project integrates the use of probeware (i.e., force and motion probes).

Professional Development

The professional development framework underlying LeTUS work is rooted in a theoretical frame called CERA which stands for Collaborative construction of understanding; Enactment of new practices in classrooms; Reflection on practice; and Adaptation of materials and practices. CERA provides the general backdrop for LeTUS' collaboration with DPS and with teacher professional development.

Approaches to Professional Development

• Summer Institutes are held in conjunction with Detroit's Urban Systemic Program's summer activities. Over 50 teachers from 20 different schools attended 30 hours of instruction in July 2001. This instruction introduced them to constructivist teaching and learning principles, LeTUS curriculum projects, scienct content and literacy issues related to the curriculum and new learning technologies.
  
  
• In-Class Support is provided by University of Michigan (UM) and DPS staff for teachers enacting LeTUS curriculum. Support focuses on enactment and the principles of the curriculum. Each teacher is visited at least weekly by a certified teacher with experience in inquiry-based science, and is provided support for content knowledge, pedagogy, technology use, planning, and assessment.
  
  
• Saturday Workshops are held throughout the school year during curriculum enactment. This year teachers received approximately 48 hours of in-service through Saturday work sessions. Workshops focus on details of enacting the curriculum, examination of student work, and use of learning technologies, as well as broad pedagogical concepts inherent in the curricula.
  
  
• Study Groups are designed to focus on particular issues related to enacting curriculum in the schools. Teachers use this approach to adapt the curriculum to their students' unique needs.
  
  
• Educative Curriculum is designed to support teacher learning. All projects have teacher materials that help
  them learn the content and pedagogy associated with the curriculum.
  
  
• Technology support is provided to schools enacting the curriculum. DPS and UM staff insure connectivity, configure and maintain computers, and provide classroom support.
  

Teacher Preparation

In the context of the Detroit Urban Systemic Program (DUSP), the University of Michigan has created a K-12 Masters of Arts with Certification that focuses specifically on the preparation of mathematics and science teachers for urban settings. Students will come to the program with strong majors and minors (required for certification in Michigan) in the mathematics and science disciplines. Thus, they will begin the program with substantial content knowledge.

The program is designed to integrate with the LeTUS curriculum materials development, technology infusion, and professional development. For example, the UM developed partnership agreements with principals of LeTUS Center schools so that they will become locations for the fieldwork placements for the teacher certification students.

In the spring of 2000, the Detroit Public Schools and the University of Michigan School of Education collaborated to offer a graduate course specifically for DPS middle school science educators which would focus on using theory to guide practice toward the use of learning technologies to create inquiry based learning opportunities for students. Education 528 - Workshop of the Teaching of Science, taught by Dr. Jon Singer, was offered during the spring semester of 2000, with 10 students enrolled in the course. This course also set precedent for the development of localized course offerings for the School of Education. Subsequent courses have been offered as a result of this partnership ever since, including "Education 528 - Using New Technological Tools in Science Education," taught by Prof. Joseph Krajcik in the Winter 2001 with 17 students, "Education 522 - Improvement of Science Teaching: Developing Inquiry Units and Lessons for the Middle School Classroom, " taught by Dr. Barbara Hug in the Spring of 2001 with 19 students; and, most recently, "Education 547 - Topics in Educational Studies: Assessing for Student Understanding in Science Classrooms," offered in the Fall of 2001 by Instructor Kristin Nagy, with an enrollment of 30 students.

Assessment

The LeTUS curriculum projects have impacted over 4,000 students yearly across the middle grades. Table 1 shows the number of students and teachers using LeTUS curriculum in the 1999-2000 school year.

Table 5: Curriculum Implementations - Number of Teachers and Classrooms Enacting Projects

Project	Year	Teachers	Classrooms	Students
Air	1998/1999 1999/2000 2000/2001	10 8 14	31 33 40	627 900 1203
Helmets	1998/1999 1999/2000 2000/2001	3 8 11	2 10 114	2 10 65
Water	1998/1999 1999/2000 2000/2001	11 12 19	1 3.5 36	4 13.5 120
Big Things	1999/2000 2000/2001	2 4	7 14	210 490
Communicable Diseases	2000/2001	5	16	477

All students in LeTUS curriculum projects are assessed by tests designed to match DPS curriculum standards. Tests were designed to measure both content and process understanding across several cognitive levels. Student performance on posttests shows improvement across implementation of all projects. Table 6A shows learning gains by students for the past two years in the various curriculum projects for which we have analyzed data to date. The effect size column indicates the average gain on the posttest measured in standard deviation units. The percentile rank column shows the percentile rank of the average student on the posttest compared to the pretest distribution. For example, in the bike helmet project in fall, 1998 the average student on the posttest performed as well as a student at the 88 percentile on the pretest. Data in Table 6 show important gains in student learning on all of the projects.

Table 6A-D: Curriculum Implementation - Summary of Learning Gains for Various Curricula Across Years of Implementation

Project	Year	Component	Max Score	N	Pretest Mean (SD)	Posttest Mean (SD)	Effect Size	Effect Size (%tile)
Air	1998/1999	Total	34	389	8.79 (4.34)	11.19 (5.11)	0.55***	71
		Content	18	389	8.79 (2.10)	5.66 (2.37)	0.45***	67
		Process	16	389	4.07 (3.15)	5.52 (3.56)	0.46***	68
	1999/2000	Total	24	587	6.51 (3.04)	10.33 (4.55)	1.25***	89
		Content	16	587	3.69 (1.86)	6.24 (3.02)	1.37***	91
		Process	8	587	2.83 (1.92)	4.09 (2.24)	0.66***	75
	2000/2001	Total	24	860	6.46 (2.62)	11.27 (4.86)	1.84***	97
		Content	16	860	4.11 (1.75)	7.51 (3.33)	1.94***	97
		Process	8	860	2.35 (1.55)	3.76 (2.06)	0.91***	82
***p<.001

Table 6B

Project	Year	Component	Max Score	N	Pretest Mean (SD)	Posttest Mean (SD)	Effect Size	Effect Size (%tile)
Helmets	1998/1999	Total	53	78	13.29 (4.39)	17.82 (7.26)	1.03***	85
		Content	42	78	7.89 (2.72)	11.46 (5.44)	1.39***	92
		Process	11	78	5.66 (2.38)	6.44 (92.56)	0.33***	63
	1999/2000	Total	21	529	5.97 (2.06)	7.67 (2.73)	0.83***	80
		Content	16	529	4.13 (1.63)	5.50 (2.19)	0.84***	80
		Process	5	529	1.84 (1.11)	2.18 (1.12)	0.31***	62
	2000/2001	Total	24	413	6.69 (2.56)	8.83 (3.28)	0.84***	80
		Content	16	413	3.85 (1.71)	5.27 (2.21)	0.83***	80
		Process	8	413	2.84 (1.54)	3.56 (1.85)	0.47***	68
***p<.001	*p<.05

Table 6C

Project	Year	Component	Max Score	N	Pretest Mean (SD)	Posttest Mean (SD)	Effect Size	Effect Size (%tile)
Water	1998/1999	Total	33	312	8.38 (4.10)	10.00 (5.05)	0.40***	66
		Content	15	312	4.75 (1.96)	6.01 (2.47)	0.64***	74
		Process	18	312	3.63 (3.06)	3.99 (3.64)	0.12***	55
	1999/2000	Total	24	755	8.31 (3.11)	11.56 (4.03)	1.05***	85
		Content	16	755	5.64 (2.04)	8.15 (2.80)	1.23***	89
		Process	8	755	2.67 (1.71)	4.41 (1.85)	0.43***	67
	2000/2001	Total	24	754	9.24 (3.37)	11.59 (4.16)	0.70***	76
		Content	16	754	6.24 (2.18)	8.23 (2.75)	0.91***	82
		Process	8	754	3.00 (1.83)	3.36 (1.99)	0.20	58
***p<.001	*p<.1

Table 6D

Project	Year	Component	Max Score	N	Pretest Mean (SD)	Posttest Mean (SD)	Effect Size	Effect Size (%tile)
Comm. Dis.	1998/1999	Total	24	306	8.05 (3.58)	10.66 (3.58)	0.87***	81
		Content	16	306	5.32 (2.06)	7.58 (1.10)	1.10***	86
		Process	8	306	2.73 (1.62)	3.07 (1.74)	58
Big Things	1999/2000	Total	24	179	9.78 (3.67)	14.78 (5.19)	1.36***	91
		Content	16	179	7.08 (2.56)	10.51 (3.31)	1.36***	92
		Process	8	179	2.74 (1.55)	4.26 (2.23)	0.98***	92
	2000/2001	Total	24	299	7.57 (3.36)	12.34 (3.99)	1.42***	92
		Content	16	299	5.19 (2.89)	8.49 (2.89)	1.39***	92
		Process	8	299	3.85 (1.76)	3.85 (1.76)	0.93***	82
***p<.001

In addition to the pre and posttests, we have collected other forms of student data, including interviews, attitude surveys, artifacts and classroom video. These data are currently being analyzed and papers based on them will be reported at conferences. These data provided a rich portrayal of what students can do in inquiry and technology rich urban classes.