Bill Schmitt, Director
The Galaxy Classroom
"I didn't know there was so much in my environment. I want to touch and smell and see and explore new things now."
The student who said that came from Georgia, but the sentiment is echoed by thousands of young scientists in the GALAXY Classroom, an interactive network of over 600 elementary schools in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico (including more than 75 in Los Angeles) linked by fax machines, e-mail, and interactive video.
The GALAXY Classroom provides year-long programs in science and language arts, fulfilling a vision of "no walls - only windows." By integrating a wide variety of technologies and hands-on/minds-on resources with innovative curricular and instructional approaches, it provides challenging learning experiences for all students, especially those who ordinarily lack such access.
The underlying principles of the GALAXY Classroom include constructivist thinking, student-centered approaches, the value of cultural diversity, thematic organization, relevance for all participants, and adherence to state and national standards.
From these principles, two science programs and one language arts program have been developed. Each organizes instruction around themes that are investigated in an interactive video adventure series and extended by fax and interactive computer communications between schools.
The programs are enriched by a wealth of materials and activities, while teachers get support from an introductory institute, courses over the network, on-line helpers, newsletters, and bulletins.
The video component dramatizes GALAXY themes through real-world adventures of diverse groups of children with whom students in the classroom can easily identify. The children in the series use science to explore and understand the world and use strategies that promote enhanced literacy, inquiry, and analytical thinking.
S.N.O.O.P.S., a science curriculum for grades 4-5, examines such themes as finding patterns as evidence, experimenting to compare natural materials, building models to explain phenomena, and examining form and function in the wilderness.
Fixer Uppers, for grades K-2, explores an apartment building and the surrounding neighborhood to learn about solids and liquids by doing "what-if?" analyses.
The House Language Arts program features characters at an after-school community center who encounter problems similar to those faced daily by children in the GALAXY Classroom - peer pressure, unfair situations, and many others.
Exploring and solving these problems help children become confident, competent users of language.
Independent evaluation of the GALAXY Classroom by the Far West Regional Educational Laboratory has shown improvement in both teacher practice and student learning. Science students in grades 3-5, for example, were a full grade ahead, according to measures adapted from the California Science Assessments.
Teachers report that reading, writing, and mathematics learning are all supported by the science curriculum, while language arts students out-performed non-GALAXY students in CAT/5 reading achievement by 37% in vocabulary and 145% in reading comprehension.
Research has also documented positive results in teacher growth - "Results of this magnitude suggest that [K-2] teachers who began with uncertainty about their own science teaching capabilities and their students' ability to understand science changed substantially as a result of GALAXY science."
What may seem even more remarkable is that, in the researchers' evaluation, "The gains [among students]... were unaffected by gender, ethnicity, Chapter 1 status, [or] language spoken at home."
By far the most satisfying gains, however, are seen when attendance goes up, students won't go to recess because they are working on a project, a science student literally demands writing help so he can correspond better with another student, or teachers feel more positive about themselves because learning for the entire school year is more effective.
"I have been absolutely thrilled with this science program," said a teacher from Salem, Oregon. "It has been an incredible experience to watch my children become `scientists' in the classroom." For more information on The Galaxy Classroom, please call 1-800-303-9070 x64.
