FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2005

CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119, lisa.lacher@drake.edu

NOVA PROGRAM HELPS STUDENTS OVERCOME FEAR OF SCIENCE

Starting in the spring 2006 semester, education students in Drake University's Nutrition and Wellness course will benefit from some of the innovations made possible by a grant from the NASA Opportunities for Visionary Academics program.

NOVA aims to enhance science, mathematics and technology literacy for preservice teachers in the 21st century. The program emphasizes the extensive use of technology in the classroom, inquiry-based and student-centered instruction, and content incorporating NASA research. Courses are based on national standards for science, math and technology.

Drake, an academic member of the Iowa Space Grant Consortium, was awarded a one-year NOVA grant in April of 2005. Charisse Buising, Drake's ISGC coordinator, learned about the NOVA program at the annual meeting of the Great Midwestern Regional Space Grant Consortium. Also working on the NOVA grant at Drake are LaRhee Henderson, associate professor of chemistry, and Jack Gerlovich, professor of education.

Nutrition and Wellness, along with a course called The Iowa Environment, make up Drake's general education requirement for mathematics and the sciences. The two courses integrate the science and mathematics disciplines and focus on current, practical issues. Students learn content in the context of an issue and use science and mathematical methods to explore questions.

"Students apply science and math to issues with which they are already familiar and that affect their everyday lives," said Buising, associate professor of biology and co-director of Drake's Environmental Science and Policy program and the Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology program. "They are drawn into learning by the practical, hands-on approach." The courses are recognized as national models by the Science Education for New Civic Engagement and Responsibilities program.
This summer Buising, who teaches the Nutrition and Wellness course, will travel to the Johnson Space Center in Houston to gather data sets for integrating into the Nutrition and Wellness course. Students will use the data for research projects.

"The courses are academically rigorous," Buising said, "but the way the material is taught and presented enables students who are not science or math majors to lose their fear of these subjects and open up to learning." The two courses, which have been offered at Drake for two years, were already incorporating many of the features that the NOVA program was looking for — student-centered learning strategies such as project-based labs, role-playing and debates.

The grant will allow Buising to incorporate NASA data into course exercises and student research projects. She will also work closely with education faculty to help preservice education students use the class to learn teaching strategies while learning content. "We will be modeling appropriate teaching behavior, behavior that the students themselves can later use in their own classrooms," she said.

NOVA consists of a network of more than 90 member institutions that collaborate by sharing their experiences in developing the NOVA preservice education model. The program emphasizes sustained collaboration among interdisciplinary teams of faculty and administrators. Workshops and support are provided for NOVA faculty.

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