THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996 TAG: 9605170532
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 117 lines
It's one of the most common complaints that business owners and managers have about education today: Schools don't prepare students for the real working world.
Real, as in knowing how to listen and talk to customers.
Real, as in working on teams with people with whom you have little in common, other than your employer.
Real, as in changing plans on the fly - daily.
They're among the realities that a group of teachers and counselors at Maury High School in Norfolk are trying to prepare students for in an innovative, 2-year-old program.
Maury's Advanced Integration Model program is one of 18 such programs in the Southeast, and the only one in Virginia. Started with a grant from the Atlanta-based Southern Region Education Board, the advanced integration model program assembles teachers in English, math, science, social studies and vocational education.
Together, they plan about a dozen school projects a year that emphasize hands-on learning and teamwork - and in a few cases, student involvement with local businesses.
The program's goal, said Norfolk Schools Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr., is to connect students to the world beyond school grounds.
``Too many of our young people today see absolutely no connection between what they're doing in school and what they'll be doing after school,'' he said.
On a recent weekday afternoon, Maury vocational education teacher Mike Forrest demonstrated one of the program's building blocks.
Students in his bridge-building project were short of saw blades to cut tiny strips of balsa from which their models were built.
One boy pleaded for his own blade, but Forrest had his own idea. ``You guys can share, can't you?'' he said. Startled looks followed, then shoulders shrugged. The message got through.
``I'm trying to teach them teamwork,'' Forrest said.
During this two-month project, the students will design bridges that can carry the equivalent of an 80,000-pound truck.
Then they'll stand before their class to explain and defend their designs. In English and social studies, they'll write about their designs and the history of bridge construction. They'll also learn to apply geometry.
Other integration model projects have ranged from asbestos removal to rocket design.
The unusual element is the way the program interweaves teachers of different subjects into the project. Typically, there is no connection between a high-school English class and a math class, for example, because instructors tend to follow separate paths.
By integrating their teaching, the teachers involved in the Maury program think they're better representing the working world, where people of various skills and backgrounds cooperate to deliver a product or a service.
Maury students say the program keeps them more interested than they would otherwise be.
``It's not as much of a bore to write a paper,'' said Jason Marlowitz, a 17-year-old senior, who plans to study civil engineering at Old Dominion University. ``Now, at least I know more about what I'm writing about.''
Marlowitz is involved in a project now that's built around home design. The house plans he drew last semester in architecture class are about to be cost-analyzed by a Maury math class. He's eager to learn how closely his figures match those of the group.
All of the students involved in the Maury program for the past two years have been enrolled in the school's engineering and technical careers cluster.
Jane Hosay, a tech-prep specialist for Norfolk schools, said she hopes the program can be expanded to at least one other cluster of students at Maury or another Norfolk high school next school year - if there's funding.
Because the program requires a couple of weeks of summer training for the teachers, it costs extra: about $15,000 a year. The Southern Region Education Board and the state Department of Education have provided money.
School administrators say they've also been getting a lot of help from local businesses and city governments, much of which has been arranged through a community support team of engineers and other business professionals.
About 25 teachers and one student have been hosted in a ``shadowing'' project on the job by some of these businesses and government offices.
Langley & McDonald, a Virginia Beach consulting engineering firm, has probably had the most extensive involvement of any business. It is the design consultant for a beautification project on Colley Avenue and 21st Street, near the high school.
The program's teachers and students have adopted that project as their pet. Among other things, students have researched the history of Ghent, written papers on the best trees to plant there, and studied issues like stormwater runoff and underground gasoline-storage tanks.
In January, about 25 students spent a Saturday morning helping with a physical survey of a Colley Avenue property that's part of the project. Langley & McDonald employees have also helped by teaching surveying and engineering design.
Clay Massey, a senior associate at Langley & McDonald, commended the integration model program. He said its biggest plus is teaching students the importance of communication - oral and written.
``You can sit at your desk all day and create wonderful designs,'' Massey said, ``but you've still got to sell that idea to somebody, be it your boss one on one or up in front of a group like a city council. Yet this is a glaring weakness in our field. We have people coming out with master's degrees in engineering who have trouble stringing together sentences.''
Maury vocational education teacher Mark Pavlak said, hopefully, that won't be a problem for students who've been involved in the integration model program.
``We're trying to reflect real life,'' he said, ``and develop the whole person.'' MEMO: If your business is interested in volunteering in the AIM program or
you'd like more information, contact Jane Hosay of the Norfolk Public
Schools at 441-2957. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by CANDICE CUSIC, The Virginian-Pilot
Maury High teacher Mike Forrest, left, student Jason Marlowitz and
teacher Mike Paviak are part of the Advanced Integration Model
program. Instructors from various subject areas integrate their
teaching into the projects that students must complete.
by CNB