8/9/2019 10-apr-may10

1/1

When science test scores nearly doublein one year and then remain high the

following year, school administrators

take notice. They want to know, What

led to the improvement?

At South Houston Intermediate School, Assistant

Principal Kristin Still credits teachers and a diverse mixture

of curricula, including Pitsco

Education science Modules, for

the upswing in eighth-grade Texas

Assessment of Knowledge and

Skills (TAKS) science scores.Two years ago around 37 or 38

percent were meeting standards,

Still said. They jumped to 71

percent in one year. They almost

doubled.

When scores went up only

slightly last year, the teachers were

disappointed, but Still says that

two subgroups, ESL and African-

American students, continued to

show marked improvement. Theyreclosing gaps between all of our kids.

Its amazing.

Theyare the science teachers. I

attribute most of it to the teachers.

They are phenomenal as a team, Still

said. Theyre different individually, but

Ive never seen

another group

work together like they do.

In addition to the traditional

seventh- and-eighth grade sciencecourses, many students enroll in a

science enrichment course or the Pitsco

Modules lab. Exactly how much of an

impact has the Modules program made?

I think its had a great impact. I

think we probably dont credit it enough

for the improvement because students

dont realize theyre learning science,

but they are.

Robotics - Houston

teachers efforts to create real-world

situations in the classroom. My

administrative team is understanding

and supportive enough of my

methodology that it facilitates my

programs success, Bernabe says.

The future

While the Modules labs and the robotics

teams are popular and educational, its

the fruit they yield that is most important.

Students leave the programs with goals

to join high school robotics teams, pursue

engineering-related courses, explore

related career options, and even dream of

one day being employed at nearby NASA

Johnson Space Center.

Im hoping that if they like it enough,theyll want to join the high school team,

Cedillo said. Were hoping to get more

kids into the high school program.

This course is to show them all the

possibilities of what they could be doing

Roberts gets excited when students

talk about wanting to be an engineer or a

programmer as a result of their experienc

in the Modules and robotics programs.

And Bernabe doesnt hesitate whenasked what the future might hold for

the 13-year-olds who quietly go about

building their entries for the upcoming

Battlebots competition.

Nothing short of going to MIT,

working for NASA, things like that,

Bernabe said. I hope the introduction

to engineering will at least push them

towards the science, technology, and

mathematics, in any capacity. I do know

that right now thats where our countryas a whole is suffering. I think we fell

behind, and I hope these guys are

going to catch us back up.

A Miller Intermediate School student works on

his NXT-based robot for an upcoming Balebots

competition among members of the school's

RoboTechs team.

Teachers, diversified curricula leadto dramatic improvement in scores

Modules Facilitator Hilda Cedillo, le, is part of

the science faculty at South Houston Intermediate

School that Assistant Principal Kristin Still credits

in part for helping to improve test scores.

Assistant Principal

Kristin Still

10 The Pitsco Network