Teaching Magnetism In A High School

conducted in 1995, U.S. students ranked above the international average in the 4 th grade and dropped to the middle in 8 th grade for their mathematics and science achievement. Alarmingly, the performance of U.S. 12 th graders ranked among the lowest scoring nations in the same study. Four years later, the 1999 TIMSS-Repeat showed that no change occurred in 8 th -grade math and science achievement (students in the 4 th and 12 th grades were not tested in TIMSS-R). To address this issue and cope with the rapid advancement in science and technology, National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded a number of research projects at dozens of universities nationwide. One of these projects is Science and Technology Enhancement Program (STEP) currently being conducted at the University of Cincinnati. Project STEP involves nine graduate and eight undergraduate fellows, twenty-two secondary science and mathematics teachers, and ten UC professors (from the College of Engineering and College of Education). Every fellow is placed in a secondary school to work with one or more teachers. The main responsibility of a fellow is to develop and implement hands-on activities that are technology-driven and inquirybased. Activities are incorporated into lessons, demonstrations, laboratory exercises, and field experiences. By doing these activities, students will experience authentic scientific and engineering research practices that require higher-order thinking skills and creative problemsolving skills. This will enable each student to develop a better understanding of science and engineering and hopefully foster a desire to advance his/her education in a related field.