Date: Fri 27-Jun-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

schools-chemistry-Kuroski

Full Text:

Fire Away! A New Kind Of Science Final

(with cuts)

BY DOROTHY EVANS

To an outside observer accustomed to taking traditional blue book exams, the

scene inside Newtown Middle School classroom A3 on Wednesday, June 4, might

have seemed rather unusual.

Bordering on chaotic, in fact.

Science teacher Tom Kuroski was exhorting his eighth graders to "Get safe!" by

donning their protective eye glasses and aprons, "and no open-toed shoes,

please."

A radio playing rock tunes lent a frenetic, upbeat mood.

Teams of students were scurrying around gathering materials, lining up at lab

tables to mix chemicals, setting up homemade launch devices.

They were getting ready to perform an experiment, which was to be the final

exam for the semester: fire plastic missiles as far as the chemical mixtures

inside would allow, and then write up the results.

If an electrical charge aimed at the hydrogen gas and oxygen mixture inside a

plastic tube produced no reaction at all, they'd be calling that particular

run a dud.

Or if the plastic tube only went a few feet before dropping to the floor, it

was still a dud.

But if the missile shot 16 feet across the room, it meant the team had done

everything right and celebrations were called for.

There were important questions Mr Kuroski wanted answered. If a firing

succeeded, why had it worked? Could they repeat the experiment and have the

results be the same? Trial and error and predictability - these were all vital

issues to chemical and mechanical engineers, he said.

"What are the variables?" he asked his students.

"Gather your tools and go for it... and I hope someone is writing down the

procedure."

CAPT Style Finals

In the old days, students taking final exams sat quietly at their desks and

worked alone.

They filled in the blanks and did multiple choice problems, or they wrote long

essays in their blue books.

No one talked to anyone else - especially not about the test problems or how

to get the right answers.

These middle school students in Mr Kuroski's class were taking a final exam in

quite a different way. They were actively engaged in problem solving and they

worked in teams. They shared ideas and tried to brainstorm solutions. They

hoped to learn from each other's mistakes.

"We're taking our finals CAPT style," Mr Kuroski said, referring to the new

Connecticut Academic Performance Test that was instituted three years ago

statewide for all public school sophomores.

"This is not your traditional, objective approach," he emphasized.

Suddenly the students cheered, interrupting his commentary.

Grant Skinner's plastic missile had shot across their heads and hit the

opposite wall, going farther than any of the other teams'.

"Mark where it landed. He's the Top Gun!" Mr Kuroski said, and everyone

gathered around to ask Grant what his team had done to make that happen.