Navy set to aid STEM program at parochial schools

Base aims to ‘grow our own' workforce in So. Md. by aiding science, technology, engineering and mathematics classes

Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008

"We signed education partnership agreements just as we did with St. Mary's County public schools," Kathy Glockner said.

"[The agreement] specifically outlines a much more detailed involvement. You're really supporting the students, not so much the school, and those students are vital" to creating a strong workforce at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, she said.

"Those students are students we are interested in for a potential workforce for the base," she said. It is more efficient to "grow our own" than to recruit from elsewhere in the country, she said.

Glockner, the base's education partnership coordinator, said the STEM offerings will be similar to those offered at public schools in the county.

"The school has to be a nonprofit school" by law for the Navy to provide resources, she said.

One surefire way to create passion is through robotics programs, she said. "Children learn when they get passionate about science," Glockner said.

Ray Gamache developed curriculum as an offshoot of the Material World Modules, a program from the National Defense Education Program. The scientist works at Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head and has taught his "Save the Bay" robotics program in Charles County and Virginia schools for several years.

He will launch the program in St. Mary's County this fall at the Chesapeake Public Charter School as well as three Catholic schools — St. John's, Father Andrew White and Little Flower.

At St. Mary's Ryken High School, Gamache will develop a prototype program aimed at high school students through after-school activities.

The King's Christian Academy already had a robotics program in place and the Navy will be supporting that through help with an after-school program, Glockner said.

The program could be introduced to the public school system's STEM seventh-grade academy at Spring Ridge Middle School later this school year. "We're trying to get the kids with the robotics to do different projects related to the bay," Gamache said. The idea, the scientist said, is to build a passion in the students for science and technology.

Some classes will also grow algae blooms and raise baby perch from eggs and study the effects of the oxygen-robbing blooms on the small fish, he said. There are also trips to sites along the Chesapeake Bay for field studies.

The program involves visits to the classrooms once a week for about four months and culminates in a weeklong summer session.

Along with the robotics programs, engineers and others from the base will visit classrooms and classes will visit the base to tour hangers, laboratories and other areas. "I look at their curriculum and match what we're going to do on the tour and who's going to talk with what's going on in the classrooms," Glockner said.

It is all about showing practical applications for science to help students believe the things they learn are real and have real-world applications. "You learn better by seeing the practical applications," she said.

The goal is "to bring science to life," Glockner said. "We really are taking on a lot our first year," Glockner said of the Catholic schools partnership.

The College of Southern Maryland also signed an agreement with the base this year.

"Within two years, yes, you will start to see some benefit," Glockner said. The Southern Maryland Higher Education Center is trying to bring an aerospace engineering degree program to the region, and although nothing is finalized, Glockner said the school is getting close.

Ultimately, Glockner said, a student will be able to start focused science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in fourth grade and continue through college and ultimately earn a degree all within St. Mary's County to land a job at Pax River.

jyeatman@somdnews.com