WWU studying math, science teaching methods

Starting this fall, researchers from Western Washington University will study local elementary school math and science teaching methods in an attempt to figure out if specialists — those who teach only one or two subjects — are more effective than those who are expected to teach all subject areas.

The three-year project, funded by a $449,957 grant from the National Science Foundation, will compare math and science instruction models currently in place in the Anacortes, Bellingham, Burlington-Edison, Ferndale, Nooksack Valley and Sedro-Woolley districts.

Elementary school teachers have traditionally been generalists, teaching all subject areas to students in the same classroom.

“What’s challenging for elementary teachers with the traditional model is that they need to be experts in everything,” said Kimberly Markworth, principal investigator for the project and assistant professor of mathematics education at WWU.

Markworth has experience teaching fourth, fifth and eighth grades. Even at the elementary level, teaching several subjects can be complex, she said.

“It’s a really challenging model, especially with the emphasis on standards,” Markworth said. “It’s a lot to ask of them — planning to teach five subjects every day.”

Markworth will work with Chris Ohana, associate professor of elementary education in WWU’s Woodring College of Education, and Ruth Parker of the Mathematics Education Collaborative in Ferndale. The three researchers will study specialists who already teach in Skagit and Whatcom county schools, and compare them to a matched comparison group of generalists, Markworth said.