Once a partnership pair, which consists of a teacher and a Battelle scientist, is established collaborative planning for teaching and learning activities begin. A schedule is made which outlines the times the scientist partner will work with the students for the school year. The partnership pairs meet regularly to plan for teaching and learning activities. And partnership teams evaluate class activities and lessons. Scientist partners also work individually with students on special projects for events such as Science Discovery Day, Math Counts, and Invention Convention.
Students keep journals describing what they have learned.
These journals serve as part of student evaluations of math and science learning. The School and Business Partnership program was evaluated in the spring of 1995. Variables assessed included interest in and motivation to learn science and math, student participation rates in special events, and mathematics achievement test scores. There was no comparison data available on science test scores at the time of the evaluation. Possible barriers to effective implementation include the difficulty of scheduling collaborative planning time between partners and the ability to recruit enough scientist partners from the business community.