PRSD Teacher & Student Share Details
of Science Program with Governor Rendell

Pine-Richland Elementary Teacher Debbie Lokay and her student Kimberly Lubic had the chance to meet Governor Rendell who made a stop at Haine Elementary School in Seneca Valley School District on March 30.

Lokay, who is a fourth grade teacher at Hance Elementary School, and her student Kimberly were invited to be a part of a panel discussion at Haine Elementary School.

Governor Rendell visited Haine Elementary School and two other schools in Western Pennsylvania to promote his “ Science: It's Elementary Initiative,” which involves the use of kits to teach science at the elementary level coupled with professional development. Governor Rendell is choosing ASSET as the vehicle to promote inquiry based science teaching throughout the state.

This initiative promotes inquiry-based science education in elementary classrooms.

Pine-Richland School District elementary schools have been working with an inquiry based science initiative known as Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching (ASSET).

At Hance, each elementary teacher uses two kits per year as part of its elementary science curriculum. The staff has been trained in inquiry teaching.

Most recently, teachers have been encouraging students to keep science notebooks to write about what they observed while they conducted experiments and what they have learned.

Lokay was able to talk about using ASSET in her classroom and Kimberly was able to talk about her science notebook.

In addition, Hance Elementary Teacher Barb Cornibe is presently an ASSET resource teacher and is on loan from the district to ASSET.