COEUR d'ALENE - A team of educators from the University of Idaho is little more than halfway through a groundbreaking research study designed to break down barriers to learning math and science.

The 5-year project, STEM Education Research Initiative, is funded primarily through a $1.2 million grant from the Micron Foundation. STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math.

"It's truly a unique statewide study," said Melinda Hamilton, director of STEM Education Initiatives at the university. "To take a statewide look like this is a huge undertaking, and we appreciate the support from Micron."

The study is going into its fourth year, where pilot projects are being developed to help break down some of the barriers to education.

One of three pilot projects will be launched in Post Falls when school begins this fall (See related story).

Hamilton said Post Falls was selected after reviewing data from a series of statewide and local surveys that were taken over the course of the last three years.

The surveys were used to research potential barriers to learning science and math. The questions were designed to gain a better understanding of cultural, family and academic obstacles that students face in learning.

For instance, Hamilton said the surveys asked people what their religious beliefs were and whether that influenced their view of science and scientists.

"We were very cautious when we were asking that," Hamilton said. "But we asked them because those are factors that need to be considered."

She said researchers did not attach any positive or negative connotations to the answers, they just wanted to understand the influences that impact education in that field.

"When someone tells you that think a scientist has an agenda, that isn't necessarily a negative thing," she said. "We are not trying to influence anyone with this project. Our goal is simply to improve STEM education in Idaho."

The statewide results showed support for increased public education funding and STEM education efforts, but the survey also revealed conflicting attitudes about their levels of trust in science and scientists.

Students' responses showed a decline in positive attitudes toward math and science between seventh and 10th grade, with girls reporting a more dramatic decrease than boys. Also, Hispanic students in seventh and 10th grades were statistically less likely to have positive experiences with math and science.

In Post Falls researchers noticed two things that stood out.

A localized survey showed that 49 percent of parents indicated that their own level of math and science knowledge made it challenging to assist their children with homework. They also found that parents felt they did not have enough time to do the research necessary to help their children with homework in those subjects.

That prompted the STEM group to develop a program that would address those two barriers.

She said the Post Falls pilot project will utilize online video resources to assist parents in navigating techniques used in the new Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.

The project has built-in metrics to gauge whether they are making progress.

Ultimately, Hamilton said STEM literacy is going to be crucial in the future.

"Our citizens need to become STEM literate," she said. "They need to be informed."

After the pilot projects are complete, Hamilton said they will conduct another round of surveys and track students who participated to see if their attitudes toward math and science have changed.

"It's those attitudes and perceptions that influence whether students go on to get involved in the STEM fields," she added.