education

On the last day of school my principal had some great news as I was getting ready to leave for the summer.  Rosemary, I am able to get you a supplemental for your Environmental Club. This was great news to me except I really didn't have an Environmental Club. I had students pick up the recycling and clean up the outdoor classroom but it wasn't a club with meetings. For the past 12 years my students have been roaming the school on a daily basis looking for work to do. Teachers would then give them tickets as pay for their services. These tickets increased their opportunity to win a scholarship to Whale Camp.Last year I added environmental issues around the school  as part of the jobs available.This year I'll use this club to try some water monitoring around the school.

Trying to get students to understand that their world goes beyond their own world is relevant when you teach science! This is an attempt to create a story that will interest your students as well as educate them about the the bigger picture! Our story begins....

Understanding what is science and how it is related to our world is a concept that is difficult for students to understand We will take a short tour through it to try and make sense out of it. First stop on our way is called Googleville. In this peculiar place, we will use the help of Google earth and Neo. http://neo.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/Search.html

 A great starting point for service based learning is a group called EarthForce. They have a wonderful staff who are willing to come to your school and work with your students. This year one of my students won a $250 grant to clean up our outdoor classroom. This is a great way to start your classes thinking about how they might take care of this place called Earth. Check out their web site at www.earthforce.org/ .