A Calling to Increase Learning Experiences in the Classroom: 

iEARN Project-Based Educational Initiatives.

(International Educational and Resource Network)

This week begins the Water is Life Project in iEARN (https://us.iearn.org/).

 It is scheduled to continue until the beginning of summer in June!

It is now an important time for teachers to commit time and effort of themselves and their students and become involved in this project.  The goal is to become involved in the methodology of doing this project by completing both the Introductions and Pathways posted in the project and obtaining achievable outcomes. The collaborative nature of this project will manifest itself as students share their ideas, analysis and solutions of real-world problems.

Commitment by educators to deliver scientific inquiry, as the means to construct learning experiences, does achieve greater understanding by students of fundamental concepts and increases in their development of analytical skills and abilities.

Recent educational surveys, given to students in middle school and high school, have presented a need for teachers to deliver curriculum that explains concepts in more understandable ways, which leads to increasing the number of highly motivated students doing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).  Research has proven a direct relationship between inquiry-models of learning, within curriculum, and resulting increases in average grades achieved by students in the classroom.

Teachers who commit their time, effort and resources to involve students with iEARN projects will benefit by creating learning environments that are highly engaging and produce high-quality academic outcomes. There is no substitute for these hands-on collaborative learning opportunities delivered by teachers to students in the classroom.

I am looking forward to help orchestrate this effort to engage students in high-quality learning experiences within this international forum provided by iEARN.  I have years of experience conducting this effort in iEARN and I look forward to sharing my experience and insights to foster a tremendous learning experience for students around the world!

 

FREEDOM

Developing Sovereign Free People

To be sovereign and free means to be open to the needs of others.  It involves embracing an openness to new ideas and diverse thinking.  It means having an eye to see ways to improve life and to incorporate this thinking into living unpredictably, to have mobility in one’s life and have an insightful expectation for change. This is an advocation expressed by Timothy Snyder author of the book, On Freedom.

It is an extraordinary advocation for what makes us free.  The realization of our needs is a consequence of having critical thinking skills and abilities developed from the experience of excellence in education.  An education that develops investigative and analytical abilities, develops and open-mindedness for new ideas and a shared commitment for the protection and preservation of local ecosystems world-wide.

People in free societies have expectations for their own political, social, economic and spiritual discourse. An outcome of this discourse is the safeguarding of lives, preservation of resources and the delivery of a secure and prosperous future.

Education provides individuals the power to seize their chance for a better life for themselves and for those within their community.  Education develops a resistance to acceptance of bleakness.  The societal goal is to prevent the dissolution of values intended to prevent blaming victims and refuges for their own suffering.  Without sovereign thoughts of discourse by the populous, then solutions become nullified, and continual crisis becomes normalized.  It breeds contempt for others and fuels an unholy acceptance of climate catastrophe outcomes.

Climate catastrophe is not an inevitability.  It can be adverted by conscious action taken by sovereign and unpredictable people.  Educated people, with developed critical thinking skills, will enable individuals to acknowledge past catastrophes and create solutions more numerous than can be imagined. Our values can lead us into a prosperous future by first reflecting upon the past, then dealing with challenges of current realities and finally seizing the chance to develop a more fulfilling good life for everyone.

As this new school year begins, we face new challenges brought upon us by both internal and external forces.  As a society our ability to surmount these challenges and forge a more prosperous equitable future is dependent upon how we present education to our youth in the classroom.  The avenues available to educators to deliver learning opportunities must include a pathway to sovereignty.  This is the course of action that can deliver a lasting progressive impact on how we live, how we deal with each other and how we prepare ourselves for the future.

The vocation of teaching is the crucible from which a sovereign society can rise from and thereby seize the chance to make a better life for everyone.

 

The 2025 KidWind RECharge Academy

 

In the middle of July and summertime vacation, I joined a cohort of exceptional educators, to learn about wind turbines, solar energy and battery technology. The 2025 KidWind RECharge Academy provided the time and resources for teachers, from across the nation, to come together for one week of collaboration and share our love of science. Learning the mechanics of the KidWind program and its incredible learning opportunities for students is the primary goal for teachers attending this academy.

The beginning of the session dwelled into investigating designs of new green energy production systems and having discussions with several wind energy developers across the Midwest. Websites were presented that provide valuable information for delivering science curriculum that can be structured around conceptual understand, engineering practices and cross cutting concepts (Next Generation Science Standards Foundational Structure).

One of the field trips that I participated in, at a University of Minnesota research facility, was an exciting venture into the science of water flow research and the scientific process of unmasking quantitative analysis that leads to real-world applications. 

As part of this week-long session, several KidWind science kits and lesson plans were presented to teachers providing them with resources needed to implement green energy educational initiatives in school curriculums.

The opportunity to collaborate with other teachers is the hallmark of the 2025 KidWind ReCharge Academy. With such a wealth of experienced science educators at one location, this cohort provided an exceptional opportunity to share knowledge and understanding of teaching pedagogy and greater insight into the mechanics of the KidWind experiences in the classroom.  I have met with representatives from energy developers in the Midwest and discussed with them inquiries into potential sponsorship for KidWind projects into the future.

Wind turbine designs were constructed and tested in a wind tunnel as teachers hoped to optimize electric energy output and win a staged competition.  The stakes ran high as teachers turned their imagination into construction of wind turbine units delivering joules of electric energy from the mechanical motion of spinning blades and rotating generator. Wind energy was transformed into electric energy which can be used to run motors, produce light and charge batteries!  I now have access to wind turbine websites related to developed wind energy projects across the Midwest.  This information provides me with the means to solicit funds to support local KidWind projects in schools where I teach and for teachers that I mentor.

The solar energy presentations, at the KidWind ReCharge academy, dealt with establishing project-based learning environments that involve the use of solar cell technology and engineering designs. The goal is to transfer solar energy into the lighting of homes, making heat energy and running electric powered machines. Solar energy learning opportunities are designed to stimulate interest and inquiry thereby sustaining an openness by students to learn.

The development of solar lab experiments includes the physical aspects of conducting solar energy activities and dwelling into the physics of energy transformation.  Data analysis, by students involved in solar energy, results in the interpretation of graphical presentations which add to students’ skills and abilities in solving problems.  This can lead to students developing a “reason”, in their minds, to want to lean.

Fundamentally, the motivation of students helps provide the means to actively participate in project-based science experiences in the classroom, but the “wanting” comes from a more deeply embedded “reason” held by learners for participation in the first place.  

Understanding the benefit of knowledge gained from wind turbine research operations helps to model the physics needed to support engineering.  Maximizing power output, given the deluge of environmental and mechanical influences, is the primary challenge in wind turbine engineering.  Graphical presentations of output data provide crucial support to scientific analysis.  Students involved in KidWind come to appreciate these many factors impacting the production of electrical energy and they work, with the data, to draw out conclusions from experimentation and focus upon the need to maximize electrical energy output in joules!

The final day of the KidWind RECharge Academy was filled with presentations from wind turbine engineers, nuclear energy specialists and battery science curriculum experts.  The knowledge and understanding of energy producing systems was enhanced by this expert testimony. I believe that this opportunity of learning will produce tremendous educational dividends in the classroom. 

It has been a remarkable gathering of teachers bringing to the cohort a wealth of experience and commitment to real learning of science.  This program helped to both advocate and applaud teachers for their vocation as instructors and mentors to our youth.  The rarity of this type of professional development experience, for science teachers nationwide, is a testament to the need for more investment in science education along with greater commitment to preparing our youth for the challenges of a technological advanced future.

It’s been a truly rewarding time for everyone this week. I am very thankful to the leadership of KidWind for providing such an incredible event.  As teachers, we will utilize what we have learned and more effectively implement energy curriculum initiatives in the classroom. This process will lead to the development of problem-solving abilities in our youth with a lasting impact upon society into the future.

 

It is still all about project-based learning opportunities in the classroom

Project-based learning in the classroom includes inquiry and requires the dissemination of scientific facts and logic.  This is the basis and foundation for progressive learning in our school in the 21^st century.  Project-based science teaching is a driving force in curriculum, because it helps to solidify experiences, increase understanding and develop skills and abilities in the minds of students.

Given the media driven high-tech cultural and societal environment, the response by teachers grasping for the attention of students’ minds in the classroom becomes more challenging than ever. Students’ overall focus, in the classroom, on presented learning opportunities are at low levels.  Even with modern learning experiences implemented by teachers, such as digital real-time presentations, global interactions, in class- video creations and presentations and researched and collaborative peer driven projects, it is still a challenge to inspire and motivate students to want to learn.  The staggering wealth of alternatives that students’ attention can pursue as individuals is mind numbing.

Project-based science education is the solution to this vexing problem. To experience science in the classroom is to be given the opportunity to experiment and rationalize outcomes.  A desired learning opportunity presented by teachers encourages independent thinking and rewards critical thought.  Project-based models of learning provide this necessary wealth of scientific endeavor through collaboration, cooperation and measured experimental research leading to greater student engagement and understanding of important concepts and principles.

Cooperative and collaborative involvement with schools and peers across the planet, within academic digital platforms provided by iEARN (international educational and resource network), are essential resources that help build relationships from abroad, while providing real meaning to the work completed by students in the classroom.

Within this project-based learning environment, students focus upon relevant issues within their learned discipline.  Sharing experiences, ideas, completed work and plans of action create learning opportunities that are well suited to the development of the skills and abilities needed for success in the 21^st century.  Projects dealing with designing and constructing rockets, building wind turbines, designing green infrastructures for cities and advocating for regenerative agriculture are just some components in the mix of possibilities for projects in school.  Outcomes of these projects include prototype artifacts and detailed written accounts of learned experience. 

These projects make learning real for students.  It motivates them to want to learn more. Students can share what they have achieved with receptive peers worldwide. Students involved with this international cooperation and collaboration project will cherish this experience of creating and presenting new ideas and new ventures with students in other countries.

Climate change is the one big issue that can galvanize cross-disciplinary involvement helping to solve problems.  Tackling this issue requires the synthesis of conceptual understanding learned from physical science, life science and earth science.  This one big environmental issue transcends academic discipline and generations.  Each train of thought fostered by students from a multitude of science disciplines produces specific and unique solutions to this multifaceted problem.  Incorporating climate change into the science curriculum is now needed as a foundational emphasis in science education in America. It is the one issue that threatens human continued existence on Earth.  It is the one big issue needing a multitude of thought from massive numbers of people to grasp the meaning of staggering human engagement and then to act upon it!

The school year curriculum, scope and sequence, should frame the concern and issue of climate change for each area of scientific study. Each age group can apply their experience and abilities and bring it to the classroom to solve problems.  The ability to deliver the mechanics of problem solving using scientific inquiry and investigation is strengthened from this highly focused real-world and intrinsically collaborative way to learn in the 21^st century classroom.

The driving force in learning is dependent upon student motivation.  Tapping into the minds of students and their involvement with science education, in their lives, is the real challenge for educators today.  Couching learning environments around stimulating learning opportunities is the most important skill and ability that teachers can bring into the classrooms of schools.  This is why education is a vocation because the pursued cause is real and the outcomes sometimes seem marginal, but perseverance and resiliency are always constant.

 

 

 

 

 

EARTH DAY CELEBRATION AND SCREAMING DINOSAURS

It is that time of year where students at St. Thomas the Apostle School reflect and take account of our position on this planet as a species, just out of the 100,000-year-old caves, now finding ourselves on the brink of global upheavals.  Earth Day is a celebration of life on planet Earth.  It is a call to action for humanity to work to protect and preserve local ecosystems (air, water and soil) worldwide.

On Earth Day, students, K-8, advocate to all society the imperative to protect and preserve the existence of, as Carl Sagen once described our pale blue dot in the galactic cosmos.  A picture of Earthrise, taken by the crew on the Apollo 8 spacecraft, dramatizes our position on a beautiful lifeful planet. The sight of Earth hanging in the blackness of eternal space is an exclamation on this call to act.

Earth day brings to the forefront the need for action to help protect plant and animal species from extinction and to mitigate climate-changing upheavals that tax the ability of living organisms to survive.

Screaming dinosaurs is the metaphorical presentation of the consequence of inaction by humans and continued status quo with respect to climate change. Screaming dinosaurs were eliminated, as a species, on Earth due to dire environmental consequences caused by volcanic activity and an asteroid striking the planet.  Expressed in a student play production called Screaming Dinosaurs, is the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on Earth's ecosystem and the parallel outcome of Earth dominating species (dinosaurs and humans) being wracked by climate change.  The one and only difference expressed in this play is that humans have brought this wrath upon themselves. Dinosaurs had climate change served to them, and they had to deal with unstoppable consequences.  Humans, in our day and age, have a choice.

So, with advocation as the overriding theme of the day, on Earth Day students will proceed through a litany of activities and challenges designed to spark enthusiasm and to galvanize a sense of responsibility to help save our world. 

Technology, research and critical thinking are driving forces in learning environments, and it produces tremendous positive outcomes in children’s lives.  Success for this day is reflected in the upswell of laughter, participation and achievement in the many challenging staged events. The measures of success, expressed by students involved with Earth Day merit reasoned thought and collaborative efforts.

On Earth Day the sight of screaming and excited children taking on new challenges and enjoying the benefits of a life-fulling ecosystem is in sharp contrast to the remains of once screaming dying dinosaurs on a forsaken planet. On Earth Day we can both acknowledge what has been given to us and we can commit to help preserve this God-given gift of a life-giving planet for future generations of plants and animal species on Earth.

Pale blue dot:  Earth

from nearly the edge of the solar system (3.7 billion miles away from Earth)

Earthrise taken by Apollo 8 Astronauts as they circled the moon on Christmas day 1968.

 

CATASTROPHE

Excessive extraction of natural resources in our current economic system, capitalism, exploits weaknesses in human society through the exploitation of labor and the degradation of Earth’s ecosystems.  Capitalism exploits foundational nature of Earths ecosystems for the benefit of the few.  On a global scale the top one percent of the wealthiest populations consumes fifty percent of the Earth’s natural resources. Resources provided by actions of extractive consumption and inequality in wealth distribution among the populations on the planet are a basic tenant of this economic system. Accountability for most of the global environmental degradation of planetary resources is markedly pinned on societies in the Global North.

Catastrophic droughts, fires, floods, excessive temperatures and rising sea levels are threats to human civilizations. Global warming and climate change have pushed environmental conditions from a Holocene geological epoch (Age of Man) to an Anthropocene geological epoch (human activity having significant impact on planet’s climate and ecosystem) that is not conducive to human life on this planet. The difference being defined by observed increased desertification world-wide, increased frequency of flooding big rain events, wind damaging storms and degradation of forests and vegetation in general.

The ruination of soil vitality, heating of Earth’s atmosphere from excessive carbon dioxide pollution and destabilization of climate patterns that nurtured our existence for the past 10,000 years are consequences of excessive consumption of planetary resources and extreme extraction of minerals, water, air and soil without efforts to ensure sustainability into the future. 

This decade, already half-spent, presents a critical moment in history where humanity can answer the call for action to impact change.  Action taken now will reduce the need for drastic economic retraction in the future. We are now facing catastrophic environmental consequences that are cascading toward the demise of our species on Earth.

In the classroom, we teach methodologies that can mitigate the impact of climate change on ecosystems.  Students take a deep dive into scientific, engineering and societal challenges that impact their future on our planet as it relates to climate change.  Student research and documented plans of action include the following: implementation of green infrastructure installations in the community, promotion of green sources of energy to reduce carbon dioxide pollution and advocating for regenerative agriculture methodologies to help sustain the vitality of soil in the ecosystem. This effort by students leads to reducing the degradation of our ecosystem and resulting impact of climate change on our way of life.

Models of education that focus on conceptual understanding of climate change and its impact upon all living creatures on Earth are crucial to help instill innovative and creative thinking in our youth.  It is important that this most impacted generation of people be given essential skills and abilities and means to solve problems and implement changes that will lead to a more sustainable way of living on this planet.

 

STUDENT EXCAHANGES AS A MODEL FOR 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION

It is an exciting time in science class as students prepare to engage with peers from across the planet.  Zoom real-time communication student exchanges, facilitated courtesy of iEARN (International Educational and Resource Network), delivered this experience to students in 8th grade physical science classes.

Science curriculum in our schools provides the means to share ideas, express concerns on issues related to the environment and help develop solutions to vexing problems. Students' middle school years at St. Thomas the Apostle School in Crystal Lake, Illinois has involved research, experimentation and concerted efforts to develop solutions that address the impact of climate change on local communities world-wide.

Conceptual understanding of Green Infrastructure, Regenerative Agriculture and Green Energy is a central focus in the science curriculum which addresses real concerns of the people living in local communities.  21st century technologies, embedded in educational models of learning, provide the catalyst for innovation and creativity that unleash human potential to solve problems. This young generation of learners have resources in school to help solve real problems and ultimately lend to the protection and preservation of local ecosystems world-wide.

At the international exchange meeting, students at St. Thomas the Apostle school discussed different aspects of their lives with peers from Moldova and Spain.  A former student in Pakistan also contributed to this discussion by expressing her feelings on the ability of collective thought to help solve problems.

Chicago sports, Moldova architecture and school environments were topics of interest as these students explored new friendships with people from abroad.   There is no greater attribute expressed by people than the ability to get along and be open-minded with each other, and to share life experiences.  The trust built from these student exchanges open the door to a better chance for developing collaborative and cooperative relationships into the future.

I believe it is education that changes the world.  People of all cultures and living experiences can unify by experiencing educational exchanges leading to greater appreciation for the diversity of human life and life as a gift from God that needs to be celebrated and cherished at all times.  The speed of communication displayed in these exchanges, in 21st century learning communities, reflect the speed of dynamics on issues we now face related to climate change.  The speed of development of solutions needs to match this speed of problem orientation.  The clock is running, and this classroom of young problem solvers must accelerate their learning and address issues that threaten our way of life and the lives of all plants and animals on Earth.