A Reverence for the Truth

The essence of science education is a clear working understanding of the scientific method of solving problems along with the belief in a system that strives for over-whelming consensus leading to objective truth.  This the kind of truth that stands the test of time whether you believe in it or not.

Climate change and associated environmental ramifications is one such example of an objective truth. Climate change is grounded in physics and chemistry and its evidence-based vindication rests upon the belief and reverence for truth that science brings forth in our modern world.

To deny science is to turn your back on the renaissance of logical rational thought based upon evidence and solidified with societal consensus.  Science becomes the means by which to communicate in a word besieged with misinformation, bigotry, illogical thinking and denial of basic facts related to the universe.

In the public-school, students as young as 5 years old and up to adulthood embrace the pursuit of knowledge that becomes, for them, their fundamental belief system.  Science, in its purest form, challenges these voyagers to push the envelope of understanding as far as possible; this is the possibilities even with limitations in students’ abilities to performing investigation processes, a classroom proliferation of diverse abilities to think cognitively and the existence of various levels of personal inspiration and motivation to seek knowledge.

Welcome to the American classroom.

Under guided mentoring of  experienced public-school educators, there is no better place for children to expand positive influences upon their lives and upon the lives of people around them. This pursuit of truth in science becomes an incubator for the development of students' cognitive abilities and self-efficacy. Both of these abilities are powerful tools needed to reach self-actualization in a person's life. Learning environments, in our schools, foster both innovative thinking and problem solving abilities within our children to effectively change the world.

In the long-term the pursuit of science impacts upon the ability of people to form rational thoughts, to justify meanings and beliefs on problems and solutions and to champion causes that affect their lives and the lives of people throughout society.  In the short-term the study of science helps to breed inquiry, greater understanding and an increased appreciation for life on this planet. 

We will not progress as a society unless we embrace, with reverence, the objective truths brought to us by science.  Technology, scientific knowledge and understanding have pushed back the envelop of famine, plague and wars that has mercilessly dogged humankind from the day we emerged from caves and began to walk this planet.  To develop our humanity, we must keep vigilant the struggle and the pursuit of greater scientific inquiry, increased applications to technology and destined shared elevated standards of living for all people.

An Existential Threat

advocating for climate change curriculum

in the science classroom

Climate change is an existential threat to the survival of our society as we know it.  With such extreme consequences on the line, why is it that humankind cannot effectively rally together (politically, socially and economically) and abate this threat?

To address problems associated with this threatening situation caused by carbon dioxide emissions and the resulting global warming, unifying, contentious and forceful actions need to be employed throughout society to stifle the encroaching catastrophe.

In the United States, political, environmental and scientific organizations and institutions, across our country, are coming together to create a unified front opposing a "business as usual" attitude when dealing with issues related to climate change. 

Science educators in high schools across America can unite in coordinated efforts to bring climate change curriculum into subject matters of chemistry, physics and biology.  It can also be argued that climate science could stand alone as a discipline in high school science education.  Students could spend a full year studying and researching problems and solutions related to climate change and the onslaught of serious environmental and biological catastrophic concerns for life on this planet.

Energy conservation, alternative energy sources, soil chemistry, hydroponics and aquaponics food growth systems and a host of plans to help structure communities to be more resilient into the 21st century are examples of emphasis in climate change curriculum.  This preparation could produce plans to achieve zero-emission communities,  promoting local organic farming and generating electrical energy locally through utilizing solar panels and wind turbines.

Water quality, food quality and the preservation of ecosystems, that support a diversity of plant and animal life within communities, will be the primary emphasis within climate change curriculum initiatives designed to motivate and engage learning in the science classroom.

Project-based science, as a proven pedagogy employed by educators to spur intrinsic motivation of student to learn, is the perfect medium through which deep and engaged learning and understanding by students can be achieved.  These outcomes  are based on student-project-performance and have real-world implications to help society survive into the future.

It is critical today that people become involved and work with possibilities that can be employed to help save the planet. Otherwise, feelings of ineptness and loss of  empathy, in efforts to solve these climate altering problems, will continue to prevail throughout our society.   

Example of the introduction to a climate change curriculum intitiative:

The Climate Change Project

To repair humanity’s relationship with nature

The Climate Change Project is an educational initiative that addresses the problem caused by the steady relentless heating of the atmosphere of the planet because of human-society produced carbon dioxide pollution.

Utilizing knowledge and understanding of the chemistry and physics of climate change is an essential first step to bring forth solutions necessary to make our community more sustainable and more resilient into the future.

Students involved in this project become immersed in a project-based and design thinking effort to address problems such as energy conservation, clean energy production, growing food locally and living a lifestyle that is less environmentally destructive

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Students referencing both the Streamwood 2018 Comprehensive Development Plan and The Climate Realty Project 100% Emissions Campaign will develop innovative prototypes and action-plans contributing to increasing the sustainability and resilience of our community into the 21^st century.

After utilizing resources to address and analyze problems associated with climate change and using guidelines to implement real solutions to mitigate this problem, teams of students will work to design prototypes and create plans-of-action that yield solutions to solving climate change issues.

Nobel Effort:

“Working with people to help them do a job better, learn more effectively, or acquire good values takes time, thought, effort and courage…reconfigure schools and the workplace so that people are more likely to want to show up.”  Alfie Kohn lecture in human behavior and education opinion essay New York Times 10-27-18.

Engaging students begin with

 intrinsic motivation and valued results

It begins with effort,put forth by teachers, to engage students in the learning process creating  learning environments that touch students intrinsically to want to succeed.  If students  visualize, embrace and value what they have accomplished, then this goes a long way toward reforming the course of education in our schools.

Projects-based learning is a pedagogy, if employed in the classroom, would help create such learned environments and provide needed academic catalyst for greater academic achievement.

Presented below is an introduction to a project that can provide the means to reach the goal of teaching to a classroom of self-motivated learners solving problems and sharing their solutions with the community.  This is the essence of being of service to family, friends and neighbors!

The Climate Change Project

The Climate Change Project is an educational initiative that addresses the problem caused by the steady relentless heating of the atmosphere of the planet because of human-society carbon dioxide pollution.

Utilizing knowledge and understanding of the chemistry and physics of climate change is an essential first step to bring forth solutions necessary to make our community more sustainable and more resilient into the future.

Students become immersed in a project-based and design thinking effort to address problems such as energy conservation, clean energy production, growing food locally and living a lifestyle that is less environmentally destructive.

Students referencing both the Streamwood 2018 Comprehensive Development Plan and The Climate Realty Project 100% Emissions Campaign will begin to develop innovative prototypes and action-plans to contribute to increasing the sustainability and resilience of our community into the 21^st century.

Projects, like this one, are built upon a sense of urgency to solve problems.  Students gain a feeling that what they have achieved in the classroom has real meaning.  This sense of being valued by what you accomplish, as a person, can only lead to greater self-efficacy and resilience to persevere and achieve no matter what challenges lie ahead.  

Projects related to progressive changes in the community to increase the quality of our lives into this century would be the standard and framework from which to build upon into the future. Students become more engaged in this learning process and increases in student academic achievement would follow.

DELIVERING THE TRUTH ABOUT PROJECT-BASED SCIENCE IN THE CLASSROOM

The delivery of project-based science, in the high school classroom, is the hallmark of progressive educational reform in our schools.   Effective models of learning in the science classroom should include the following aspect as presented by the Buck Institute for Education  (http://www.bie.org/about/what_is_pbl/):

“In Project Based Learning (PBL), students go through an extended process of inquiry in response to a complex question, problem, or challenge. While allowing for some degree of student "voice and choice," rigorous projects are carefully planned, managed, and assessed to help students learn key academic content, practice 21st Century Skills (such as collaboration, communication & critical thinking), and create high-quality, authentic products & presentations. “

Buck Institute outlines essential components of Project-Based Learning in the Science Classroom.

• is intended to teach significant content. Goals for student learning are explicitly derived from content standards and key concepts at the heart of academic disciplines.

• requires critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and various forms of communication. To answer a Driving Question and create high-quality work, students need to do much more than remember information. They need to use higher-order thinking skills and learn to work as a team. They must listen to others and make their own ideas clear when speaking, be able to read a variety of material, write or otherwise express themselves in various modes, and make effective presentations. These skills, competencies and habits of mind are often known as “21st century skills,” because they are prerequisite for success in the 21st century workplace.

• requires inquiry as part of the process of learning and creating something new. Students ask questions, search for answers, and arrive at conclusions, leading them to construct something new: an idea, an interpretation, or a product.

• is organized around an open-ended Driving Question. This focuses students’ work and deepens their learning by framing important issues, debates, challenges or problems.

• creates a need to know essential content and skills. Project Based Learning reverses the order in which information and concepts are traditionally presented. A typical unit with a “project” add-on begins by presenting students with knowledge and concepts and then, once gained, giving students the opportunity to apply them. Project Based Learning begins with the vision of an end product or presentation. This creates a context and reason to learn and understand the information and concepts.

• allows some degree of student voice and choice. Students learn to work independently and take responsibility when they are asked to make choices. The opportunity to make choices, and to express their learning in their own voice, also helps to increase students’ educational engagement.

• includes processes for revision and reflection. Students learn to give and receive feedback in order to improve the quality of the products they create, and are asked to think about what and how they are learning.

• involves a public audience. Students present their work to other people, beyond their classmates and teacher – in person or online. This “ups the stakes,” increasing students’motivation to do high-quality work, and adds to the authenticity of the project.

Student intrinsic motivation to learn is by far the most benefited aspect of this methodology employed in the classroom to learn science.  This process (doing science) demands commitment by both teachers and students to seize opportunities for knowledge, creating new avenues to learn, and foster greater understanding while solving real-world problems.

The genius of the Earth Stewardship Project stems from years of research and design of new educational pedagogy that most effectively addresses the learning of concepts in science.  This new project involves student research and experimentation into the physical and chemical conditions necessary to optimize plant growth while utilizing natural organic fertilizers and carbon-free sources of energy.  The goal of the project is to find the best means by which to produce organically grown herbs and vegetables.

A number of innovative methodologies will be pursued by students conducting experiments during this year-long project.  The essential components of the project are the following: Developing hydroponics plant systems, designing aquaponic fish- plant systems, creating multiple greenhouse plant production units and cultivating the production of vermicompost from worm farms.

Another PBL educational initiative is the scientific investigation into the use of alternative sources of energy and the conservation of energy (wind, solar, biomass and fuel cell technologies)

Introduction:  The use of alternative energy sources is an avenue to clean energy.   Scientific investigation will include literature readings on the topic of interest and designing a model of an experimental research project that will lead to greater understanding of the concepts of energy production, consumption and the transfer process involved in delivering energy to specific locations.

Design Models:  The experimental design problems will include one the following sources of energy output:

1. Solar panels technology producing electrical energy output.

2. Wind Turbines technology producing electrical energy output.

3. Fuel Cells powered by hydrogen gas producing electrical energy output.

4. Design of Storage Mediums allowing for the capture and retention of sources of energy for future use.  Storage mediums will include batteries, hydrogen gas and potential energy of water, air or other forms of mass.

5. Transfer of light radiation energy and the biochemical energy of macronutrients and micronutrients from vermicompost into biochemical energy held within the structure of plants.

Students working on these PBL assignments begin by brainstorming new ideas for long-term scientific research.  One of the goals of the project is to address the need to increase carbon-free sources of energy when producing electricity.  Students also seize upon the opportunity to grow crops in the classroom without a carbon-footprint.  The challenges faced by students working to solve these problems provides the model for learning science that increases students’ understanding while helping to fosters higher levels of intrinsic motivation to learn and achieve.

For weeks students in physics and physical science classes at Streamwood High School have learned fundamental concepts on the physical and chemical nature of matter. Innovation and inspired problem solving have quickly become their focus as they employ learned skills and abilities to produce electrical energy from non-carbon means and to grow organic herbs and vegetables in the classroom carbon-free.

The challenge is to rise to the level of leadership, innovation and collaboration necessary for success in the 21^st century classroom.  A glimpse of this sacred effort by PBL driven teachers executing PBL based curriculum, is expressed by Thomas Friedman in the book called Hot, Flat and Crowded.  In his book he notes that being a world leader in the 21^st century means leading in the innovation of clean power and energy efficiency. “It means inspiring an ethic of conservation toward the natural world which is increasingly imperiled.”

Educational initiatives in science education can be the ground-zero genius of this innovation and discovery.  This is where America can unite and be propelled socially and economically by a common purpose.  This commonality is expressed in Project-based learning models fueling the driving questions, while becoming the catalyst for discovery and solutions to problems.

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COUNTDOWN

"To live and to learn", that is an old saying that always rings true.  Life itself is a learning experience that is well beyond the walls of school, but learning in school (education) can sure make the road we go down in life smoother, straighter and help provide a pathway to somewhere wonderful!

Laying in a hospital bed, post hip surgery, I really wonder where life is taking me. I am on a countdown to retirement and now I have to factor in physical recovery along with worrying about my students and their progress through the science curriculum at school this year.  

This physical setback can throttle things for me as a professional, but it is the idea of "what is next" that now stirs my emotions.  I know what I have accomplished over the past 25 years as an educator, but now what do I want to achieve going forward as I leave the public school arena.

I entered the field of science education during a time of great need for innovative and courageous new curriculum initiatives and now I plan to leave, 25 years later, at a time of great need for science teachers to innovate and take courage!  The value society places upon the premise of "education for all", has always been a perplexing application of  reasoned logical thought that support methods and means to reach for this idealized goal.  The struggle to deliver "best practices" in science education, through guidance now provided by Next Generation Science Standards, has never been more challenging than it is today.

How we restructure our schools to accommodate learning in the 21st century, how we devise effective plans to infuse technology into the learning process and how we relate to each other in a loving manner are problems that need solutions today. Future generations of students need to be learned so they can deliver solutions that are complex, politically viable and scientifically conclusive.  A dynamic new learning environment that caters to providing students with these skills and abilities to solve problems and think critically, is an essential step toward making learning in the 21st century viable.

I have always wanted to be an agent of change in this world and teaching has been my vehicle, my means to truly express my thoughts, beliefs and understanding to a craving and dynamic audience, the youth of our country.

When I return to the classroom this semester, for the final months of this school year, I will act upon these last opportunities to influence, motivate, inspire, guide and model good behavior in the classroom, while bringing forth an impassioned cry for my students to learn, learn and learn! 

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“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” 
― Mahatma Gandhi

design, develop, and implement

At the end of a school year one can look back on the process that dictates education in our public schools and from this retrospective position get a clear sense of the events that were brought forth and that fashioned the learning in the classroom.

Over the past decade business associates and education officials, I have been associated with, have been impressed with the increasing cultural diversity within our schools.  In the 21^st century, diversity has become central to what constitutes our public schools. Racial and ethnic diversity along with divergent social economics are critical factors determining culture within learning environments.  Academic gains, in the new century, depend upon education professionals reconstructing the goals, means and ends that are empathetic to a changing world.

Today, this process of learning becomes a cluster of diverse procedures employed by educators around the acquisition and utilization of knowledge.  Twenty-first century capabilities include the following: abilities to form evidence-based perception of situations, delivering effective communication skills, loving and supporting peers, implementing critical decision-making abilities, effective problem-solving skills, perform creative innovative thought and support and uphold values that define our democratic institutions. Education professionals, working to make our learning institutions viable into the future, must cast a weary eye upon existing avenues or entrenched methods to deliver this opportunity to learn.  If learning is at the core or what schools are all about, then a restructuring of how we deliver learning opportunities must be addressed.

Teaching students to learn how to learn are achievable goals for students in classrooms, while capitalizing upon cultural diversity of student populations.  The structure of learning institutions, like our schools, need to lend well to the development of these 21^st century abilities by students.  Project-based models in learning bring maximum flexibility to this effort of moving forward with instructional priorities.  Open-ended process orientated curriculum (Project-based models of learning) is readily adaptable to these diverse student populations.  Being adaptable to alternative settings, brought about by open-ended curriculum models, will motivate and engage students in more divergent means.  It will lead to creating learning environments that promote utilizing prior knowledge and experience in ways to help solve problems and lead to greater understanding.

Getting tools for decision-making into the hands of students is fundamental to developing, redesigning and implementing learning experiences that are experimental and linked closely to the needs of local communities and society at large.  To put real value back into learning experiences is to design schools where students can help to fulfill the needs and provide support for members of their community.  Student will begin to see their influence and how they can support both the cultural aspects and situational needs of the world they live in.

Each new school year provides new opportunities for educators to become more dynamic in their thinking of how to get students to achieve these 21^st century skills and abilities that will be so important for success in their lives.  Reflecting now on what has been done is a good starting point to help eventually bring real change to our schools by making them more student-centered, supportive and academically viable for all of our children.

Designing a Mini Greenhouse 

An engineering challenge

The purpose of this engineering challenge involves research, investigation, design and construction to help maximize thermal energy contained within a plant growing system given a constant source of light radiation.

The transfer of light radiation into thermal energy, surrounding a growing plant, can be control through the design and construction of a plant housing unit that provides greater insulation ability than a standard plastic unit current employed in the classroom.

The design of a mini greenhouse is limited to the size of plants and the area covering a flat surface.  Materials used in this design needs to be a good insulator resisting the transfer of thermal energy through surfaces.

The physical dimensions (circle, square, triangular hexagonal and parabolic) and the sturdiness of material (cardboard, plastic, paper ceramic) can be utilized to maximize thermal energy retention.

Research on the design of mini greenhouses helps to spur innovative thought and development of ideas witnessed online.  You can modify a known design or create a new design based upon experience in physics and knowledge base.

It is important to be conscientious of the limitations or constraints that you face when designing mini greenhouses.  The size of the greenhouse and its ability to be integrated into existing environmental conditions, is a critical aspect of this engineering challenge.

The engineering design process:

ASK: What is the problem? How have others approached it? What are your constraints?

IMAGINE: What are some solutions? Brainstorm ideas. Choose the best one.

PLAN: Draw a diagram. Make lists of materials you will need.

CREATE: Follow your plan and create something. Test it out!

IMPROVE: What works? What doesn't? What could work better? Modify your design to make it better. Test it out!

Students access a wealth of material resources and begin construction on new plant growth systems that are expected to increase thermal energy within plant housing units during germination. 

Students are engineering a new mini greenhouse that traps  greater amounts of thermal energy within the plant housing unit.  The original prototype model, featured above, poorly insulates the environment around germinating seeds.

After completing the imagine and planning stages of the engineering process, students begin to create their new mini greenhouse based upon specific design considerations and constraints.

Students turn paper and pencil design into reality.  They imagine the possibilities and then implement practical applications to solve a problem.  The success of this project is dependent upon the heat retention ability of newly designed mini greenhouses.

Fundamental Learning

 in the science classroom

by Greg Reiva

Quality, quantity, rich content and engaging student performance has been my passion, aspiration and vocation, as a science educator,  for many years. 

Student writing ability, articulation, focus and commitment on quality and completeness, during the learning process, are benchmarks that I strive to bring forth from the genesis of my science curriculum.

This school year I have committed to increase student autonomy, where students work toward taking greater responsibility for their own learning.   This is witnessed as students become more engaged in research, experimentation and problem solving.  These are skills and abilities that students need to develop within themselves so they can become more successful in school and in the workplace.

Project-based science, geared toward solving real problems, is an essential and critical framework for any curriculum that helps to facilitate learning.  Working in teams, students determine different options or pathways to proceed as they pursue effective solutions.  Students will formalize ideas, innovate, develop rational and logical arguments and help support evidence-based problem solving. These efforts in research, experimentation, critical assessment and engaging presentation of results provide the gateway to knowledge and understanding.

Autonomy in the science classroom becomes more evident as decision-making by students become evidence-based facilitated through experimental design, prioritizing data and focusing upon relevant details to minimize experimental error.  Reliability and predictability of experimental findings take on a pressing need by students to succeed, which reflects their personal commitment and their developed skills and abilities in critical thinking.

Autonomy in the classroom is a catalyst for innovation.  Students become more engaged, think deeply about concepts, problems and possible solutions and develop a sense of urgency to be able to rationalize their findings which are support by experimental fact-finding effort. 

 Students construct hot air balloons to study the force of buoyancy upon lighter-than -air-ships.

Students test in the hallway the motion of propeller driven electric cars.

Constructed prototype electric car model.

Working collaboratively, students complete construction of catapults.

 Students testing the thermal energy absorption ability of carbon dioxide gas

 Experimental apparatus designed for the testing of greenhouse gases

Cooperative efforts to complete construction of catapults used to test the velocity, acceleration and force applied to projectiles.

Understanding the physics of motion and the transfer of energy from electrical to mechanical energy and ultimately into the kinetic energy of motion.

Taking Baby Steps at 60 Years Old

Ringing in the New Year, for me, not only marks the start of a new year, but also the start of another year of living.  My birthday is January 2^nd.

Some time ago, I hitched my career wagon onto the education train and have been heading down that line of track for 24 years.  Oh, the sights I have seen along this pathway and the communities and cultures I have experienced!  The beginning of a new year always gives me pause, but this year, at the 60-year mark in life, I find this reflection to be more emotional, more compelling and more focused.

I remember when I turned 40, I made a video resume of how I had ascended to where I was, and with on-camera reference to the outstanding opportunities that lie ahead. This year I am not inclined to repeat this, but I feel compelled to emotionally dig deep and discover what it is that I now truly value.

I can not imagine moving beyond this point in life without taking mental account of who I am and where it is that I go from here.  Mortality stares more astutely at me than ever before and I want to know what it is I can do to make life on this planet more fulfilling and rewarding. This is not a selfish endeavor, but a necessary means through which self-realization can be achieved even at the ripe old age of 60. 

As a teacher in the science classroom, I am a witness to budding young and inspired generations of students and mindful of the new challenges and opportunities that they will face in the modern world.  Every day is a reminder of the necessity of the struggle that we all will face, together, to create a world of exciting opportunities and achievement for all.  This belief is penned by a ”true liberal”  inspired by the evolution of new ideas and innovative solutions that support and enhance the welfare of our society.

Witnessing baby steps, as I recall from my young parenting days, was an exciting event holding an element of hazard, but at the same time it was a physical expression of progress!  Moving forward literally!  I see these events reflected in the learning taking place in the science classroom where students are increasingly challenged to use their knowledge and understanding to solve real-world problems and exhibit high levels of performance. Project-based aspect of learning is now the preferred education model that this sixty-year-old, reflecting and mortality challenging teacher, has intimately embraced as the most promising track forward.  This metaphorical train is still barreling into the future, and I continue to help facilitate students’ transition from academics (pencil and paper) to application (prototype modeling).  It is a deliciously excruciating baby-step experience as students struggle to model events mathematically and scientifically and then apply these abstractions to concrete engineered solutions.

I think that from now on life for me will be a baby-step process, like my students, moving forward as I embrace the reality of getting old, but remind myself of the need to work for progress.  Even if progress is, at times, incremental it is laced with progressive values that show empathy for people in their struggles. With personal self-realization I know I can make a difference in peoples’ lives in ways that I can only begin to imagine.  So, I am up for challenges I will face this new year and the reality of turning 60 years old. Bring it on!