5453 Views (as of 05/2023)
  1. Faiza Peetz, MD
  2. PI, Noyce Master Teaching Fellows Academy
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. College of Staten Island (CUNY)
  1. Sharon Cameron
  2. 4th Grade Mathematics/Science Teacher
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. College of Staten Island (CUNY), NYC Department of Education
  1. Rebecca Lugo
  2. K - 5 Science/Coding Cluster Teacher
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. College of Staten Island (CUNY), NYC Department of Education
  1. Natasha Marrapodi
  2. Fifth-Grade Special Education Teacher
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. College of Staten Island (CUNY), NYC Department of Education
  1. Raffaella Passanisi
  2. General Education Teacher, 3rd Grade
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. College of Staten Island (CUNY), NYC Department of Education
  1. Deirdre Reilly
  2. http://deirreilly@gmail.com
  3. Science Cluster Teacher
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. College of Staten Island (CUNY), NYC Department of Education

The Greenbelt Park and the Naive Theories

NSF Awards: 1657755

2020 (see original presentation & discussion)

Grades K-6

The Staten Island Greenbelt Education Program is about teaching and learning that is focused on student-centered inquiry, it provides a project-based approach to STEM education that integrates the skills of creativity and innovation. The Master Teaching Fellows Academy at the College of Staten Island is partnering with the Staten Island Greenbelt Education Program with the goal of exploring and revealing naïve conceptions and misconceptions about science embedded in elementary school students’ knowledge to improve science teaching at elementary schools. The Staten Island Greenbelt Education Program’s mission “To provide innovative environmental education programming promoting science, stewardship, and sustainability, to instill a sense of wonder and responsibility for the natural world” aligns very well with the goals of our NSF project. In the first two years of our project, we worked closely with the staff of Makerspace to educate our fellows about Maker Movement and how to use Makerspace in their classrooms. As part of this professional development, our fellows planned and tested the projects they designed for their students. This year we are expanding our collaboration to the Greenbelt, New York City’s largest and most extraordinary natural resource, unique to Staten Island. We will work closely with the staff of the Greenbelt Education Program to educate our fellows about how to use the Greenbelt in their classrooms. Our fellows will plan and test the projects they will design for their students at the Greenbelt.  

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Discussion from the 2020 STEM For All Video Showcase (42 posts)
  • Icon for: Faiza Peetz, MD

    Faiza Peetz, MD

    Lead Presenter
    PI, Noyce Master Teaching Fellows Academy
    May 4, 2020 | 03:10 p.m.

    Dear Visitor and Colleague,

    Thank you for your interest in our “2020 STEM for All Video Showcase”, we appreciate you and value your feedback!

    Last year, we collaborated with “The Staten Island Makerspace” with the goal of educating our teacher fellows about “Maker Movement” and how to use the Makerspace in their classrooms. This year, we expanded our collaboration to “The Staten Island Greenbelt Park” with the goal of helping our fellows explore and reveal naïve conceptions and misconceptions about science embedded in their students’ knowledge and use natural phenomena present in students’ environment and community to improve science teaching in their classrooms.

    We seek your feedback especially in regard to:

    1. One of the biggest problems of urban living is the disconnect to nature. What are your challenges in integrating STEM projects into the natural surroundings of the students?
    2. The environment is changing but the students are too young to notice. What are your challenges using STEM projects to raise students’ awareness to the changing environment in real time?
    3. Sustainability. What are your challenges using STEM projects to help students understand that their choices matter?

    Our work seeks to advance knowledge about what kinds of experiences, knowledge, and skills elementary school science teachers require to strengthen science instruction during the foundational primary years as well as how science-focused professional learning communities may support and sustain such improvement. Our strategy puts the teacher at the center of all that we do. With the aim of pursuing the development of educators’ capacity in ways that will affect their individual classrooms and schools, in the first three years, we supported our teaching fellows through a blended multi-component Professional Development (PD) that included a) content-based graduate level courses with an integrated STEM research/lab experience on college campus, led by STEM faculty; b) face-to-face training led by School of Education faculty, experts in the fields of teacher leadership, curriculum, and pedagogy; and c) online and face-to-face collaboration with project experts and among our fellows’ peers. With the aim of cultivating a networked leadership that can influence district-wide science instruction, in the last and upcoming two years, as leaders within their own schools, the fellows will facilitate science-focused professional development for their colleagues; by virtue of belonging to the project’s professional learning community, they will be linked to a larger association of educators committed to enhancing science education - a group that might extend outward, to encompass more elementary school participants, or upward, to connect with science educators in middle and high schools.

     
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    Rebecca Lugo
  • Icon for: Deirdre Reilly

    Deirdre Reilly

    Co-Presenter
    Science Cluster Teacher
    May 5, 2020 | 02:06 p.m.

    A very nice video for a great cause!!!! I am looking forward to further pursue our work in the natural sciences; promoting and cultivating inquiry based learning throughout our learning community!

  • Icon for: Faiza Peetz, MD

    Faiza Peetz, MD

    Lead Presenter
    PI, Noyce Master Teaching Fellows Academy
    May 5, 2020 | 06:05 p.m.

    Dear Deirdre, 

    I am very happy to see you are enjoying the process of becoming a science teacher leader in our community. Keep the good work!

  • Icon for: Ruth Silverberg

    Ruth Silverberg

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 5, 2020 | 03:11 p.m.

    How wonderful to see our Master Teaching Fellows' students and hear them describing their important work! We look forward to the next two years as they build the leadership skills to bring their schools and communities forward in STEM!

  • Icon for: Faiza Peetz, MD

    Faiza Peetz, MD

    Lead Presenter
    PI, Noyce Master Teaching Fellows Academy
    May 5, 2020 | 06:07 p.m.

    Thank you Ruth for your feedback, I too am looking forward to the next two years and witness how our fellows are developing and bringing STEM forward.

  • Icon for: Rebecca Lugo

    Rebecca Lugo

    Co-Presenter
    K - 5 Science/Coding Cluster Teacher
    May 5, 2020 | 06:46 p.m.

    It is a privilege to be part of this cohort, which is truly an outstanding professional learning community. Paying special attention to naive misconceptions this year has added depth to my practice as an educator. I am confident that the research and experiences in which we have engaged will enhance our effectiveness as science teachers and leaders in our schools, districts, and beyond.

  • Icon for: Sharon Cameron

    Sharon Cameron

    Co-Presenter
    4th Grade Mathematics/Science Teacher
    May 5, 2020 | 11:15 p.m.

    I am especially looking forward to learning strategies that will help me to deliver professional development workshops to my cohort while uncovering naive misconceptions. 

  • Icon for: Ann Cavallo

    Ann Cavallo

    Facilitator
    Assistant Vice Provost and Director, Center for Research on Teaching and Learning Excellence
    May 6, 2020 | 02:06 a.m.

    What is a (brief) example of a lesson developed by teachers based on the experience of your program? Do you  have data (even if informal at this point) on the impacts on both the teachers' learning and that of their students? Thanks!

  • Icon for: Rebecca Lugo

    Rebecca Lugo

    Co-Presenter
    K - 5 Science/Coding Cluster Teacher
    May 6, 2020 | 02:13 p.m.

    Informal data in my classroom shows that students' grades have improved from the first marking period to the second, which I attribute to being more keenly aware of their potential misconceptions and focusing to both uncovering their misconceptions and reconstructing their knowledge.

    I have enhanced existing curriculum by including more options for students to put themselves in the place of animals in nature, such as pretending to be squirrels and wearing masks to help reinforce their role while hiding acorns around the classroom (seed dispersal modeling).

     
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    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Ann Cavallo
  • Icon for: Faiza Peetz, MD

    Faiza Peetz, MD

    Lead Presenter
    PI, Noyce Master Teaching Fellows Academy
    May 6, 2020 | 02:58 p.m.

    Wonderful Rebecca, you indeed used the material learned very well.

  • Icon for: Ann Cavallo

    Ann Cavallo

    Facilitator
    Assistant Vice Provost and Director, Center for Research on Teaching and Learning Excellence
    May 7, 2020 | 01:12 a.m.

    Rebecca, thanks for the informal data on the program impacts. Misconceptions as you know, are often resistant to change so it is great to have strategies early on to help students construct (or re-construct) sound conceptual frameworks for future learning. 

  • Icon for: Deirdre Reilly

    Deirdre Reilly

    Co-Presenter
    Science Cluster Teacher
    May 8, 2020 | 02:40 p.m.

    Out of the many ideas and lessons explored through the fellowship, it is always enjoyable to recreate them and introduce them to the student in your own classroom. Being a science cluster teacher and servicing grade kindergarten through fifth, I find many of the lessons in science and STEM useful. Prior to teaching a new unit, I now reflect more so on the engineering-design process where I ask my students to Imagine-Plan-Create- and-Improve upon their work. 

    For the last few years, I have had my students work on building a tower only out of index cards and a foot of tape. They are given 20 minutes to work together in groups applying the engineering process. Once the time is up an stuffed animal is placed on top of the tower to test its stability. Students realize that they have better opportunities when collaborating. I refer to this challenge as a time to reflect on not only the design process but how their collaboration improves their tower building and future project work. I like to tell my students that learning is a design that continues to progress and is never complete, only improved upon.

    From this challenge, I can assess my students thinking and personalities in their groups and then further create ways of challenging their thinking through the concepts we  build on as we progress throughout units of study. Being in the NOYCE Fellows Program has not only helped me develop better teaching approaches but has showed me the value of teamwork through constant sharing of ideas, best practices and the great professionalism and respect each fellow and professor has shared along the way. 

     
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    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Ann Cavallo
  • Dr. Kasper

    May 6, 2020 | 10:09 a.m.

    Excellent Information. Nature heals the body and sadly that has been forgotten in the modern world. Students knowledge for the future generations is imperative and the 2020 Stem Video Showcase is a step in the right direction.

     
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    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Deirdre Reilly
  • Icon for: Faiza Peetz, MD

    Faiza Peetz, MD

    Lead Presenter
    PI, Noyce Master Teaching Fellows Academy
    May 6, 2020 | 03:07 p.m.

    Thank you for your feedback! Reconnecting to nature could be one important way to examined and expose the most common children’s naïve theories and misconceptions in science.

  • Icon for: Natasha Marrapodi

    Natasha Marrapodi

    Co-Presenter
    Fifth-Grade Special Education Teacher
    May 6, 2020 | 11:09 a.m.

    I am happy to hear that you found the video to be informative. I agree with what you said in-regards to the modern world and the future generations. Educators have to guide students in the right direction for a better future. 

  • Carmen Torres

    May 9, 2020 | 12:34 p.m.

    This hands on approach is the basis for comprehensive conceptualization of knowledge. Also, this thinking will enhance understanding of scientific procedure and contribute to cognition and ability of how to understand any other subject matter. The future of education must be based on comprehension to further the next level of learning through inquiry.

  • Carmen Torres

    May 9, 2020 | 12:34 p.m.

    This hands on approach is the basis for comprehensive conceptualization of knowledge. Also, this thinking will enhance understanding of scientific procedure and contribute to cognition and ability of how to understand any other subject matter. The future of education must be based on comprehension to further the next level of learning through inquiry.

  • Icon for: Faiza Peetz, MD

    Faiza Peetz, MD

    Lead Presenter
    PI, Noyce Master Teaching Fellows Academy
    May 11, 2020 | 09:43 a.m.

    Thank you for your feed back. I agree with your comment and I think we need to match the lesson's pace to the student's pace. 

  • Erica Padin

    K-12 Administrator
    May 11, 2020 | 10:56 a.m.

    This is a wonderful endeavor that will benefit many learners. Natasha, I am so proud and grateful that you are a part of this and will be able to offer this learning to our students. 

  • Icon for: Faiza Peetz, MD

    Faiza Peetz, MD

    Lead Presenter
    PI, Noyce Master Teaching Fellows Academy
    May 6, 2020 | 02:56 p.m.

    Dear Ms Cavallo,

    As part of the graduate course “Science Experiment Design in Elementary School” our fellows developed inquiry-based activities and projects for their classrooms that they implemented throughout the year. The average course evaluation score was 3.7 out of 4, showing high satisfaction of our fellows with the course content and applications.

    As part of the graduate courses “Big Ideas of Science”, parts I and II our fellows related the concepts taught in the elementary science curriculum to science big ideas, they were involved in inquiry-based hands-on and virtual experiments, online discussions, and personal journals of their learning. Over the course of the year they created concept maps and K-12 progressions and developed research papers in which they analyzed the history of development for a particular Big Idea of science and best instructional and differentiation strategies for teaching this idea in elementary school. Last fall, the fellows examined the most common children’s naïve theories and misconceptions in Biology and their sources. They analyzed research about children’s misconceptions and develop teaching methods to refute the most widespread and enduring misconceptions held by the elementary school students using the elicit, recognize, and reconstruct framework. The online component of the course provided background information of the content for students and the in-person component allowed the fellows to explore methods of addressing the misconception.  Now our fellows continue to examine the most common children’s naïve theories and misconceptions but now in Physical, as well as Earth and Space Sciences. They use literature in addition to their own experiences with hands-on labs to uncover the potential misconceptions and consider how to incorporate best practices to address the content and reconstruct the conceptions with the development of hands-on STEM lessons.

    A total of 17 field trips to Staten Island Makerspace took place between December 2018 and May 2019. The field trips involved over 300 students in grades 1-5 in 10 title I schools where our fellows are teaching. During these trips, students completed projects that fellows designed to connect STEM experiences with standards-based science curriculum. After the success with the Makerspace collaboration, we decided for the year 2019-2020 to expand our collaboration to the Staten Island Greenbelt Park and repeat the process but this time involving nature and environment unfortunately COVID-19 crisis interfered with our plans and we were forced to postpone them.

     

     
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    Michael I. Swart
  • Icon for: Hollylynne Lee

    Hollylynne Lee

    Facilitator
    Professor
    May 6, 2020 | 04:29 p.m.

    Thank you so much for having several teachers share their experiences and perspectives as part of your video! Seeing a glimpse into some of their classrooms was also very helpful!

    I'd like to pick up on of the questions posed by Faiza in her initial post.

    "The environment is changing but the students are too young to notice. What are your challenges using STEM projects to raise students’ awareness to the changing environment in real time?"

    You raise an important point about how to help stduents' gain perspectives and understandings about changes in the environment that are longitudinal in nature and need always readily perceived in everyday experiences. I think this is where we need to bring in historical perspectives through stories, images, and data. For example, my research team on the project Writing Data Stories is currently developing a curriculum unit for middle school on climate change. Our approach is syncretic in that we aim to blend students' everyday experiences, understanding and ways of communicating with academic content and ways of supporting claims with evidence. So with climate change, we start by having students think about a place that is special to them (and why it is special) and to interview a family member about any changes they have noticed in that place over their lifetime. Becasue we are working in schools with a high population of students of immigrant families, we anticipate many different special places around the world may emerge. We also have them do internet searches to see if there are any recent climate/weather events that have happened in their place. Eventually the students look at larger datasets related to temperature and rainfall in different global locations across a large timespan.

    We have not IMPLEMENTED this unit yet. And I wonder, like you, how students will develop understandings of climate change when they may not experience "change" in their daily life, but rather are experiencing impacts of such change in our climate.

    ANy others want to jump in this conversation?

  • Icon for: Faiza Peetz, MD

    Faiza Peetz, MD

    Lead Presenter
    PI, Noyce Master Teaching Fellows Academy
    May 7, 2020 | 07:25 p.m.

    Thank you for your feedback.

    Your idea sounds interesting and I wish you luck with the implementation of the unit. I wonder if it can be scaled down to elementary school level. One major problem we encountered in our program was that there was a disconnect between the science graduate level content we gave our fellows and them using it with their elementary students.

    Also, I was thinking of finding ways to make the elementary school students experience phenomena that usually take a long time to happen in a shorter time. Like Mendel using the beans to study inheritance. For example grow beans with the students to a healthy level and then use light bulbs to add extra light and make them witness what happens when there is too much sun or water the plants more frequently to make them witness what happens when there is too much rain or maybe put the plants in a container and let them witness what happens then there isn't enough oxygen.

  • Icon for: Hollylynne Lee

    Hollylynne Lee

    Facilitator
    Professor
    May 11, 2020 | 11:48 a.m.

    I appeciate your acknowledging the often disconnect between advanced science learning by teachers and connections to the elementary content they teach. I'd love to hear if you (or others) have examples of how some teachers have made successful connections?

    Also, I really like the example you just provided about local changes students can experience in an experiemental setting. 

  • Eleni Tournaki

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 6, 2020 | 09:59 p.m.

    Congratulations to the members of this NSF program. The collaboration with the Greenbelt can lead to students/citizens that are more aware of the needs of having a more sustainable planet.

  • Icon for: Beth Sappe

    Beth Sappe

    Facilitator
    Director - STEM Mathematics
    May 7, 2020 | 04:28 p.m.

    Exploring nature for our urban students is so important to raise students' awareness to the changing environment. How are makerspace project. Does the program influence the district science instruction outside of the teachers participating in the program? Are there specific protocols in place to give teachers feedback on their development of their lessons as well as the implementation of the lessons?

  • Icon for: Faiza Peetz, MD

    Faiza Peetz, MD

    Lead Presenter
    PI, Noyce Master Teaching Fellows Academy
    May 8, 2020 | 12:18 p.m.

    Beth, thank you for your feedback.

    We decided to collaborate with Makerspace because the engineering part of STEM standards are the hardest to implement at the elementary school level. Our fellows developed and tested STEM projects that they later did with their students. Doing so allowed them to see through their students’ eyes as they worked through their own struggles building the projects. They were able to foresee and troubleshoot the misconceptions and problems that their students might run into. The Makerspace experience was so successful that we decided to repeat it this spring with the Makerspace and the Greenbelt Park. Unfortunately, COVID-19 forced us to postpone our plans.

    In regard to protocols, yes, we do have them in place. Our fellows meet with education department faculty and experts weekly for a three-hour DP where they get feedback on the pedagogical content of their lessons and with faculty and experts from the division of science and technology to receive feedback in regard to the science content of their lessons.

    As for the program’s influence, it can play a significant role in changing the trajectory of science instruction and learning within our District. Our Master Teaching Fellows work in high-need elementary schools, they engage in the program as a cohort, meaning their impact is individual and collective. As leaders within their own schools, they can facilitate science-focused professional development among their colleagues; by virtue of belonging to the project’s professional learning community, they are linked to a larger association of educators committed to enhancing science education - a group that might extend outward, to encompass more elementary participants, or upward, to connect with science educators in middle and high schools. The network suggests an opportunity for broad scale reform of science teaching and learning across our District as well as sustainability: Well-qualified teachers will positively affect the lives and aspirations of their students, their schools, CSI, the community, the local economy, and the workplace. This Noyce program will foster a community of faculty from CSI and Staten Island high-need elementary schools and expand the involvement of CSI in Staten Island public schools. ​ We are in the process of building an online forum to facilitate this.

  • Icon for: Jeffrey Ram

    Jeffrey Ram

    Researcher
    May 7, 2020 | 09:00 p.m.

    In our project at the Belle Isle Aquarium we're not so much focused on "greenbelts" as we are on the "waterbelt" (or I suppose we might call it the "bluebelt") of the Detroit River and the Great Lakes.  Especially, students become aware of human impact when they see our exhibit on plastics discarded into the Great Lakes.  When the fish's food webs become more like "plastic webs," students begin to see the impacts of their actions.  One of the videos we made about our project (it had to do with recruiting students and teachers to apply for small grants) suggested projects on plastics:  https://www.biaquariumstem.org/uploads/1/0/6/4/106486701/nsfgrantvideo.mp4

     
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    Ruth Silverberg
  • Icon for: Ruth Silverberg

    Ruth Silverberg

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 11, 2020 | 10:08 a.m.

    Jeffrey, this sounds like a wonderful way to bring the context of the students' local worlds into study of the "human" effects on the environment. It is so important to meet our students where they are with place-based inquiry.

  • Icon for: Rebecca Lugo

    Rebecca Lugo

    Co-Presenter
    K - 5 Science/Coding Cluster Teacher
    May 11, 2020 | 04:00 p.m.

    Jeffrey, we also have a "bluebelt" system here in Staten Island. I agree that it is imperative to help students become aware of the human impact on their own environment and I hope to integrate more field trips to the outdoors, greenbelt as well as bluebelt, into my curriculum once it becomes permissible again.

  • Icon for: Faiza Peetz, MD

    Faiza Peetz, MD

    Lead Presenter
    PI, Noyce Master Teaching Fellows Academy
    May 8, 2020 | 12:18 p.m.

    Jeffrey, thank you for your feedback and for sharing your video. I agree that real life experience can not be surpassed and seeing with one’s own eyes impacts at a more visceral level. The earlier we start showing more than telling the earlier the children will become aware of their own impact and the sooner they, our future, can be part of the solution.

     
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    Rebecca Lugo
  • Antonio Gallego

    May 8, 2020 | 05:06 p.m.

    It was a real pleasure working with you on this video Faiza. Wish I had a program like this during my school years. I agree with you that the earlier the children learn about nature, can result in a better sustainable world and future.

  • Icon for: Andrew Meltzoff

    Andrew Meltzoff

    Researcher
    May 9, 2020 | 05:35 p.m.

    Great work! I can see that you are working to address many misconceptions about science. Our own work is looking at a related kind of misconception, which concerns the cultural stereotypes about 'who does STEM'.  That's the topic of our video this year. I wonder if you encounter stereotypes in your work and if your program can help kids to overcome STEM stereotypes that pervade society? Thanks again for the stimulating work.

  • Icon for: Faiza Peetz, MD

    Faiza Peetz, MD

    Lead Presenter
    PI, Noyce Master Teaching Fellows Academy
    May 11, 2020 | 08:57 a.m.

    Thank you for your feedback.

    Yes, I do see the cultural stereotypes regarding who does STEM. We actually have a "Black Male Initiative," an office that strives to counter that. We are in the process of writing REU grants specifically geared towards black and brown males. Our aim is to build a pipeline from high schools (title 1) to undergraduates channeling students into the sciences.

  • Icon for: Rebecca Lugo

    Rebecca Lugo

    Co-Presenter
    K - 5 Science/Coding Cluster Teacher
    May 11, 2020 | 04:10 p.m.

    Andrew, I think that the diversity of our fellowship cohort is a powerful tool in overcoming STEM stereotypes. I personally lean more towards science and computer science instruction, and I am very conscious about the messages that are sent through the supporting materials I choose to use. There is a push towards equity and excellence for all here in the NYC public schools, and we are working to make our instruction culturally-relevant and inclusive of all backgrounds and life experiences. Showing more women and people of color in the STEM fields is empowering to our students, and I hope this inclusivity will have a positive impact on our children's future educational and career choices.

  • Icon for: Jennifer Carinci

    Jennifer Carinci

    Researcher
    May 10, 2020 | 03:39 p.m.

    Thanks for sharing your work promoting inquiry and addressing naïve misconceptions!

  • Icon for: Faiza Peetz, MD

    Faiza Peetz, MD

    Lead Presenter
    PI, Noyce Master Teaching Fellows Academy
    May 11, 2020 | 08:58 a.m.

    Thank you for visiting us.

  • Catherine Gaynor

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 11, 2020 | 04:36 p.m.

    It is so exciting to see the Fellows bring their excellent work in addressing misconceptions from the course into the classroom with the Greenbelt Education Program. I love to see the teachers applying their studies to the classroom and engaging in leadership to share their learning with other teachers as well.

  • Icon for: Michael I. Swart

    Michael I. Swart

    Researcher
    May 11, 2020 | 06:12 p.m.

    Sounds like you had good buy-in with 10 partnering school programs, and congrats on the Greenbelt partnership.  Providing PD to make sure that the teachers feel confident in communicating the curriculum to students.  Read a lot above about leveraging misconception - s' a great way to conception.  Nice to see a focus on noticing details as tools for teachers to help students re-align trajectories.

    Of the field trips in  18-19, what kind of data were you able to collect of their experiences in the Staten Island Makerspace?


  • Icon for: Sharon Cameron

    Sharon Cameron

    Co-Presenter
    4th Grade Mathematics/Science Teacher
    May 12, 2020 | 08:14 a.m.

    Thank you Michael, I noticed many of my quiet students taking a leadership role at The Staten Island MakerSpace.  These students who in the traditional classroom, would not take risks were motivated to test their ideas and when it didn't work in the ways they predicted continued to keep trying other ideas to test their products.

  • Icon for: Mitchell Nathan

    Mitchell Nathan

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 12, 2020 | 09:04 a.m.

    It is wonderful to see students learning through experiences in the parks, and this kind of enrichment will likely lead to a lifelong appreciation of both science and our great outdoor natural and managed resources. Thank you for doing this important work!

  • Amy Racanello

    May 12, 2020 | 04:55 p.m.

    As you already appreciate, your work is critical to the development of students' understanding of science concepts, especially those related to their/our environment. Additionally, initiatives, such as this one, are necessary to ensure that students understand and value their personal responsibilities to protect the environment. Across a number of professional fields, including my own—neuropsychology—research repeatedly demonstrates that the earlier an intervention starts the more promising the outcome. With that said, it seems highly plausible that when students are effectively taught science, including the need to protect and preserve the environment, earlier in their formal education, there is an increased likelihood that they will retain the learned knowledge, truly recognize and understand their personal roles, and actively demonstrate the needed adaptive patterns of behavior related to environmental causes and initiatives. I am excited for the expansion of this work, and I look forward to learning more about it over the next two years. Thank you for contributing to the knowledge-based of school children, as well as well-being of school children and our environment.  

  • Icon for: Kyle Boyer

    Kyle Boyer

    Graduate Student
    May 12, 2020 | 04:57 p.m.

    This reminds me of a lot of the outdoor-school program in the Oregon public school system, and it seems like it has a similar potential to have a massive impact on the excitement and engagement of the students. Thank you for sharing this with us, it's wonderful to see experiential learning gain more traction!

  • Further posting is closed as the event has ended.