Thanks for continuing to follow my blog and letting me share my classroom experiences with you. This Summer, I’d like to take you away from my usual location at Gateway High School, and direct you to a new set of students and activities taking place at the Boys & Girls Club in Trenton, NJ.
First, let me back things up a bit and provide you with some background information. For the last three summers, I have been running a summer camp located at the Trenton Boys & Girls Club, which we call Future Engineers. The camp itself is just one function of a larger grant project, also called Future Engineers, which provides camps, after school enrichment programs and professional development throughout the year, in order to enhance K-12 Engineering Education in New Jersey. The grant itself is funded by the Martinson Family Foundation, and housed within the Center for Excellence in STEM Education, located within the department of Technological Studies at The College of New Jersey. This summer, I have 75 students, ages 9-15, enrolled in Future Engineers for a total of eight weeks. Read the rest of this entry »
The last couple weeks of school were a blur. We finished up the POGIL activities and the labs and all of the sudden it was the last week of school.
As you know, the last week of school is all about promotion in the 8th grade and preparing the kids for their departure. We had yearend field trips, graduation practice, parties and movies. I had my homeroom kiddos all day and all week. So, no science was done. I like where I ended the year with my science classes. They were looking ahead to what high school science would be like and still able to be a middle schooler while they got a taste of high school. As for me, I am off to a summer filled with college classes (I am working towards my PhD) and establishing my curriculum for next year. Read the rest of this entry »
The EcoCAR teams have now headed home after almost two weeks of intense competition in Yuma and San Diego. Most teams are invigorated by the competition, and use it as an opportunity to see how their vehicle measures up in a rigorous test environment. Even as the students left the awards ceremony and began heading to the airport, they could be heard discussing their strategy for next year. It’s a testament to how passionate these young people are about their vehicles and the EcoCAR program. Read the rest of this entry »
Earlier this month, Chris Better and I took a team of five students to participate in the NJ Envirothon for the first time. In fact, we were the first team comprised of “Technology Education/Engineering” students, as the other teams were all assembled by their schools’ science teachers. There were 47 teams participating in total this year. People were quite receptive to our participation because the whole theme of the event was based around solving environmental problems, particularly those dealing with water conservation. Read the rest of this entry »
Last week I had the opportunity to travel to New Jersey to accept an award that GM won for its work with none other than…Teach Green!
The New Jersey Technology Education Association (NJTEA) presented the award to GM Thursday night at an award ceremony with educators from all over New Jersey. Each year, the organization awards an individual, institution and/or government official who “made a notable impact through their virtuous support for students and/or educators in technology education…and have a proven track record of advocating the benefits of technological literacy for all students in New Jersey schools.” This year GM won the Impact Award for its work with Teach Green! Read the rest of this entry »
I love chemistry! We have been looking at the atomic theory in greater detail to prepare my students for high school. They will be learning about it again in 9th and then again in 11th grade. My students have completed two inquiry labs where they used a flow chart that they created from experimenting with chemical reactions and indicators to identify an unknown substance and then to identify a unknown solution’s pH. I found the labs in a book called “Inquiry-Based Experiments in Chemistry”. The labs went really well. Read the rest of this entry »
Each team is unique, from vehicle architectures to outreach strategies, and the same holds true for the exterior design of their vehicles. Even at this early prototype stage of vehicle development, many of the EcoCARs are custom-painted and personalized with images of the schools’ mascots and EcoCAR logos. Read the rest of this entry »
Paul Fryzel, supervisor of plant and industrial engineering at the Flint Metal Center, talks with Dillon students about what waste can be recycled, re-used or reduced.
For the last eight years, UAW and GM representatives from the Flint Metal Center have visited Dillon Elementary School to talk about how students there can do their part to protect the environment.
A couple weeks ago, the Flint Metal Center team, which included some personnel from Flint Engine South and Flint Assembly, walked three third-grade classes through the process of how we separate oil from water before sending the water on to the city of Flint for further treatment. Read the rest of this entry »
Student-made flashlight using an old baby bottle.
Out here in New Jersey, public schools were recently told to prepare for budget cuts across the state in every district. In the spirit of the sustainable design challenges and problem solving activities that we have been giving students all year, our current situation presented us a REAL problem to solve. Next year, we might have less money to buy new supplies, so it is important to conserve now. However, we want to continue giving students fresh design challenges that deal with sustainability and the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), as well as other 21st century skills such as innovation, critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, chemistry is done and our state testing has also been completed. The end of our chemistry unit focused on a recap of content and acid/base chemistry. I used an online lab called GEMS Alien Juice Bar activity. My students loved it and it helped them remember things like, acids neutralize bases and vice versa, as well as, what indicators are. Read the rest of this entry »
