Students were challenged to research, design, build and test creative footwear made only of recycled materials. The hardest part about the activity was that they had to make their prototypes functional, meaning in theory, they would be able to wear the shoe around school for a week without it falling apart. Read the rest of this entry »
On Wednesday, October 21, a group of 7th graders from our middle school and took a trip to downtown Detroit for the Business of Plugging In Conference Student Day. Between looking forward to learning about battery technology, how electric cars such as the Chevy Volt run and actually sitting in the car itself, our kids were buzzing with anticipation when we arrived! As a teacher, it’s great to see how engaged our students were at this event–they learned so much about the electrification of the automotive industry happening here in Michigan, they talked with the people working in the business and asked questions, and at the end of the day they came away from the event with a genuine interest and excitement about what they learned. The following are a few accounts of the day written by our students. Thank you again GM for inviting us to this wonderful event. We look forward to next year. Read the rest of this entry »
Five Quick Tips for When Raptors Visit Your Classroom
1. Students need to remain quiet, calm and still so as not to frighten the wild birds.
2. Have a mat on the floor as the birds WILL defecate.
3. Prepare students by explaining that the birds will be tethered to the handler and that they will defecate (as they need to keep their weight down to retain ability for flight).
4. Pick up any debris on the classroom floor before the bird arrival.
5. If you have control over the temperature, keep the room cool with no drafts.
Hi, I’m Chris! I’m an Environmental Engineer at GM’s assembly plant in Arlington, Texas. My job is to make our manufacturing plant environmentally friendly, following all of the environmental laws, improving our technology to reduce our environmental impact and managing our assembly processes to reduce, reuse and recycle wherever possible. Most people see GM for the great cars and trucks that we make, but we also work hard to integrate our manufacturing plants into the community as good neighbors and environmental stewards. Read the rest of this entry »
The peanut plants have begun. For their first inquiry project my students developed experiments that focus on peanuts. Some are studying the variation within the peanut population when they grow, others are studying how much oil is in peanuts and several others are studying temperature/climate’s effect on peanut growth. And that’s just to start with. There are about 25 different avenues my students have gone down in regards to peanut experiments. There are only 32 groups, so 25 different experimental focuses is quite a variety. It has taken about a month to get through the peanut unit and students are still performing their experiments (at least the students that are growing peanuts as part of their study). Read the rest of this entry »
Our teachers and volunteers sometimes tell the stories better than we do. The following post was written by Chris Miller, a sixth grade science teacher who shares his classroom experiences learning about water quality and the local watershed in his area with GREEN.
My name is Chris Miller. After 21 years running a child development center, I became a school teacher. I am a sixth grade science teacher at Reagan Middle School in Grand Prairie, Texas. At Reagan, we are lucky to have over 80 acres of undeveloped land adjacent to our school. Our students have worked with GM, the Boy Scouts and other community members to build an Outdoor Learning Center (OLC) in this area. A small beaver population also contributed by building a dam on the stream right next to our water testing station. Read the rest of this entry »
In 1984, a group of students from Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, were alarmed when a number of their peers contracted hepatitis A. Students were further intrigued when they realized that everyone getting sick was a windsurfer. Why were windsurfers getting hepatitis? Read the rest of this entry »
Hello teachers!
The electrification of the automotive industry is taking shape and you may have a future award-winning engineer sitting in one of your classrooms! We want to invite you and your math and science students to come touch, see and learn about the growing electric vehicle industry at a free public event on Wednesday, October 21, from 1 to 3 p.m. in Detroit, Michigan.
Well after a wonderful (and hot) summer, I am back and ready to go. This summer I tried my hand at breeding peas and growing genetically modified lettuce. My not-so-green thumb is still not-so-green. Oh well, maybe the kids will have better luck in class when they start their experiments.
Welcome to Teach Green, where educators share their tips and inspirations for teaching lessons about the environment.
