Starting off the week with a lesson on Nature Art was a great way for the students to recognize the nature that already exists in their own backyards while exploring artistic techniques for recording observations. We started the lesson by looking at Eastern Washington’s geologic history to find out how the land was shaped by glaciers and floods. We discussed how the land is still changing today but on such a large time scale that it can be difficult to observe these changes. Using art can be a great way to record smaller observations that can be compared over a longer period of time. So all of the students became Naturalists by creating their own nature journals to record observations and we headed outside to the school field to learn a few drawing techniques. The students explored drawing with different scales and learned a few tips to make drawing moving subjects a little easier. The students then had the opportunity to then choose their own “sit spot” where they had 15 minutes to observe and illustrate something in nature that they observed around them. This activity allowed the students to apply what they learned about art as a tool for recording while also building their own relationship with the environment. The act of drawing helped the students notice details about their subject that they may not have notice by simply taking a picture. It also allowed the students to understand that nature is all around them, all they need to do is become aware of their surroundings and observe it!
I had such a blast teaching this lesson. Sitting in outside, making observations and illustrating is one of my favorite pass times so it was a great to share this activity with the students. Going into the lesson I was nervous that the students would not perceive nature as “science” and therefore not be as interested in it. However, the students found it relatable because we focused on the nature right outside their school, which was a great success! My goal was for them to understand that science isn’t just equations and lab coats, but it can be interdisciplinary and fit in with your personal interests as well. Learning about the Bridgeport community was wonderful. I enjoyed speaking with the middle and high school students about opportunities past high school. It was fun to share my experiences about college at UW and get to know some older students in the community in a more casual, Q&A setting. Another thing I really enjoyed was getting to know our home stay parents, who welcomed us into their home like we were family! -Kelli Katzer The main goal of this lesson was for students to begin using acute observation skill and apply their observation skills to real world application. We started the lesson with everyone touching their backbone. I asked “ What is that?” Students would shout out “Bone!” or “Spine!”. I explained that all animals that have a backbone are vertebrates, because they have vertebrates. We brainstormed some other animals that have spines like dogs, elephants, lions, and whales. Then I explained invertebrates are species that do not have a spine. Brainstorming ideas of invertebrates seemed to be a little more challenging but once they caught on, there was a lot of ideas flying! We brainstormed bees, bugs, and jellyfish! We wrote these definitions down in their nature notebook. I then explained the difference between macro and micro and wrote those definitions in the nature notebook as well.. Macro is something that is big, and micro is something that is small. We then combined two definitions of what we had learned, Macro Invertebrates. Macroinvertebrates are bugs we can see with our eyes. Micro Invertebrates are bugs so small we need a microscope to see. We brought in tubs of water with macroinvertebrates we had collected the night before, and let the students identify what macroinvertebrates are in the buckets! We passed out field guides and gave tips on identifying bugs. Looking at the body shape, color, and number of legs are a good place to start! Macroinvertebrates are also bioindicators, meaning we can predict water quality based on the species of bugs we find in the water. Some bugs need extremely clean water to survive, while others can live in polluted waters. If we only found bugs that can survive in polluted waters, we can predict the water is probably polluted. We broke up into four groups with one teaching lead at a table. We had one large data table on the whiteboard where students would record what bug they identified based on three groups (Group 1: Clean Water Group 2:Semi-Clean Water Group 3: Polluted Water). One student in the group was assigned to be the data recorder, once a bug was identified that student would place a checkmark on the data table. After 15-20 minutes of investigative work, we came back together as large class and made predictions about water quality based on the bugs we found! We found that the water near the school had mainly Group 2 bugs, semi-clean water. Then for the last portion of the class I had the students brainstorm ways we use water everyday, and then brainstorm ways we can save water with all of those activities. Students were suggesting really great ways to conserve water like turning off the water while you srbu dishes or turn off sprinklers when it is raining. Then, students took their own personal water conservation challenge. Some students chose shorter showers or turning off the water when they brush their teeth. Everyday we would check in with them to see how the water conservation challenge was going!
I had a great time teaching this lesson! I loved how curious the students were about the bugs, none of the students were afraid to go into the buckets and touch the bugs which was great! Students were coming up to me and asking what the difference was between an alderfly and mayfly, I loved their genuine interest! The water conservation was really fun for me to see their growth throughout the week. Students even sent us letters after we had left to let us know they are continuing with the water conservation! I think the biggest thing I took away from the week, was that if you can create a connection with students and share your own true passion for a subject, then they will want to engage. It was amazing to feel the mutual respect we had for each other, us learning from their natural curiosity and creativity and them learning that they really can be scientists. It was very interesting to see how the community changed and shifted throughout the age groups/ Everyday we got to work with the elementary students and then we went to the middle school one day to discuss college. Some students were shooting for the stars and wanted to go to college and be the next president. They were excited and passionate for their futures. Then when we went to the high school and discussed college, the students seemed to have been more discouraged about the possibility of college for themselves. Many didn't believe they were smart enough or could find a way to pay for college. It was interesting to see how the mind had been shaped throughout their educational career. We really emphasized that they are totally able and intelligent enough to go to any sort of college. I enjoyed the experiences I had talking with faculty at the schools and interacting with the students to understand their community and the values and opinions that had shaped their own lives. -Jennifer Power The goal of my lesson was to help students understand the benefits and issues surrounding large scale dams, like the Chief Joseph Dam in Bridgeport. We also discussed the salmon life cycle in depth and how dams affect salmon migration and habitat. We learned about dams by working together to answer questions about how dams store water in reservoirs and how dams create hydroelectric power to provide energy for our homes. And then, we got to migrate outdoors to play a game where we learned the salmon life cycle and got to pretend to be salmon ourselves! Everyone began their life cycle in freshwater, at the spawning site, and had to run downstream to the ocean and then back upstream, all while watching out for obstacles like predators, dam turbines, fish ladders, and fisherman. Just like real salmon do! This game taught students where dams cause the biggest obstacle for salmon throughout their life cycle and was also a good way to have some fun!
Before my lesson, I was a little nervous. Teaching a whole classroom on my own! Oh man! Looking back, I am not even sure why I worried though. The students were so excited about the lessons and so willing to learn. Every day they would run up to us walking in and ask, “So, what are we going to do today? Are we going outside?” During my own lesson, the students ran around—swimming downstream and fighting their way upstream as salmon. It was crazy! But teaching can often be that way, I think. Sometimes you just have to go for it and the results can be amazing! I learned that even in stressful situations sometimes all you need is a little confidence in yourself! The funny thing is my students had to teach me this. Watching them laughing, running about, and enjoying learning about salmon gave me all the confidence I needed. Thus, even though it was chaotic, afterward, the students demonstrated that they gained so much and were able to tell me all the parts of the salmon cycle. I would say, “What is the first stage?” and they could call out, “EGGS!” And “What comes next?” and they would say, “Alevins, Fry, Migration….etc”. And they were even able to determine the points in the salmon life cycle where dams caused the most problems. One of the most memorable moments for me was on Friday, the last day of teaching. We told the students that every single one of them was a scientist. Each was awarded their very own certificates of completion. Their faces lit up and some of them even fist pumped the air! They were so proud to be called scientists and we were so proud of them as well! I went into Pipeline hoping to teach my students and to empower them to get excited about environmental science. Except, I think the reverse happened. Seeing their own passion and happiness really invigorated my own excitement for studying nature. It is so important to always have a childlike mentality, even as an adult in college! To always look at the world with a sense of wonder and awe. So, maybe I went to Bridgeport to teach, but what I learned was so, so, so much greater. I have never been to Bridgeport before. I could barely tell you where it is on a map before I spent my week there. It is such a tiny little town full of apple orchards and right on the Columbia River. During the week, my team and I got to meet so many wonderful people and learn about the community. One night, we even went out to dinner with Ms. Johnson, a 5th grade teacher at Bridgeport Elementary. Talking with her taught us about the social dynamics in Bridgeport and the struggles many students face at home and in-school. My Bridgeport Team also had the opportunity to speak with the High School and Middle School students in the district as well. I saw the determination of these students in the elementary school, where we taught, all the way into the high school classes. However, I think a difficulty in Bridgeport is that sometimes that determination and will to learn is not valued within the community. I hope that our week long stint taught the kids that there is life outside their hometown and that college can be a whole lot fun! What I witnessed in Bridgeport were a group of students that had the passion, the intelligence, and the drive to change the world and to accomplish whatever they set their minds to! -Emma Relei Students learned about what a healthy stream looks like and what a polluted stream looks like. They were given a scenario: If you stumble upon a polluted stream with your friends, what would are some things you (in your role) could do to fix it? They were then broken up into four different groups (farmers, loggers, scientists, and mayors) and asked to come up with a way to clean up the stream. Then they were grouped together with a farmer, logger, scientist, and mayor in each group, and they had to choose, by “compromising” with each other, which solution would be best.
What I realized throughout this week with such amazing students, is that no matter how old a person is, by creating relationships of respect, you will receive respect back. Every students ideas and thoughts are valid and deserve to be recognized, not squished. When we allowed students to come up with solutions to problems that occurred in the real world, right outside their classroom door in fact, they came up with crazy-cool solutions, and got really excited about solving them. One scientist group decided that to clean up the stream but allow farmers to still create crops they would “create a pesticide that killed bugs, but once water hit it, it would turn biodegradable so that when it ran in the stream it wouldn’t kill the macroinvertebrates and fish that live there.” A mayor group decided they would “Make it mandatory for all citizens of Bridgeport to come out and clean the stream on Earth Day.” A logging group decided “We’re not going to log trees really close to the stream so that there won’t be a lot of soil erosion in the stream, and it will reduce mudslides. We also want the birds and animals to have a place to live, so we have to be careful about how much we cut down.” Then, when they had to get together as a group of four, a farmer, logger, mayor, and scientist in a town-hall like setting and decide which solution they would choose, they were critical thinking like mad. Things like “How long will it take to create that pesticide? 5 years?” And “How much will that cost? We don’t have that much money, so we need to be careful about the expensive ones,” and “Why don’t we choose more than one solution? I don’t like having to choose only one, since we are choosing the least costly ones.” At the end of the discussion, we asked them “How many of you were happy with the decision your group made?” Lots of hands stayed down. We explained “These types of decisions are being made right now about how to keep streams clean while feeding the world, housing the world, and keeping people happy. You guys came up with ideas and compromised better than many adults can. You are excellent scientists.” I’m excited to see where these little scientists end up, because if they can come up with ideas like these as 10 year olds, then their adult selves are going to make a huge difference in the world! Getting to know the faculty and staff at Bridgeport Elementary, Middle, and High School was great. Learning about some of their success and challenges working in a rural area were interesting, considering I want to teach in a rural area upon graduation. Their resources are extremely limited, but teachers are still doing amazing things. I hope to someday work in Bridgeport, WA! :) -Susie Dobkins UW: "How many of you liked this week of science?!"
Students: (All hands raise emphatically) UW: "Do you know where we got these lessons?" Students: "COLLEGE! You learned them in college." UW: "Exactly. We took classes on things you learned this week like stream restoration, how to identify macroinvertebrates, geologic history, water conservation, and the salmon life cycle, and brought them to you. As 10 year olds, you just learned college-level material!!" Students: Smiles and gasps started happening all around the room. "No way! We’re only 10!" UW: "So if you liked this week with all the college lessons, what else do you think might you like? COLLEGE!!" We all taught on this day, but it was great to see the students internalize that science can be fun, and doesn’t have to be rote memorization out of a text book. Our rowdiest students were the most engaged during our lessons, and students who were normally quiet had started asking questions in front of the class. Student self-confidence grew so much by the end of the week! The students felt inspired and capable after we told them they had learned college level material this week. And that was the goal! These kids are so intelligent and able that we wanted them to know what future possibilities lie ahead for them. -Bridgeport Teaching Team |