 |
Year 1998-1999
Clinton Avenue School
|
Grade 2: Andrea Barros
Ms. Barros created a unit on “Mammals” , with the goal “…that each child, in my classroom, will develop a greater understanding and appreciation for the cycle of life and the interdependence of all living things.” Her students were able to explore a variety of mammal specimens on the BioAction Lab.
 “We used a lot of different things … the skeletons, the backbone, skulls, the owls, the coyote, the badger, the fur—we just had a great time with it! … They could spend… a half an hour on that piece of bear fur... . You can look at books all you want, but to look at a real coyote is a different thing… . Now they’re really talking about coyotes, now they want to go back to the book. Now they make the connection.”
Drawn into the world of biodiversity through their hands-on experiences, her 2nd graders were able to do more involved reading and writing, utilizing the entire Lab.
“That was good, because when you had small groups observing and recording, other groups had field guides, books and articles… . My kids wanted to write about what the animals ate, not just what they looked like… . They started writing in the Lab notebooks provided… . They wanted to get more involved with it, and they did… . If you ask them for one word answers…you get five words… . They came back with information they had gotten… . That’s how you really judge it, from their excitement and enthusiasm.”
|
|
|
|
|
Grade 2: Pedro Mendia
Mr. Mendia decided to focus on food for his unit, “Biodiversity in the Kitchen: Food Crops Around the World.” His students were challenged with a variety of performance tasks, as they took a deeper look into the biology behind some of the most basic foods we eat.
“I want them to give me an understanding of what they see, or how they see the world…They have a greater understanding that we all depend on each other, the creatures, and that they are part of it.”
Mr. Mendia found that his style of teaching was expanded after working with the BioAction Lab.
“One of the things that it accomplished for me is that I made a bit of a switch, in that when I teach science, I teach more inquiry-based, so I work with them not to answer the question, but to ask another question. Now with the Action Lab, I think that it made me take a shift, in that it was all content based. It was right there, and the children really wanted to know, why this was this way? how did it work? So I had to change—actually, I could not answer that question with another question, because they just wanted to know about this. So the purpose was completely different with the Action Lab than when I work with the class.”
|
|
|
|
|
Grade 3: Lois Kaliszewski and Mindy Schwartzman
During the initial year of the program, Peabody Fellows were allowed to write units jointly with each other. Ms. Kaliszewski and Ms. Schwartzman, who were already paired as Science Fair leaders in their school, teamed up for their unit, “Rivers.” Taking advantage of the unique geography of New Haven, they explored the biodiversity of two rivers that flow into New Haven harbor. The teachers included several interdisciplinary lessons, including the history of the Quinnipiac Indians, who are the namesake for one of these important local waterways.
“We thought it was great that you could have small groupings, because it really did allow the children to have hands-on…it’s an enrichment; it enriches the children’s learning…picking things up, smelling and shaking them… . I didn’t realize that they would smell everything…an opportunity for hands on, and explore a little more than we’re able to do in the classroom… . The Peabody staff really did interact with the children wonderfully, it was great, sparked their interests… you really went out of your way to try to fit whatever we were studying into the Lab.”
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
| |
Students in Mindy Schwartzman’s class use Mantis microscope |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
