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| Wayne Parrott (center) and “Science Behind Our Food” participants learn about different fruit species at the CATIE Germplasm Center in Costa Rica. (Photo by Stacey Gay) | ||
Experience is the best teacher |
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| Science learning is enhanced by course taught in Costa Rica | ||
| By Maria Bowie |
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A steamy jungle in Costa
Rica may seem an unlikely place to find Georgia high school teachers
and graduate student teaching fellows. But 20 Georgians journeyed
there this past July to study the agriculture and ecology of tropical
America.
It was part of the “Science behind Our Food” project, funded by a National Science Foundation grant to help UGA enhance science learning in Georgia high school classrooms. In the project, doctoral students serving as teaching fellows are paired with high school science teachers for three years. They bring UGA resources into the classroom through research opportunities, classroom instruction and lesson preparation. Steve Oliver, associate professor of science education in the College of Education and a co-principal investigator on the grant, traveled with the class and is enthusiastic about the results. “Taking the graduate fellows from our project on a trip with the teachers with whom they are paired during the year is a great way to enhance their instructional synergy,” he says. “They learn together and they experience the world together; this will help them combine their efforts in the classroom even more effectively than before.” Jeremy Peacock, a Ph.D. student in aquatic toxicology, plans to bring Costa Rica into Columbia High School physical and environmental science classes in DeKalb County. He and his partner, Columbia teacher Danielle Armstrong, will enliven chemistry lessons by having students make chocolate from the fruit of the cacao tree. “Getting to experience a different culture and way of life was intriguing for graduate students and the teachers involved,” Peacock says. “The course got fellows and teachers into situations they never imagined,” says Parrott. “It got them excited, and the result was several brainstorming sessions leading to some very creative student projects. You can read about it all you want, but it is the personal experience that crystallizes concepts and blows misconceptions away.” Amy Heidt, a Tift County High School science teacher in Tifton, is paired with Chris Wildman, a Ph.D. student in animal and dairy sciences. They plan to have their students compare U.S. farm practices with those of Costa Rica and help develop a native plants exhibition area on the school’s campus. The group’s journey began in Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose. From there, they visited the Irazu volcano, learning how volcanic ash contributes to soil fertility. As they traveled down from the summit, they explored high-elevation vegetable production. They checked out a high-tech leather leaf fern facility that ships greenery to florists worldwide. Then they visited the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza. CATIE’s research and graduate programs help Central American countries develop sustainable farm and forestry technologies. The day included studies of Costa Rica’s pejibaye, cassava, coffee and timber production. A plant taxonomy workshop compared rain forest, cloud forest and dry forest species. The class also visited a fruit juice processing plant and cattle farms and hiked around the UGA Ecolodge and Research Station in San Luis. Other Georgia schools taking part in the SBOF project include Cedar Shoals High in Athens, Jackson County Comprehensive High in Jefferson, Madison County High in Danielsville, Morgan County High in Madison, Oglethorpe County High in Lexington and Turner County High in Ashburn. “The teaching of science teachers is greatly influenced by their own life experiences,” says Oliver. “This trip added a very important chapter to those life experiences. They will take back to their classrooms many things: pictures, examples, stories, new knowledge, new applications, movies, and experiences. Every learner they encounter will be better off for it.” “It was fun and productive,” says Parrott. “One could always tell when the fellows or the teachers were having a ‘Eureka!’ moment by the way their faces would light up.” |
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