An innovative middle school program is transforming education while tackling attendance and engagement problems. This refreshing approach could be the key to making school more engaging and preparing the next generation of environmental problem-solvers, and it's one of an increasing number of such projects around the country that is empowering the younger generation in hands-on ways.
A pilot program at Collins Middle School in Salem, Massachusetts, is reimagining the traditional classroom experience, according to The Boston Globe. Instead of sitting at desks all day for weeks on end, students take weekly field trips to museums, aquariums, and even the State House. Back in class, they apply what they've learned to real-world challenges, including designing ocean cleanup devices similar to Baltimore's Mr. Trash Wheel.
The results are impressive. Chronic absenteeism at Collins dropped from 28% to just 10% in two years. Students in the program also outperformed their peers on standardized tests. But the benefits go far beyond test scores.
Per the Globe, WeThinkBig partnered with the WPS K-8 Institute to create the program, with funding from the Biden administration's Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. This hands-on approach has an added benefit of nurturing the creative thinking and problem-solving skills our planet desperately needs. Students are tackling problems like environmental issues head-on, developing innovative solutions such as student Seamus Coughlin's ocean trash collection bot. By making learning fun and relevant, the program is inspiring a new generation of environmental stewards.
Parents are noticing the difference too. Joanne Coughlin, mother of Seamus and Fionn, another program participant, told the Globe that the pilot "flipped everything on its head."
She added: "They won't forget what they learned in this program because it's tied into real experiences, real building, real stuff, as opposed to reading about it. They are invested in what they're doing."
The students themselves are equally enthusiastic. "It's actually making me excited to go to school," eighth-grader Liana Galvan explained, per the Globe. "It's just like a happier version of school, and funner, too, because it's so much more hands-on."
With plans to expand the program to all district eighth-graders in the fall, Salem is leading the way in creating engaged, environmentally conscious citizens. It's a win-win approach that could revolutionize education for many students while nurturing the innovators of tomorrow.
Salem isn't the only place where students are being given more hands-on opportunities to learn and design solutions for real-world problems, of course, even if the bold approach pushes further than most public schools have seriously considered.
Extracurricular programs like robotics teams have been around for a long time, but an increasingly common modern iteration is solar remote-controlled racing. The Cool Down previously covered Noah Davis' Solar Rollers program, which has taken off in Colorado, Nevada, and Texas, teaching students how to build their own solar vehicles and design them to operate as effectively as possible.
In Chicago, a Green New Deal for Chicago Public Schools campaign is training students for environmental-focused jobs and climate disaster response plans. New York City has likewise enrolled dozens of its teachers in its Integrating Climate Education in NYC Public Schools training program.
In Los Angeles, a program is teaching kids the value of composting with hands-on education. And in Boulder, Colorado, students who felt they weren't getting anything like this rallied together and won school board approval for their school buildings and buses to run on renewable energy and for their classrooms to incorporate curricula that prioritize sustainability knowledge.
Interested students and parents could follow Boulder's lead and petition their own school boards and district representatives to make changes similar to any of these, as using your voice is perhaps the biggest way to make a difference among the many found in the TCD Guide. In the meantime, check out TCD co-founder Anna Robertson's advice on how to talk to kids about climate change.
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