Title: Reimagining Teaching Science

[MUSIC - Marden Hill: Hijack]

Brian: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Teachers, hope you're having a nice day off work, Veterans Day. You'll be interested in this next segment. Our guest is Dr. Jared Fox, education consultant, former New York City secondary science teacher, and author of Learning Environment: Inspirational Actions, Approaches, and Stories from the Science Classroom, his new book. Jared taught science for 17 years in Washington Heights. He turned a city block into a lab, taking students outside to investigate their surroundings and then using what they found to engage with local community boards and agencies, so going way beyond the classroom and even the local park.

The book is thoughtful, and it makes the case for experiential teaching that's attentive to the conditions shaping students' daily lives and how that approach can re-engage students and renew teachers. As Jared writes early on, "We come to understand that the knowledge we already have about where we're from is deepened by getting outside, critically examining history, becoming community scientists, and partnering with local experts." With that as prelude, Jared Fox, again, is author of Learning Environment: Inspirational Actions, Approaches and Stories from the Science Classroom. Hi, Jared. Welcome to WNYC.

Jared: Hi, Brian, good morning. Thanks for having me, and thanks for elevating teacher voices and science on your program today.

Brian: Teachers, since many of you do have the day off and might be listening, especially science teachers, we especially want to hear from you. We're going to open up the phones right away. Have you tried taking science beyond the classroom? Maybe a simple outdoor investigation, a neighborhood-based project, small routine, maybe that helps students see their surroundings differently. If you found something that helps with burnout, tell us what's worked, too. There's a little of that in the book. Parents and students, you're invited, too, because this is a day off for you, too. Maybe not you parents if the kids are home, but what hands-on science experience has stayed with you? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

For good measure, teachers, how is teaching science this year in a polarized country where science is coming under attack, science funding, everything else? How are you teaching in this environment, where even the belief in the results that scientific method has produced is under attack? 212-433-WNYC, science teachers, parents, students, anyone else relevant, 212-433-9692. Jared, you want to introduce people to the book? Why did you write Learning Environment? What was it about science teaching that you felt wasn't being said?

Jared: The reason I wrote the book was because I was really trying to address what I saw as the student engagement problem in my own classroom, from my own teaching practices. It was a way for me to get my students outside of the classroom by engaging them in hands-on activities, and that's where I really saw their spark and interest in science. The reason I wrote the book is because I left the classroom, I moved to a new city, I'm now located in the DC metro area. It was a way for me to reflect on what I've been doing for the past 20 years of my career, and also stay connected to the people, places, and partners that became so important to what I was doing in the classroom.

Brian: You write early in the book, "We come to understand that the knowledge we already have about where we're from is deepened by getting outside, critically examining history, becoming community scientists, and partnering with local experts." I read that quote in the intro, too. What does it mean to become a community scientist? Maybe that's the phrase from that that jumped out at people as something different.

Jared: Sure. A community scientist really means that you don't necessarily have a formal training in science or how to do research, but because of where you live and the access and proximity that you have to be able to collect data and contribute to the broader scientific community, it's something that anyone can do, and it's something that I was able to do with my students.

That looked like maybe going out and being a part of New York City's once-a-decade street tree census, or going down to Highbridge Park, which was right across the street from our school, and removing invasive species and planting native species. It could be water quality samples that we brought back into the classroom to analyze, identify a problem. For example, the combined sewer overflow issue in New York City's harbors, and then design advocacy projects to promote the resolution of the problems that we're seeing directly in our community.

Brian: You take us back to your first year of teaching when the honeymoon period faded. "An uncomfortable, almost sinking feeling in my stomach has replaced that mix of energy, idealism, and optimism I felt as a first-year teacher. It has become apparent that my teaching practice needs to change to fully support my students' demands and my expectations." That quote from your book. What was the first concrete shift? Let me ask you, even before that. That was a pretty quick transition from year one, energy and idealism, to, was it that quick, year two, that you had that sinking feeling in your stomach?

Jared: The sinking feeling was more around month two of year one. I think as a young person just out of college, entering the classroom, I was teaching then in the South Bronx, I entered with all this energy and optimism about being able to provide an amazing education to the students under my care. I very much came to realize that the challenges that I was facing in my classroom were so great. I had this feeling of how am I ever going to meet the expectations I have for myself and what I would have for my students to meet.

At that time, I was teaching the way that I was taught. It was an overhead projector back in those days, a laminate sheet of paper, putting notes on the board, copying the notes into your notebook, and students' heads were going down into their elbows. That was not an ideal way to be teaching. That was really what made me awaken to a new way to engage students was needed, and one of the ways to do that was to take students outside of the classroom.

Brian: Let's hear from a science teacher. Andrea in Queens, you're on WNYC. Hi, Andrea. Thank you for calling in.

Andrea: Hi. Thank you for taking my call. I live in Queens. I work on Long Island. I've been a teacher for 23 years, teaching mostly AP Biology and AP Environmental. I have to say that taking the kids outside, there's a fantastic program called Day in the Life. I know New York City does it, and Long Island does it as well. The kids get to go out, they take soil samples, they take water samples. They do seining, which is basically fishing, which they absolutely love, and they remember it forever. It's a great program.

Brian: That's a great story, Andrea. Thank you very much. Let me go right to Rick in Queens, who says he's a middle school science teacher. Hey, Rick. Thank you for calling in.

Rick: Hi. Thank you for taking my call. My question was, and it's a statement and a question, we across the middle school have noticed among our students that there is a conceptual deficit. What I mean by that is that for us, we're in the school in the city of New York. We're limited as far as where we can go out and get our hands on. A lot of times, when we're giving conceptual ideas to our students, we're noticing that they can decode what they're reading, but they're not translating that into conceptual thought.

My concern is that and curiosity about what that stands for a future of science research, as we know that most of the new findings are based on old research, when someone looks at it and can reconceptualize it as a different way. I use the example all the time of that when we were younger, we had 20, 30 numbers in our heads. We don't do that anymore. We don't use that part of our brain that same way. I'm curious about what you feel might be a great solution to get that conceptual thought back into movement.

Brian: Jared?

Jared: Yes, thank you for the question. I think one way to do that is what students are learning in the classroom needs to be applied to the real world of what's happening outside of the classroom. I always felt like being a teacher in New York City, I was exposed to so many amazing organizations and people that were doing incredible work related to what I was doing in the science classroom. One thing I would suggest, perhaps, is to start small and to reach out to a professional or an expert organization and invite them into the classroom.

Then one thing that I was able to do is based on those initial visits, create some amazing partnerships and collaborations that led to curriculum that we then had students using those things we were losing in the classroom connected to the content, but then applying them conceptually by designing projects and then holding celebrations of learning, which were essentially a public invitation to bring outsiders into the classroom. Students were demonstrating what they knew not only to the teacher and themselves and their peers, but to a wider audience.

Brian: Helpful, Rick?

Rick: Yes, it is helpful. It's interesting you mentioned about applying real-world because, as often as I can, I tried to take that and take what we conceptualize. Right now, we're talking about geology of Mars and we're talking about the politics of going to Mars and whether or not the amount of effort, the amount of money and whether or not that is actually viable, whether that is something we should be doing or not be doing, not just based on the science, but based on the economics replications of it as well.

Brian: Do you take a position on that in front of your class one way or the other on whether it's worth the money and everything else to go to Mars?

Rick: I try not to. [laughs] Right now, we're getting ready for a pro-con debate. I have my own thoughts because I feel as if it is a gamble, a big gamble. It's a couple of billion-dollar gamble, and maybe that couple of billion could be used on Earth as fixing what we have right now. Slightly jaded.

Brian: Rick, thank you very much. Interesting that he's setting up a science debate. That gets kids engaged, too, instead of just head down into your book and read and recite facts, you think?

Jared: Absolutely. I would use Socratic circles, which is a type of discussion technique where students were sitting in two circles, one inner, one outer, and we were discussing a piece of text. Thinking creatively about not just traditionally doing science from a book or doing labs, but also how can we engage students in dialogue and critical thought, like the caller is explaining, in their classroom. What they're doing is exactly what they were trying to get their students to do is to apply what they're learning conceptually. That project that they just described sounds one that would be interested, engaging to students, I believe.

Brian: If you're just joining us, our guest is Dr. Jared Fox, education consultant, former New York City science teacher, and author now of Learning Environment: Inspirational Actions, Approaches, and Stories from the Science Classroom. We're still inviting yours. We have at least one call on teaching physics at a time of political doubts being raised about science. We'll get to that call in a second. Joe in North Plainfield, we see you. Following up on the previous caller, Jared, you talked about starting small. There's an example in your book that might be really clear, what you call the one block lab, one block lab. Tell us about that.

Jared: The one block lab, I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to in regards to that, but it might be referring to something called the Clean Air Green Corridor. That was essentially having students walk outside of the steps of our school and reimagine what that block could look like.

Brian: Yes, that one. [chuckles]

Jared: That started actually from a one-week course that I co-designed with my then-colleague and history teacher, Erick Espin. We were asked to freeze our normal school day for an entire week where students took one class all day long for an entire week. The outcome of that one-week course was students reimagining, re-envisioning what that one block could look like based on some of the service learning activities they did, like planting bulbs, spreading mulch, and tending to the garden in our school.

From that one week, we were able to collaborate with community members that gave us a tour of some of the quality of life issues that they were facing, that students were also confronting, and also a nonprofit that was based in our school called Futures Ignite. From that one week where students were reimagining what their block could be and really wanted to see it as a pedestrianized plaza called the Clean Air Green Corridor, they were able to then go in front of the community board to present their ideas.

At that community board, there just happened to be someone from Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and another nonprofit at that time called The CORNER Project, which is now called One Point or a Safe Needle Exchange, that on the spot pledged $5,000 each to support student initiatives. From there, we used that money to construct tree guards, those little fences that you see outside of tree pits and trees around New York City.

Then from there, Futures Ignite turned that into a comprehensive programming along with another organization in the city called NYC H2O, where students were picking up litter on that block, weighing it, collecting data using a tool called ArcGIS Field Maps. It just all goes to show how these one small things, these one collaborations, these one emails that you send out, these invitations can snowball into these amazing and beautiful things like this Clean Air Green Corridor that still has legs to this day.

Brian: Now, in addition to good science education technique, I also invited science teachers to call in about teaching science this year, in particular in our polarized country, where science is coming under attack in various ways, science funding, belief in the results that scientific method has produced, and more. Joe in North Plainfield is calling in response to that invitation. Hey, Joe, thank you for calling in. You're on WNYC.

Joe: Can you hear me?

Brian: Yes.

Joe: I don't pay any attention to the political environment. That's not relevant to the teaching of physics. In fact, I don't teach physics. What I do is I generate a conversation with my students in which physics shows up. What this means is that my students must have great linguistic capability. They must be able to reason and think. That's just in language. What happens is my students, they are not equipped because the normal everyday conversation does not include language which describes the concepts of physics.

My big deal is we spend a lot of time developing vocabulary so that when I start talking about physically, they can understand the conceptualization of it. Also, I have to reteach them the math. I'm always asked the question, "What does physics have to do with my life?" I say, "Nothing and everything." Physics does not have any relevance to our everyday life. You can't use it immediately, but eventually you begin to understand through the study of physics the underlying principles that govern the world around us. That enables you to interact with it effectively and get to do what you want to do.

My pitch to them is you got to cooperate with the universe. If you cooperate with the universe, you will get what you want. It will give you what you want. If you want to fight it, if you want to have your emotions get in the way of what you think about the world. Most of my students have no idea how the world really works, but they do after the end of the course.

Brian: That's a beautiful way to put all of that, Joe. Thank you very much. Jared, I'm thinking of another thing from your book that I can raise in relation to that call. Any reaction to Joe in North Plainfield?

Jared: Yes. I think what Joe is describing is exactly what needs to be happening in the classroom is that you need to demonstrate to students the relevance of the subject matter. I think what Joe is also speaking to, and it comes clear in what he's saying, is his passion for the subject that he teach. That's another part of this conversation for teachers, and to find something that you're passionate about or interested about and find a way to bring that into the classroom so you can share that love of the content area that you teach with your students. I agree with everything that Joe was saying there.

Brian: On immediate relevance to people's lives, he says, physics may not seem to have any to the kids, but in the introduction to your book, you write, "My students and their families have not been immune to the increased cost of living. Some who once lived only a short walk away from the school now must commute for much further afield." You write, "In class, we learned that their displacement did not happen by chance, but instead was connected to intentionally planned policies." That sounds political. How do you weave that into a science class?

Jared: [chuckles] Yes, that is a little political, isn't it? I didn't try to get directly into politics, but a big part of my course, my environmental science class, was looking at a topic called environmental justice. For there, I tapped into another partner in Northern Manhattan called WE ACT for Environmental Justice. Really, environmental justice is all about making sure that you have the same living and working and playing conditions, as well as a meaningful involvement in the decisions that are made to make sure you have that healthy environment, regardless of where you live, what you look like, or where you come from.

In North Manhattan, in Washington Heights, where I was teaching for the last 11 years, those are some very real issues that we're facing. As a teacher looking to connect my students to the world around us, I could not involve that issue in my classroom. In fact, my students were going out and identifying some of the environmental injustices around our neighborhood, from air quality, from the I-95 Trans-Manhattan Expressway that went right through the neighborhood, to other issues like the lack of access to green space. Those were all things that were drivers of curriculum and projects in the classroom that we celebrated with the public around us.

Brian: Then that gets them interested in the pure science that you can then communicate, right?

Jared: Right. That's the hook, is you have this relevant, contextualized, very local experience that students are facing that you can then use to help them deepen their background and expect them to become experts in these topics because they know that they're going to have to share those with people at a public celebration of learning at the end of the unit or project or semester, whatever it may be.

Brian: After inviting science teachers to call in, we've been hearing from some of them in conversation with you. We're going to take one more call, but we're going to go really far afield. Yes, we invited science teachers. Yes, you were a science teacher. Can you stand to talk to Kathleen in Mahwah, who is an English teacher? What? Somebody from the humanities? Kathleen, you're on WNYC with Jared Fox. Hi.

Kathleen: Hi, Brian. Thank you for taking my call. I'm so excited to speak with you. I am a retired English teacher. I taught high school English since the '80s, but one of my courses that I taught was an interdisciplinary course that had engineering students, communication students, and theater students. We did a lot of problem-solving things. Really, the reason for my call is science fiction. In order to teach science, you have to stimulate imaginations, and science fiction writers are so creative and so imaginative, and getting the kids to think, "What if?" Because most science fiction stories are grounded in fact, things that have already happened and exploded on the page in crazy, imaginative ways.

One technique that I used was taking science articles. There was an article in New York Magazine about 10 years ago about what would happen in the atmosphere if the temperature rose a degree every year. I had the kids write a short story taking one of those elements, like, I might have the facts wrong, but if your blood boils at 108 degrees, what's going to happen to human beings? It's another way of approaching the same problem.

Brian: I think we have science fiction coming in policy these days, but that's another show. Kathleen, thank you very much. What about the interdisciplinary approach to creative science teaching? Any response to Kathleen, and then we're out of time.

Jared: 100%. Interdisciplinary collaborations is something that I firmly embrace in my own classroom and encourage other educators to do. In fact, it's the way that New York State as a whole is moving with the dissolution of the region's exam requirements upcoming and then adoption of more of this portrait of a graduate. Interdisciplinary collaborations in sciences in all classes are going to be increasingly important for the world that our students are going to be expected to face and live in in the coming days.

Brian: We close with this very nice text. Listener wrote, "The amount of thought, time, and energy teachers invest in their lessons and into our kids is astounding and inspiring. We are always so grateful and honored to have such amazing teachers in our lives here in New York City," writes that Listener. Just as we said, thank you for your service. To the veterans who called in in the first hour of the show, we say thank you for your service.

I know teachers are now putting their lives on the line potentially in the same way, but we should always say thank you for your service to teachers as well. With that, we thank Dr. Jared Fox, education consultant, former New York City science teacher, and author now of Learning Environment: Inspirational Actions, Approaches, and Stories from the Science Classroom. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Jared: Thanks, Brian. Let's keep showing teachers the love.

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