Computer clubs, Olympiads expand boundaries of teaching science

Part 2 of 2-Part REPORT

The Harvey School garden takes students outside the classroom to supplement their scientific learning. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

By PAUL WIEMAN

For many students, learning outside the classroom is an important support for the learning that happens inside the classroom. This holds true  for STEM-related subjects and scientific learning. A  look at area school districts reveals that extra-curricular and co-curricular learning is an integral part of enhancing student understanding of math and science. 

A popular extra-curricular activity at many schools is the competition-based Science Olympiad, featuring 27 different competitions ranging from sit-down tests to building bridges, towers, model cars and more. Physics teacher Paul Beekan of Byram Hills speaks highly of the work the students do independently. 

For one such competition, students must build a model vehicle which travels as fast as possible, but then must stop as close to a wall as possible; the catch is the vehicle has an egg attached to its front, making for a dramatic ending should the vehicle not stop in time. Towers and bridges are featured as well, as students develop their engineering and design skills in this fun setting.

Beekan also runs eNable, a student club originally formed to create prosthetic limbs for children using 3-D printers, laser cutters, computer-aided design programs, and more. 

“I am a big fan of hands-on learning,” said Beekan, who has overseen the eNable Club as it evolved from its original purpose to one that is now partnered with Blythedale Children’s Hospital and Cerebral Palsy of Westchester. 

“Physical and occupational therapists were inventing things on the fly,” Beeken said, “but students could take these ideas that were essentially pasted together in cardboard and use computer-aided design and other tools and really improve upon them and help both the therapists and their patients.”

“One of our goals as a school,” said Debra Cayea, science department chairperson for grades six to 12 at Byram Hills, “is to nurture leaders, and we get to see this happen in these student-based clubs and organizations. With this in mind, we have developed a teaching assistant program for regents chemistry in which our AP chem students actually join the class and help those in need, serving as guides along the way. We also have a Science Ambassadors Program where high school students design science lessons for elementary school classes.” 

At Fox Lane Middle School, Amanda DeSerio and Christine Ledrich, both teachers of the seventh-grade life science class, use the classroom as a lab to raise trout all the way from eggs hatching to releasing in a nearby stream in Leonard Park in Mount Kisco.

“We start in October by setting up the tank, discussing its environment, assessing what trout need in the wild, and how can we produce that in the classroom’s tank,” says Ledrich. Students are tasked with monitoring the filter, checking the temperature, and assuring that all is well in the tank. “In fact, the students are the first to know if anything is wrong. They are observant every day and learn to identify particular fish according to individual markings,” added DeSerio. 

Fifteen years in the making

As the course goes about its curriculum of life science, the trout serve as a co-curricular example of the topics at hand, from life cycles to genetics to reproduction, and so much more. “The trout serve as both a throughline and an anchor for all we learn throughout the year,” DeSerio said.

What started as a passion project for Ledrich 15 years ago with one tank in her science class has grown now into three tanks, one in each science class so that all seventh graders can observe this cycle as they learn life science in their classrooms. 

And data is collected. The eggs from the Catskill Fish Hatchery are counted and compared to the number released, showing a close-up lesson of why so many eggs need to be hatched at the start of the year. Water is monitored for oxygen, and ammonia levels to ensure the health of the trout.

Trout release day in Leonard Park is a much anticipated event. 

“It’s a bittersweet time for the students who have really grown attached to these trout,” noted DeSerio. During the day, the students visit four different stations for learning. “The trip itself has become a real celebration of the life of the trout, added Ledrich. Volunteers come to show the health of the stream and discuss macro-invertebrates (which, in this case, is really trout food); a birds of prey person runs a session; and this year there is the fishing group run by a senior student. All in all, 260 students get to participate in this event.”

Reflecting on her 15 years running the trout project at Fox Lane Middle School, Ledrich concluded, “It’s a great example of connecting students to their larger community around them, setting up an experience and a science project that extends through the school year. They get to see that the fish that they care for now live at a local stream that is five minutes from their school, in a park where they play ball or walk with their families.”

Brainstorming, critical thinking

Ted Cann runs the John Jay High School computer club.

“The club has morphed from a performance-driven environment in which students would study for and take monthly quizzes that would get reported to the American Computer Science League into a student-driven atmosphere where students meet to share ideas and brainstorm new ideas,” he said. “The prior iteration of the club wasn’t very attractive to those new to computer science. We have tried to build an environment where the more veteran computer science students would be a resource for the novice student.” Furthermore, he notes, “… the students are engaged in critical thinking and logical thinking in support of problem solving. Creativity and collaboration are a significant component of what the students do in the club, especially for the students who are engaged in the game development part of the club.”

Extra-curricular or co-curricular opportunities abound in the area schools, displaying that science and STEM learning have stretched well beyond the classroom and into zones students have either created or chosen for themselves. Whether it be one student striving for Meatless Mondays, or an entire seventh grade releasing 200 trout, the lessons beyond the classroom reinforce the learning in the classroom as students grow and develop into young thinkers and scientists. 

This article is the second of a two-part report about learning outside the classroom, published in our continuing series exploring how local schools are addressing the teaching of science and its related fields technology, engineering, and mathematics — collectively referred to as STEM. This independently-reported series in The Recorder is made possible by a grant from Regeneron.