Applied Science Electives
Kuss Middle School, Fall River
All students at Kuss have one 88-minute science elective each week led by a Kuss teacher. Students choose among the following courses: Forensics, Science Olympiad, Weather Watchers, Ham Radio, Engineering and Construction, Robotics, or Astronomy. Each of these options is a 20-week elective, with students switching halfway through the year so they are able to take two science electives in different areas. In Forensics class, students learn how to create a facial reconstruction using a mannequin head and clay while in Weather Watchers students measure wind speed and wind direction and construct anemometers. In Engineering and Construction, students may experiment with framing a house or building a skyscraper, while considering how to make the building earthquake-proof. In Robotics, students create robots that can dance, spin, and walk, while many students from the Ham Radio course end up becoming licensed in it. Click here to read about the Kuss “Weather Balloon” project in spring 2008, which was featured in the Fall River Herald News.
Green River Watershed Project
Newton Elementary School, Greenfield
Science curriculum at the Newton Elementary School, science curriculum was expanded in a new and exciting way with ELT. The entire 4th grade studied salmon and the local environment along the Green River in partnership with Artspace and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The project incorporated ELA, science, and art standards and is jointly taught by an art teacher and a 4th grade teacher. The course runs twice a week for 30 weeks and includes studying watershed pollution; recycling, including artist Matthew Leighton’s recycled art projects; wrote and created books about the salmon life-cycle; crafted model salmon from cla; grew salmon from eggs and alevin in a tank; grew brine shrimp for salmon food; and released fish into the Green River. Students ended the course by creating a large, mixed media picture book about salmon, their environment, and life cycle entitled, Surviving the Odds.
Zoo Keeping
Edwards and Umana Middle Schools, Boston
Zoo Keeping is offered as a 10-week apprenticeship to 24 students participating in the Citizen Schools programs at both the Edwards and Umana as part of their expanded school day, in partnership with Zoo New England. The class meets once a week for 90 minutes. Working alongside a professional zoo-keeper and Citizen Schools staff, students have the chance to design and create items to “enhance the zoo experience” for animals as well as guests. Classes take place both on-site at the schools and off-site at the Stone Zoo in nearby Stoneham, Mass.
FitMath
Kuss Middle School, Fall River
Kuss is one of two ELT schools offering a “FitMath” elective as part of its expanded school day. The goal of FitMath, a program offered through many 21st Century Community Learning Centers across Massachusetts, is “to blend the guiding principals in the Massachusetts Department of Education Mathematics and Comprehensive Health Curriculum Frameworks, by utilizing aerobics and fitness as a means to support a better understanding of mathematical vocabulary and concepts.” At Kuss, the class is offered as an 80-minute, twice-a-week, mixed-grade elective and is taught by a Kuss teacher. Students exercise together and use math concepts like graphing and measurement to track their progress.
Math and Animation Residency
Boston Arts Academy, Boston
Animator Pell Osborne, program developer of Motion Arts and LineStorm, was an artist-in-residence at Boston Arts Academy (BAA) in 2007–08. In the second year of a two-year program funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Mr. Osborne worked in Math 3 classes, teaching students about quadratic functions through the art of animation. Many BAA students struggle with math; some have had poor math education in the lower grades, while other struggle with learning disabilities and/or second language issues. By integrating the arts into the math curriculum, this project succeeded in engaging students of all abilities. It improved their understanding of quadratic equations, showed them a practical application of mathematics, and increased their interest in the subject.
