A deep breath, a quick step outside, and a wide open window – all simple actions, yet dramatically significant to not only us, but to our environment. On the big gray rug, panting filled the room as I led an interactive lesson on CO₂ in just my first few weeks as a CONNECT intern with Dr. Christine Lee and Demonstration Teacher Alice Schatz’s Intermediate classroom. I jogged in place with the students to foster awareness of the impact of CO₂ on the body. Specifically, how too much CO₂ and not enough oxygen led to effects from dizziness to a lack of focus. Shortly after the exercise, I asked the students, “How do you feel?” and “What happens if you don’t let the CO₂ out of your body?” Over the last two quarters, I witnessed students develop a connection between their body, their actions, and their classroom, as all interdependent. This interdependence showcases how environmental education encouraged environmental action through practices of reciprocity.
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Lessons Learned from Being a CONNECT Intern: Reflecting on Research on Healthy Classroom Air Qualities
Environmental Education, Playful Learning
A few weeks ago, CONNECT interns presented our research, “Our Relationship to the Classroom: Student Agency and Reciprocity for Environmental Education,” at UCLA Research Week. It was a Zoom presentation in front of peers and educators, followed by a Q&A. Presenting in front of that audience, I felt the familiar nervousness that comes with presenting. But what grounded me was realizing I had watched the whole story unfold throughout the school year. Putting that story into words for an outside audience gave me the chance to step back and see what we had been doing all year, and what I got to witness as an intern.
In my last post, I wrote about the two inquiry lessons my team co-designed with CONNECT Researcher Dr. Christine Lee and Demonstration Teacher Alice Schatz, where we introduced her intermediate class to the importance of CO₂ and air quality.
Read MoreWelcome Disruptions: Healing Narration Sickness with Wordless Books
Environmental Education, Playful Learning
“Meow meOW MEOWWW,” the student read, getting louder. Embodying Mr. Wuffles, he started hissing and scratching at the pages, until a classmate interjected, “I don’t think this is what cats sound like”. The student then pointed to the open page of the wordless book Mr. Wuffles!, which featured an illustration of Mr. Wuffles (a cat) wrestling with a miniature spaceship. Still concerned by his classmate’s interjection, he looked at me and asked if he was reading the right way. Suddenly pulled from being an observer to an active participant in their discussion, I was taken aback. I have been observing and getting to know wordless picture books, witnessing how they invite students to engage in interactive storytelling and narrative freedom over what to say and how to say it. To dictate how a student should read a wordless book felt like a contradiction.
Read MoreBuilding Relationships with Air
Environmental Education, Inquiry
Growing up, in the public schools I attended, lessons were from a scripted textbook and followed a predictable structure: read the assigned pages, complete the packet, turn it in, take a quiz, move on to the next unit. Looking back, that traditional way of learning lacked connection to the real world. I never interacted and engaged with what I was learning about, and because of that, I don’t think I truly understood how the world works. The things I’ve learned stayed on paper and in the classroom. Everything was so removed and isolated and I rarely got to work with and learn with others. It was always up to me, and how well I was able to complete a worksheet and take a quiz all on my own.
Read MoreMathematical Playgrounds: Counting Collections at UCLA
CGI Math
At UCLA Lab School, counting means so much more than one, two, three. Professor Megan Franke’s course, EDUC 134: Early Childhood Mathematics Education, introduced me to the importance of counting and operation skills that form the mathematical foundations of early childhood learning. Throughout the course, I explored the creative strategies teachers use to engage children with counting collections. I observed how students exhibit diverse strategies: some arrange the collections linearly, while others classify items by visual attributes such as color, shape, or even type of animal. I witnessed their growing sense of grouping, pattern recognition, and spatial relations, which are crucial to students’ mathematical experiences.
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