Middle School Students Learn Outside the Classroom
Posted on: Wednesday, 14 June 2006, 12:00 CDT
By Fiona Cohen, The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, Wash.
Jun. 14--When it came time for Whatcom Middle School's eighth grade class to do service projects, their teachers decided on a new twist - having students research and choose their own volunteer work.
"We wanted to give them a little more ownership and input," says Kerry Hermann, who teaches eighth-grade science at Whatcom Middle School.
Instead of the class splitting among four activities, the students divided into more than a dozen groups and followed their interests. Different groups built trails, worked with animals, fixed bikes, cleaned beaches and made hats for cancer patients. One group successfully applied for a grant for $1,000 for materials to convert the school's courtyard into wildlife habitat.
It took a lot of work on the part of teachers and volunteers, but it was a great experience for the students, says Hermann.
"I think it's been amazing," she says. "I had a couple of kids who, attendance-wise, weren't the greatest. They've been coming on service learning days."
Mark Peterson, president of the Whatcom Independent Mountain Pedalers, worked with a group of 10 boys building mountain bike trails on Galbraith Mountain.
"They were good workers. They listened well, and they did cool stuff so I would definitely do it again," Peterson says. "I think when you get them out in the woods and give them something to do, get them away from the in-classroom session and give them something that they're interested in, it's a lot easier to hold their attention."
The kids enjoyed it too.
"I think we lucked out on this project," says Brad Harvey, 14.
Another three students cleaned up beaches. They picked up trash at Squalicum Beach and the I and J waterway, working with RE Sources, a Bellingham environmental group, and Lynne Dial, a senior at Western Washington University's Huxley College of the Environment.
The students hauled eight bags of garbage off the beaches.
Some of the trash was weird, says Jeremy Abendhoff, 14.
"I found a really old light bulb, underwear straps, bathroom tiles," he says.
Wendy Steffensen, who works with RE Sources as the north sound baykeeper, suggested they keep track of the litter they found at each beach, so they could compare what they found, and maybe help figure out the source of the garbage. It didn't work out that way.
"I think it was data-light," she says. But that wasn't the point. The point was the kids' enthusiasm.
"Just a little taste of getting onto the beach can translate into a lifetime of caring about it," Steffensen says.
Reach Fiona Cohen at fiona.cohen@bellinghamherald. com or 715-2276.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, Wash.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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Source: The Bellingham Herald, Wash.
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