Growing Kids Who Care He takes me to Hoquarton Slough
City Park, which staff and middle-school students have created from scratch on the site of an old lumber mill and city dump. It now boosts the local economy by providing canoeing opportunities on the adjoining river.
He tells the story of how some of the School District ‘at-risk’ kids are running the interpretative center on Hwy 6. ‘It’s a beautiful center. It would have shut down for the winter due to the Oregon budget situation but our kids kept it running – that was their project as a team. They are delivering educational programmes to adults from all over the State and really from all over the world...’ We visit South Prairie Elementary School, who have a large area of wild land next to the school and a small salmon hatchery which they use for environmental education. But it is the High School Advanced
Hayden Bush, son of a dairy farmer faced with high fuel prices, has extracted biodiesel from the
invasive Scotch Broom and has forged a business partnership with the local Tillamook Creamery to extract bioethanol from waste whey.
Citizen scientists in the community Developing Citizen
Scientists at Tillamook High School
connecting the six schools in the Tillamook School District with their community and with School Districts State-wide. Ed’s background is as a biology teacher at Tillamook
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HS from 1995-2000 when the school was one of 25 national Annenburg Schools for science. He returned after a break in 2004 to become grant writer for the entire School District, and, using this wider influence and the $6m of grants he has secured, has been at the centre of a small revolution in science teaching in Tillamook which has been internationally recognised. He says, ‘Its really about relationships. It’s a long-term
process. It’s not ‘speed-dating’. It’s about how different classes interweave into the community.’ With the support of Bruce Rhodes, the THS Principal, Clair Thomas, the co-ordinator of the Natural Science Program since 2005, and staff like biology teacher Melissa Radcliffe and agriculture teacher Max Sherman, Ed has nurtured an approach to teaching and learning which is based on ‘citizen science’ – problem-solving within the immediate environment and local community.
n 8th May I meet Ed Armstrong, grant writer for Tillamook School District, outside Tillamook High School in northwest Oregon. I’m here to find out about the amazing work Ed and others have been doing in
Science program that impresses me most. Hayden, Tod and Christa, all 12th Graders about to graduate, describe some of their science projects, with the help of the professional-quality scientific posters they have produced using school equipment. Christa has extracted taxols (a group of
chemicals used in cancer treatment) from artichoke roots grown in hydroponic systems. Tod has assessed the causes of and solutions to pollution in the creek running behind the school. He has just joined the local Watershed Council. He says, ‘It’s been a real eye-opener to me to be part of that. Basically what I’ve come to see is that people will change when they’re educated and made to understand why’. Hayden, a dairy farmer himself faced with high fuel prices, has extracted biodiesel from the invasive Scotch Broom. Other projects include investigating the salt tolerance of invasive New Zealand snails, extracting bioethanol from waste whey from Tillamook Creamery and using rods to grow diatoms used in biofuel production. The common theme of all these projects is that they work closely with local business and other local partners to identify and solve common local challenges.
The seniors make use of a science trailer, fitted out with the latest field science equipment, both for their own field work and when they themselves teach science at the local elementary schools. The school has an Advanced Science laboratory with University-level equipment which THS students use for their projects.
I chat with Melissa Radcliffe, whose approach to teaching and learning has helped to shape the school’s science programme. She says, ‘We are creating thoughtful people. When I look at my students I think of them in the context of future voters and future parents. Which means they have to be able to look at the world around them and make good decisions based on ‘the data’ that they have – to cut through the superfluous stuff and see the facts’. She believes in the importance of linking students to the place in which they live – ‘Place is really important. If you can get kids to bloom where they’re planted and take ownership of the area around, they’re going to be more likely to come back and be those good citizens that we need
www.clearingmagazine.org/online CLEARING 2011
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