Assessment Students completed pre and post surveys that had questions such as “what is marine debris” and which probed their atti- tudes to consumerism and waste. Not surprisingly, the post surveys revealed higher content knowledge and significant attitude changes about how our daily choices can negatively affect the environment. Student responses included: • “I had not realized there was so much trash in the ocean or on our beaches. It makes me want to do more clean ups and tell others about this problem.”


• “I learned about science in a way that was fun and makes me like science more.”


• “I liked being able to decide if I wanted to make videos or do photography. I did photography and enjoyed taking photos of not only debris but also of nature to show the beauty.”


• “I liked that the book and our writing related to the rest of the class. It made reading and writing more interesting.”


• “I liked making sculptures from the debris. When we were collecting the trash I had no idea that we would get creative and make sculptures from it.”


Lessons learned: Challenges and


Successes Over the course of the three years I taught the program, not a lot changed in curriculum from one year to the next. In the last year, when I met with the school, we decided that the school would assign a writing/English teacher and the art teacher made the art section more in depth. This was done to allow me to focus on the science and to involve the school’s teachers more since I knew it would be my last year teach- ing the course. The marine debris study ranged from comparing the


same beach over a few weeks to comparing two different beaches. Field trips were included the second year and guest speakers varied. I asked a local State Assembly Member to come since he was working on legislation that related to the course content, and he did, which added a connection to political action. The obvious challenge in running a similar program


for students with behavior problems the organization of the course. Those not used to working with ‘at-risk’ learners need to read about useful strategies beforehand. There were times some students would not show up for class. I worked around this, but it made it difficult to keep groups running smoothly. Anticipating this can help you adjust your lessons and find ways to work with such students so they can be suc- cessful in the course. For example, near the end of the course we set aside a few weeks for those who had missed days for working on the posters/presentations and art projects While students’ language may be shocking to some, I


chose to not allow it to draw attention away from the work of the class. Small classes, like large, can bring challenges. I would suggest that the class size be determined by your comfort level, the size of facilities, and with consideration of the learners. I found that small classes made it harder to create groups to work on projects, but they did allow me to provide more time to work individually with students on their science process skills, hypothesis writing and technol- ogy skills. Shy students are always a challenge, but within our small classes, these students were talking and partici-


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pating more by the end. The inverse of course is the louder students. Keeping active learning in mind, students who need more attention should be kept busy and finding ways to allow these students to be spokespeople for group work can alleviate disruption while serving their needs. At first, I was an outsider to the school and my students


needed to bond with, and trust me. Trust is important when working with at-risk students. This took a few weeks, but was built through compassion, caring, listening and giving them a voice and decision-making roles. Another more minor challenge was the weather. The


central coast of California can be windy, foggy and cold. On cold, foggy days when the beach cleanups were scheduled, students were not motivated. During warmer, sunny days, they wanted to run and play. To adjust for this, I shortened the data gathering (i.e. beach cleanup) time and allowed more time for exploring. Most of the students commented that they had either rarely or never been to the beach, mainly due to a lack of transportation, (the beach is about two miles from their school). From the viewpoint of the school, the students, the


funders and myself, this program was successful. It was enjoyable to teach and I learned as much from the students as they did from me. I watched students who seemed “hard” at first reveal their own beautiful personalities as the course progressed. Students who felt they were not good at science showed skills that demonstrated that they can do science. Watching their confidence blossom and seeing their skills develop along with their thinking about future careers and college, reminded me why I teach. I would like to leave you with one more quote from Effective Alternative Education Programs, “So many of our at-risk learners are merely unchallenged, inquisitive learners who have never been allowed to create, inquire, or explore their own ideas.” This program allowed students to learn content while they were allowed to create, inquire and explore their own ideas. While integrated learning helps all learners, it can especially help those at-risk to be more engaged with the learning process and to retain more; And programs like this have a social jus- tice aspect, because they help those who are otherwise fall- ing through the cracks to more effectively learn and explore careers, college, and life.


Natalie Zayas Delgado teaches environmental science and environmental studies courses at California State Uni- versity, Monterey Bay. She has taught Pre-K through adult courses for 17 years.


Notes


1. Jacobs, Don aka Four Arrows. (2010). Last Song of the Whales. Savant Books and Publishing, Honolulu, HI 2. Kate. (2012). How to turn a cereal bo into a journal. Live, Craft, Eat.


3. Jordon, Chris. (2006). Running the numbers. www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/ rtn/#silentspring.com 4. Amador, Andres. The Art of Andres Amador. www.andresamadorarts.com


5. Meyer, Ann. (2005). M&M’s for the Scientific Method. New Exploration into Science, Technology and Math. Manhattan NY. www.scienceteacherprogram. org/genscience/AMeyer05.html


6. Beraza. S (Director). (2011). Bag It (Motion picture of DVD). USA. Reelth- ing Productions, Inc.


7. Chalker, Christopher S. and Kimila S. Brown. (1999). Effective alternative education programs. Technomic Publishing Company, Inc. Pennsylvania.


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