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The Billion Oyster Project and Curriculum and Community Enterprise for the Restoration of New York Harbor withNew York City Public Schools (BOP-CCERS) seeks to integrate harbor restoration activities with science teachers inorder to provide their students with experiential learning through environmental impact in New York City with thevision that public school students in New York City can benefit from environmental science and experiential learningwork through authentic research, data collection, and experimentation. The purpose is to engage science teachers withexperiential learning opportunities in the New York Harbor that helps them create engaging lessons for their ownstudents. It was found that teachers responded most positively to workshops that included hands-on activities,specifically the oyster restoration station trainings, classroom oyster tank setups and activities with scientists. Teachersreported that the BOP-CCERS program prepared them to support student learning of the program content and scientificresearch activities. Students who engage in real-world science are more likely to see the relevance of science and seethemselves working toward a career pathway in STEM.
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High School students' perspective of active learning in a remote classroom
The delivery mode of education for many high school students changed recently, confining students to attend classes virtually from home. Remote learning can sometimes give students fewer experiential learning opportunities. A focus group discussion was carried out with 35 high school students to explore their perception of their learning environment as it relates to active learning in a remote instruction delivery classroom. Kolb’s experiential learning theory was used to guide this study. The qualitative data gathered were analyzed thematically. Analysis from the data showed that remote learning impacted students’ ability to support each other in project-based learning processes. The effect of remote learning also impacted students' access to peer group resources, materials, and tools needed for effective project-based learning. Results showed that some students preferred working with other students cooperatively on project-based activities while other students preferred working individually on project-based activities. The findings show that team building in high school students continues to be a challenge irrespective of the learning environment, either face-to-face or remote classrooms. Hence, educators have to continue to find ways to strengthen team-work and team building among the students.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1849430
- PAR ID:
- 10294477
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2021 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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