We live in a paradox, a society of consumption and waste paired with health concerns over rising obesity. The high prevalence of overweight children and unhealthy eaters within our student population highlights the importance of examining factors affecting their food choices. As educators with 27 years of collective experience in elementary education, we’ve witnessed positive changes to policies regarding school lunches and snacks, yet it is our belief that if students become more involved in the actual growing of healthy food while learning organic practices and sustainability, they are more likely to develop lifelong healthy eating habits and values consistent with sustainable living.

Hombre Farm, where organic cheese is produced and distributed locally

Therefore, we designed our Fund for Teachers fellowship to research the sustainable food movement in Italy by exploring organic gardens, specifically the first Zero-Waste town of Capannori, to influence organic gardening projects within the school community and influence students’ healthy food choices.

Italy is the European leader in organic farming, with approximately 45,000 operational organic farms – 2,300 in the Tuscan region alone. The demand for organic produce in Italy has grown significantly since World War II, thus sustainability has become a lifestyle, a culture among Italians countrywide. An essay written for NewFarm.org, states, “Italy is smaller than the state of New Mexico, but it has more land under organic management than does the entire United States.” We spent 14 days last summer researching organic farms in “the Green Heart of Italy” by:

• Exploring Rome’s role in shaping Italy’s Slow Food movement (the city is also the seat of the United Nation’s Food & Agriculture Organization)
• Interviewing owners of biological farmhouses and organic farms across Tuscany, the agricultural heart of Italy
• Touring an Anaerobic Digestion Plant to learn about the composting process
• Witnessing agriculture enhanced by a well-developed use of fertilizers and a wide net of irrigation systems in the Lombardy region
• Observing in Milan the largest collection program of organics on the planet, and,
• Experiencing the largest science and technology museum in Italy

The knowledge we acquired gave us the confidence and expertise to apply effective and efficient
teaching methods that will promote content-rich instruction. We now have the conviction and self-assurance in our understanding to share with and help other teachers, as well as our students, and to make their learning more meaningful.

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Although the impact of our fellowship in the classroom and community is just beginning, it mirrors this year’s school theme, “From Small Beginnings Come Great Things at USE,” inspired by our fellowship and new school-wide garden. T-shirts bearing the slogan were made for all the staff and sold to students and families by the PTA.  With information acquired through our meeting with the town council of Capannori during our fellowship, we are expanding our school-wide recycling program, as well as the program that donates unopened milk and food items to non-profit organizations. We are also implementing a school composting program, run by our student council, to facilitate student awareness of how prior waste becomes nutrient rich soil.

Other plans for the academic year involve students tilling and planting phases of our newly constructed organic garden. Each grade level has their own plot to tend. Students researched and identified an organic source from which to purchase different types of seeds for our soil and climate. The effort also involves collaboration with science, math and writing teachers to form lessons that incorporate:

• steps and phases of the gardening process to include research of beneficial insects
• composting and fertilizing the soil
• planting the seeds and tending the garden
• communicating and writing about patience and observations as students wait, watch and wonder, and,
• learning the significance of zero-kilometer and the slow-food movement.

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Teachers long to have first-hand knowledge and we know how important it is that our students have it, as well.  When students lack personal experiences, teachers need to be prepared to compensate and build connections. We know that with hands-on, direct and personal experiences, learning at any age becomes more evident and meaningful offering higher chances of retaining and applying the information. For teachers to be awarded the chance [through Fund for Teachers] to lend possibilities to all types of diverse learners from disparate backgrounds is an incredible gesture of graciousness and generosity.  We had ideas and plans and hopes, and we were able to live those out and return  with a renewed sense of passion and purpose ready to share, to offer and to engage with what will remain with us for the rest of our lives.

UPDATE

This month, the science team at Stephens Elementary won a $5,000 grant from the KatyISD Education Foundation for their school garden!

Stacy Slater and Becca White teach at Ursula Stephens Elementary in Katy, TX. You can follow on Twitter progress of the new school garden at @StacylSlater or using hashtag #useitaly.  

When the Ebola outbreak caught the attention of my students, I looked for ways to capitalize on that interest and help them look at the global issue through the lens of statistical modeling – but I felt ill prepared. Most of the educational materials I found online were focused on the biology of pathogens and how to spot the symptoms. One student said, “The person on the news told me not to worry, that chances of getting Ebola are low. How low is low? And isn’t there a possibility?” As a Statistics teacher, I answered, “There is always a possibility.”

That answer did not satisfy my students, nor did it satisfy me. I want my students to know that I am the kind of teacher who listens to their questions and who takes their curiosity seriously. I designed a Fund for Teachers fellowship to deepen my understanding of mathematical modeling and statistics in the context of Public Health and Epidemiology in two phases over a three-week period. For the first phase, I participated in the “Introduction to Infectious Disease Modeling and Its Applications” course at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; for the second phase I visited governmental,non-governmental, and academic institutions across the east coast of the United States.

Teaching, in many ways, is analogous to what Epidemiologists do: studying the spread of knowledge (instead of disease) and consistently planning and implementing intervention plans and measuring the impact of those interventions.

In London, I was introduced to this exciting and expanding area by professionals working on infectious diseases in both developing and developed countries. The emphasis was on developing a conceptual understanding of the basic methods and on their practical application, rather than the manipulation of mathematical equations. Back in the States, I met with experts at the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, CT, Partners in Health in Boston, and National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. I sat down with people who use Statistics in their careers to better understand the world around them, and made videos of our discussions to expose students to careers in fields that are not often covered in the media.

Throughout  my fellowship, I was reminded that learning in context is important. In math, topics can often seem random and as though you are marching through a disconnected series of rules and procedures. The learning I accomplished this summer is in a beautifully real-world context, which motivates me to keep going. I wanted to figure out the formula because I wanted to know how the average age of infection has changed since a vaccination has been introduced. After this experience, I am recommitted to the importance of students learning mathematics because so much of our understanding of science and society has foundations in algebra and statistics.

Through the lessons and projects built on the foundation of my fellowship, students will learn about careers in health and research that they can pursue and what academic background they would need to be prepared for those fields. I am excited to implement my senior-freshman health and mathematics writing buddy program this fall. I am working with the ten 9th grade Health Writing teachers to develop an Infectious Disease unit for which my AP Statistics students will serve as student mentors. I foresee great benefits for the seniors learning about writing in the math content area who will be able to turnkey that knowledge and become more confident through their work with freshmen.

I used to think about a career change from teaching to working in public health, but through my experience this summer I realized that I do work in public health- I teach statistical literacy and help students be responsible owners of their minds and bodies. I am recommitted to my career in education, realizing that I am able to effect the change I would want to through a different career right where I am.

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Eleanor Terry Vierling has been teaching math at the High School for Telecommunication Arts and Technology (HSTAT) in Brooklyn, NY, for almost 10 years. She has taught everything form numeracy to AP Statistics. Five years ago, she also took on the role of college advisor.  In 2013, Eleanor was awarded the Sloan Award for Excellence in Teaching Science and Mathematics.

Boston Public Schools closed today due to -20 degree wind chills. Sounds like the schools need some geothermal heating that Fellows Kristen Cacciatore and Mandy Dillingham researched in Iceland last summer with their Fund for Teachers grant.

These East Boston High teachers spent a week investigating the impact of climate change on Iceland’s society, educational system and natural environment to develop instructional resources that empower students to address climate change and its impacts on Boston.

“We designed our Fund for Teachers fellowship to go to the world’s leader in renewable energy generation. We gained new insight into how best to combat climate change by using renewable energy sources that do not produce carbon dioxide emissions in the place of fossil fuels. Our goal is to use these experiences and new knowledge to develop curricula that empower students to develop new ideas to change current energy practices in our school and community,” wrote Mandy.

The teachers found that Icelanders take pride in their use geothermal energy to heat water used in everything from homes to public swimming pools. After renting a car, the explored Hellisheidi, the second largest geothermal power station in the world (pictured above), hiked the Hengill Volcano and explored Pingvellir, the national park where two tectonic plates meet. They also toured an innovative greenhouse that grows tomatoes using 100% of its energy from geothermal heat.

Back in Boston (although not today) Kristen and Mandy teach a newly-developed curricula that addresses climate change and the use alternate forms of energy to alleviate carbon dioxide emissions that will be delivered to hundreds of students this year alone. They are also incorporating their fellowship learning into climate change activities with the Science Club they co-lead after school. Students are in the process of developing a series of fun, informative, video clips about climate change in our local area, and ways to conserve energy, which will be delivered on school-wide TVs.

“On our fellowship, we learned how a large community was able to vastly reduce its amount of carbon dioxide production by using geothermal heat and how this heat is converted to electricity to significantly improve the quality of life of Icelanders,” said Kristen. “And our adventures in Iceland have inspired our students to try to prevent global warming by changing how the energy they use every day is produced.”

You can learn more about their experiences on the blog they developed and updated daily for faculty, family, and students to follow.

An additional BPS teacher, Alex Pancic (Brighton High) also used his FFT grant to research energy in Iceland. Specifically, Alex enrolled in Reykjavik University’s School of Energy program to learn how Iceland maximizes alternative energy systems and incorporate these solutions, along with photos and interviews, into an Engineering for the 21st Century curriculum.