Chapter 16: From Textbooks and Tests to Problems and Projects

At precisely 11:00 A.M. the bell sounds and Mr. Douglas’ seventh grade science class begins its usual routine. Carlos dutifully copies the objectives from the board into his notebook, takes out his homework assignment, and settles in for the duration. The chapter on watersheds will be on the next test his teacher tells him. He watches the slides that flash on the screen, listens to the teacher’s explanations, and completes the questions from the textbook chapter assigned. In the quiet of the classroom his mind wanders and he wonders about what the cafeteria will be serving for lunch.

Across town Sophia and her classmates in Ms. Keylor’s class at PS 106 are gathering in their expert groups. They have been working to understand the impact that the runoff from the school playground might be having on the stream that leads to the wetlands behind the school. Sophia has just come from math class where she and her classmates were measuring the surface area of the hard top to calculate the volume of water that might have flowed in to the stream given different amounts of rain that have fallen during the last month. Today they will develop questions to ask the representative from the Environmental Protection Agency office when he comes to talk to the class on Friday. Ms. Keylor checks in with Sophie’s group, listening to their progress report and providing some suggestions before moving on to talk with the group of students using the classroom computers to access a website to learn about pollutants that adversely affect wetlands.