SOLEDAD >> Ms. Frizzle’s students are used to the weird things that happen in her classroom, like going to the first Thanksgiving or chasing after birds to see where they live.
Something unusual indeed happens in “The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge,” where Tim, Wanda, Dorothy Ann, Ralphie and Keesha jump on the bus with “The Friz” — as they affectionately call their eccentric teacher — and get to see how the polar caps are melting and how energy from renewable sources is produced.
The adventures of Ms. Frizzle and her students are well known across the United States and have been typically used in English language development classes. But given its scientific potential, the book about climate change will be used for science lessons in the Salinas Valley as new science standards are implemented across California.
“How do we re-engage in science education after years of focusing on English and math?” Mark O’Shea, professor of education and leadership at CSU Monterey Bay, asked a group of about 80 teachers. “Let’s start from that.”
On Wednesday, teachers and administrators of El Camino Education Alliance put together a workshop called “Inquiry through Literacy,” a professional development afternoon for teachers to get ideas on how to implement the Next Generation Science Standards.
Coming soon to classrooms near you, the Next Generation Science Standards were developed by professional associations of scientists and teachers interested in revamping how science is taught in the classroom.
Much like the Common Core, the new standards focus more on interpreting and analyzing data rather than memorizing facts. They place a great emphasis on practices such as asking questions and defining problems and conducting investigation.
“The intent is to look deeply into core disciplinary ideas (e.g. Ecosystems, heredity and evolution, organization of living things from molecules to organisms) rather than memorization of science facts,” O’Shea wrote in an email. “The content is also organized to develop key concepts of science and engineering: patterns, causes and effects, scale, proportion and quantity, systems and system models, energy and matter, structure and function, and stability and change.”
The new standards are supposed to be in place for the 2018-19 school year. And while every school district could do its own professional development to get their teachers up to speed, the consortium established three years ago allows for greater camaraderie and efficiency.
“Let’s say we wanted to make sure all the second-grade teachers knew the standards well,” O’Shea said. “Well, it’s difficult to go into one district and find seven or eight teachers to prepare them, but if you ask all the teachers in South Monterey County, 20 may show up to learn more about the responsibility together and it’s an economy of scale. You have enough people to bring together under one place to bring down the cost.”
El Camino Education Alliance was formed in 2014 with the help of an $8.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help teachers in the Salinas Valley. The group is made up of educators from Gonzales, Soledad, Greenfield and King City school districts and an estimated 80 to 100 teachers have participated in each of the events it’s organized.
“It’s pretty unique we’re able to get four districts to collaborate and work together,” said Sophia Vicuña, project coordinator. “That’s very unusual.”
On Wednesday, about 80 teachers fanned across a dozen tables covered with books at the Soledad High gym. In addition to “The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge,” teachers had “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” “The Great Kapok Tree,” “The Three Little Pigs,” “My Grandma is a Ninja,” “The Dandelion Seed” and several others.
“Half of the books were identified by teachers,” Vicuña said.
When the teachers come together, they read the book and go through the activities as if they were the students in the classroom. Maria Ramos, a second grade teacher in Soledad, uses “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” to teach about the life cycle of a butterfly.
“Science is my favorite subject,” she said. “I like to get activities (students) will love. Instead of just sitting down they’ll get to talk and discuss and they learn life science.”
Three years ago, when the alliance was formed, it felt weird to have all the teachers from different districts in a room, said Dianne Witwer, director of student services at Soledad Unified School District.
“Now we’re like friends,” she said.
Claudia Meléndez Salinas can be reached at 726-4370.
