FES is a rural Title I school located in the heart of the Central Valley. The Central Valley is an area predominately consisting of agriculture and students involved in the sector. The students I serve range from transitional kindergarten to 8th grade. My student population is heavily influenced by its migrant status. Because of their background and as a part of a new initiative at our school site, we are pushing our students to become immersed in S.T.E.M. and the careers that fall under the categories.
As a teacher, I want to challenge myself to continue to push my students and their involvement in the sciences.
My student population is one that is motivated by an immersed classroom that provides them the opportunity to interact with content in a way that reflects their day to day life and the world that is growing around them.
My Project
Our school gives students the opportunity to take 3 elective classes of their choice on Wednesday of each week. This gives students the opportunity to take a class that they do not get to experience during a regular school day, such as Agriculture, Robotics, Drama, Educational Pathway, and many others. I get the pleasure of teaching junior high students anatomy of the human body.
We are a one to one iPad school and infusing technology like the virtual reality app, Virtuali-Tee, to enhance our curriculum is a priority.
The Curisoscope Virtuali - Tee gives the students the perfect opportunity to use technology while learning about some of the body systems. Students will wear a shirt that has a been printed with a special code. Once an iPad is held up to the shirt they can see a virtual digestive system, skeletal system, circulatory system, or urinary system.
Students will be using the virtual reality technology to complete research on different diseases that can affect each of these systems. In order to complete the research, students need to know the different components of each system and how they work together. It is not just about memorizing parts, it is more about how the parts work together to make the system function correctly. For the culminating activity, students will dissect a rat and identify different organs from the systems they studied using the Virtuali-Tee program.
This elective also supports students that would like to participate in the Health Sciences Pathway at the local high school.
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