Learning beyond the classroom
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Keshav Narasimhan and his AP Biology class hit the halls to learn about biology in a setting other than the classroom. With a more interactive style of learning, students can stay more engaged in the material.
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Working on their own project in the rotunda, AP Human Geography students, freshmen Samantha Umali and Nathan Chen map the school.
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Standing outside the lecture hall, freshmen Dmithi Obideiko and Arjun Gnanavel discuss how to sketch out a map of the school as part of an AP Human Geography project on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019.
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The class can be seen in all parts of the building, learning new material, and completing classwork.
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While AP Human Geography and AP Biology students were inside, Astronomy students like senior Michael Torres spent part of class outside. “Astronomy is all about looking at patterns in the sky, the sun, moon, stars,” Astronomy teacher Kenric Davies said. “So you have to get out of the classroom in order to see the sky, so we do as much as you can.”
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Signs lined the main hallway of the school and the rotunda as part of an AP Biology project designed to help students to learn about the life of a cell and how things move in and out of one.
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Working in front of the school, astronomy students work on a project the involved the scale of the solar system.
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AP Human Geography students take part in an activity scattered throughout the hallways and rotunda. Students in AP Biology and astronomy also participate in lessons that include assignments outside of the classroom.
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On the other side of the windows from the cafeteria, freshman Samantha Umali and Nathen Chen are utilizing their time outside of the classroom to learn about human geography in a new way by working in pairs to map the school.
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Multiple courses on campus ventured out to the hallways and rotunda on Wednesday in an attempt to heighten engagement and excitement in AP Biology, AP Human Geography, and Astronomy.
“I think it’s more engaging, kids are more interested in it, and it’s more fun than me just sitting there and giving them the notes,” AP Biology teacher Richard Sabatier said. “With this activity, we’re seeing how information goes from the nucleus, getting into a protein, leaving the cell. So they get actually walk that and visually see that, so it helps it stick better, and it’s more fun for me too. If we were in the classroom, we wouldn’t be able to move around as much, and they wouldn’t be able to get that experience of seeing how stuff is actually moving through the cell.”
Analyzing space and celestial objects is part of astronomy, and teacher Kenric Davies believes activities outside of the classroom promote exposure to course topics.
“Astronomy is all about looking at patterns in the sky, the sun, moon, stars, so you have to get out of the classroom in order to see the sky, so we do as much as you can,” Davies said. “We have a simulation software called Stellarium, that we use when we need to look at something that’s not visible during the day; if we’re not outside of the classroom, we’re using the simulation software. I think if they literally see what we’re talking about, like how the sun is moving in the course of 30 minutes, it means a little bit more than just looking at it on the computer screen where someone coded it.”
Senior Christine Le believes activities outside and in the hallways allow her to further understand the connection between classroom lessons and the real world.
“Doing activities in astronomy outside of the classroom really helps me see what we are studying first hand,” Le said. “It’s also more interactive and engaging to be able to apply the topics we learn and see how it applies to the real world.”
Although AP Biology and astronomy are usually upperclassmen courses, freshman Ashley Weidenbach got a taste of what’s to come as AP Human Geography includes a hands-on curriculum as well.
“Working outside the classroom makes the class feel more flexible and relaxed, and it allows me to work with people outside of just a table group and learn in a tactile way,” Weidenbach said. “I think if we did the activities we do just sitting at desks and stuff, it would be way less fun and would make hard concepts more difficult to understand because we wouldn’t be able to learn it hands on.”
Aaron Boehmer is a senior and in his fourth year of working on the Wingspan staff, third as an editor. Aaron is hoping to study journalism or political...
