News
Fusing Global Cultures and Science
Sixth grade science and global cultures classes concluded their year of project-based learning with an impressive Global Science Showcase.
Sixth grade teachers Patricia King (history) and Kipton Tugman (science) fused their separate disciplines with several curricular experiences and projects this year. Investigation, reflection, and cooperation are only some of the words that can describe their project-based learning adventure.
A Global Science Showcase for parents and friends on Tuesday, May 2, reflected the yearlong learning with a display of projects, notebooks, maps, post-it boards, and Green Screen photo opportunities. “The purpose of the showcase,” said Global Science teacher Patricia King, “is three fold. It’s the culmination of several integrated activities between my class and science; it’s student-centered, student-driven, student-designed, and student-staffed; and it showcases process over product – not creating one new project to share but instead thinking about what we’ve learned, how we’ve learned it, and how we should show that to others.”
Using the medium of several interdisciplinary experiences, the students shared their achievements using visible thinking, project-based learning, inquiry, and human-centered design thinking. Early research for the design thinking projects involved reading A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park and researching the world’s refugee crisis.
In science’s Refugee Body System Project, student groups designed answers to “How might we design something to help a refugee’s specific body system work better while traveling to and/or life in a refugee camp?” The science students created designs for possible solutions to problems with respiratory, integumentary (skin), circulatory, digestive, immune, and skeletal systems. They then presented their designs to GPS faculty and people in the outside community.
One sixth grader said the project design from her group allowed her “to be imaginative and come up with cool ideas.” Another said she gained empathy during the process by “actually relating to a problem and understanding what someone is going through.”
The science classes also studied the structure of a cell by comparing it to a country in Africa. For example, students took the basic parts of a cell such as the mitochondria (produces energy for a cell) and found how their assigned country obtained most of its energy.
Other “Global Science” experiences during the year involved mapping and looking into the “culture” of the science laboratory at GPS. Students then applied that knowledge to their work with the culture of GPS. The students interviewed alumnae and researched old yearbooks, the centennial, and the website to learn about the history, beliefs, traditions, norms, rules, and values of their school. As they studied other cultures, they focused on those same specifics.
The fusion of science and social studies was so well received and successful that the two teachers will be presenting their curriculum and ideas at the National Coalition of Girls Schools’ annual conference in Washington, D.C. this summer. 
