Coal Garden

Kellie Wood reminded me that I had promised to post a recipe for a coal garden to our project blog.

I have done these crystal gardens many times and they work every time and the students love to watch it grow and change. This can stimulate so many lessons. Students can explore the chemistry behind the changes taking place on the coal as the crystals form. Another interesting discussion is the "growth" of the crystals. Students can be asked to defend whether the crystals are alive based on the growth.

Other than the coal, the ingredients are available at most grocery stores. If you are younger, you may have never used bluing in laundry. However, bluing is available in laundry areas of many grocery stores, especially older stores.

The easy instructions are HERE.


http://www.easy-homemade-recipes.com/crystal-garden.html

2012 Dates Announced

Applications for the 2012 collaborative project are available to you for preview HERE but will be released to all Cabell County science, math and social studies teachers on February 1.

Classes will be conducted at the Cabell County Central Office computer lab from 3:30 - 6:30 on the following Thursdays:

• March 1
• March 8
• March 15
• March 29

These Thursday classes will be structured much like the classes in 2011 and will include a mix of instruction in science and history, technology and guest speakers.

In addition to the Thursday classes, field work will take place on Saturday, April 21. This session will allow participants to conduct environmental evaluation, including water quality work similar to the 2011 project. A study of local trees will follow in the field.

The culminating field trip is set for July 15-21 and will include stops around the state of importance to the rail and forest products industries.

As with previous projects, applicants must agree to participate in all aspects of the project including the Thursday and Saturday classes, the July culminating experience, development of an educational blog and production of lesson plans that are implemented in the classroom.

While it is hoped that participants from the 2011 Coal Project will apply, please keep in mind that no one is assured a spot in the 2012 Forest and Rail Transport Project. All applicants will be selected on the basis of the application.

Application for the 2012 Project

Applications for the 2012 experiential learning collaborative between Cabell County Schools, Marshall University, the June Harless Center and the Rahall Transportation Institute are now available to participants in the 2011 Coal Project.
Applications are due in to Karen McClanahan no later than 5 pm on Thursday, February 16, 2012. This opportunity to apply will be extended to all Cabell County teachers on February 1, 2012 but the steering committee wanted to give our folks an opportunity to begin their applications before they are released to other educators. While we hope that the 2011 participants apply, please note that participation in previous projects does not assure a place in the 2012 project. You must still apply and be selected based on your application.
Please prepare your application and response to the required writing and send to Karen before the February 16 deadline. Please take time to prepare a quality essay since we expect that there will be a number of applications and the selection process may be quite competitive since we have a limited number of spaces in the project.
The information and application can be downloaded HERE.

Happy New Year!

As 2011 closed and we start 2012, it is time to start thinking about our Forest Products and Rail Transport project for 2012. This will be another interdisciplinary experiential learning project building on the success of the 2010 and 2011 projects.

It appears that the class will be Thursday evenings in March and April from 4-6:30 pm. We are working on a schedule similar to the 2011 project with time split between forestry and rail science and history, technology tools and guest speakers. Like the 2011 project, some outstanding speakers are being considered. The trip for the culminating project is scheduled for July 15-20, 2012 and will probably have a format similar to the previous two summers.

Although a great deal of planning has already gone into the 2012 project, like all good teachers, we always want to use “lessons learned” to build upon and improve what we do. That is where your feedback is so important. We have prepared a survey so you may provide feedback to assist in planning and to make the 2012 project even better than the previous interdisciplinary experiential learning project collaborating Cabell County Schools, the June Harless Center at Marshall University, Rahall Transportation Institute and industry partners.

The survey can be accessed from January 2 through January 20 (nearly three weeks) for your input. We are asking for names of respondents so we can determine who has responded. We will not be looking at the responses of individuals but consensus data on what has worked well and what needs improvement for 2012.

The link to the survey is HERE.

It is important that you respond to the survey by January 20.

As additional notes, you will be notified soon about the distribution of the now complete DVD of the 2011 project. This documentary format video provides an excellent view of our overall project especially focusing on the culminating summer experience. Also, Karen will be releasing applications for the 2012 project soon. As with previous projects, applications for the 2012 project will include an essay that includes planned classroom implementation strategies and plans.

December updates

As the semester winds down and we get ready for Christmas break, I wanted to send some updates from the 2011 project and an advance notice of the 2012 adventure.

• Building on their success with the presentation of the coal project to the West Virginia Science Teachers' Association, Kellie and Danielle have submitted a proposal to present at the state professional development schools conference. If their proposal is accepted, they will share our course and trip (as well as this blog) with educators from around the state.
• Josh & Dan have been working hard to complete the video journal from the coal trip. They had so much video footage to use that it was very difficult for them to select segments that represents all we did on the trip and keep the total length to about 30 minutes. These two videographers have done great work that we can all be proud to share as a product of our study. They hope to have the videos ready for distribution soon.
• To help with planning for the 2012 project, we will soon be sending a survey to the 2011 coal project participants. The goal of the survey is to provide feedback on what worked well with the coal project and where we need to make changes. We sincerely want to give you the best experience we can possibly provide to transform your classrooms. Feedback from you is the best way we can continue to serve you better. The survey link will be announced soon on this blog.
• Plans for the 2012 project continue to take shape. The topic will be forest products and rail transport in West Virginia. These two industries are so closely tied that it would be counterproductive to attempt to separate them for our study. As with the coal project, we will study the history and science of these industries as well as the art, music, economics, literature, mathematics and culture. Right now it looks like the course will take place on Thursday evenings in March and April (4-6:30 pm). The trip is planned for July 15-20. Please keep in mind that all plans are tentative at this point but we wanted to give the 2011 coal participants an early "heads-up" regarding 2012 plans. Applications will be distributed by Karen after you return from Christmas break.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year. I look forward to working with you soon for the 2012 Forest and Rail Transport project.

Blair Mountain Resources

I had an email from my friend, Julian Martin, this week with information and links to resources from the group wishing to preserve Blair Mountain as a historical site.

Please keep in mind that the authors of the site do not, nor do they perport to, offer multiple perspectives of the Blair Mountain issue. This has been the case with most resources that we have utilized in our project, whether pro-coal, anti-coal, or whatever stand the material takes. However, these are concerned citizens with a true desire to preserve an area with importance to the Labor movement and the state's mining history. I would think that you would benefit from reviewing this website in the context of our course and culminating field experience.

A resource that may be of particular interest is the section containing lesson plans focusing on the middle school level.

There is also an interactive map illustrating events from the march up Blair Mountain in 1921.

The Journey Up Coal River website also may provide information of interest to you.

Presentation to WVSTA

Kellie Wood and Danielle Bray will be presenting the Cabell
County Coal Project at the West Virginia Science Teachers’ Association
conference at Flatwoods. Their session
will be presented on Friday, November 4, from 8 – 9 am in the Braxton Room of
the Sutton Day’s Hotel.
Please plan to come to the session on Friday morning if you
will be attending WVSTA this year.
Danielle and Kellie have put together a presentation that will allow
science educators from around the state to understand the project and to access
your unit plans to do coal based lessons in their schools.