Brooklyn, New York
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Global warming is a controversial topic with international implications. But the immensity and complexity of the issue can make a threat like melting polar ice caps seem far removed from the day-to-day life of an eighth-grader in a place like Brooklyn, New York.
Teacher Marlene McGarrity at Christa McAuliffe Intermediate School managed to get her students more excited about learning what causes global warming—and what steps scientists are investigating as possible solutions—when she incorporated robotics and other technologies into a science unit.
Working with a diverse group of eighth-graders whose first languages include Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Greek, McGarrity first had students use the Internet and online encyclopedias to research the difference between global warming and ozone depletion. Students took their research deeper by interviewing an expert about the Kyoto Protocol. They used email to pose questions and exchange information.
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Teams built a robot named Clawdia, capable of traveling across (simulated) Arctic terrain
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