THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 21, 1996 TAG: 9610210056
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 87 lines
It was what educators call a ``teachable moment.''
Hovering over a tray that students had filled with feathery green plants, insects and a few tiny shrimp, Portsmouth teacher Paul Sarandria spotted a water scorpion. He pointed it out to several Portsmouth middle school students visiting the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Friday.
``Look at it. Look at what it's doing. Its head is down but its tail is up. Why?'' the seventh-grade science teacher asked.
``So it can breathe!'' a girl exclaimed. ``It's breathing through its tail.''
And so the day went, with eighth-graders from Portsmouth's Hunt-Mapp Middle School connecting what they had learned in classes with what they were discovering for themselves, and teachers pushing them to question, search for answers and solve problems.
The overnight outing to conduct scientific experiments in the field, collect information and transmit data back to school via personal computers was the second Hunt-Mapp had sponsored for a group of students in its Aerospace Magnet Program.
It was the type of experience that helps make learning relevant for youngsters, organizers said.
And students relished every moment. Like the time spent gathering and sorting different types of water organisms.
Or Sarandria's display of his familiarity with nature when he rinsed off one of the shrimp right there in the freshwater and then nibbled a piece of its tail.
Or some other students' finding that smaller grains of sand tend to wind up behind dunes because they weigh less and are easily blown by the wind.
``I learned a lot about different types of creatures and where they live and everything,'' said 12-year-old Stephanie Lassiter, sizing up the trip Saturday morning.
``I think I'll have a head start on things because, you know, now I've actually done some of these things myself,'' she said.
Said 15-year-old Chad Williams: ``When you're learning and having fun at the same time, you pay more attention.''
There was plenty of light-hearted ribbing among students.
And, like the grown-ups, they complained about cold, rainy weather early Saturday morning at a nearby campground where the 17 students and five teachers had set up tents.
But, all told, teachers said they met a key goal of showing students that learning is an active process that works best when students engage themselves.
``Hopefully, this will encourage them to always search for new data, to pay attention to what's going on around them, to pose questions like real-life scientists and to remain curious,'' said Robert Wright, a school district technology resource teacher.
He accompanied the group and also came up with the idea for the first trip last school year.
Sixth-grade science teacher Anna-Marie Davis said the trip gave teachers ``time to get to know students better.''
It showed students ``that we're regular people, too. It helped build better relationships all around,'' she said.
For students, one of the trip's highlights came Friday evening, when they returned to Holiday Trav-L Park to put their data into one of two computers set up on a picnic table.
They had recorded information on everything from the anatomy of aquatic animals they found to trash they collected along the beach.
Their faces beamed as Wright connected the necessary computer gadgets and showed them how to send the data to Hunt-Mapp in e-mail messages through the school district's bulletin board networking service.
Their work will be part of classroom lessons this week.
Some students were still at it after nightfall, exchanging messages with teachers and other students who spent several hours at Hunt-Mapp late Friday to review the information and begin preliminary analysis.
The student campers joked that this felt nothing like school, with the glow from a computer screen, an outdoor lantern and a small camp fire piercing the darkness.
At Hunt-Mapp Friday night, Linda Ridenour, who coordinates the school's magnet program, said she hoped students would better understand that learning is not limited to ``reading a chapter, answering the questions at the end and taking the test.''
``The bottom line,'' she said, ``is that we want to keep them motivated.'' ILLUSTRATION: MIKE HEFFNER photos
The Virginian-Pilot
Above, from left, David Norfleet, 15; Juan Lee, 14; Michelle Cooke,
13; Stephanie Lassiter, 12; and Charles Crocker, 13, collect samples
of aquatic life during a field trip to Back Bay National Wildlife
Refuge last Friday. The students are part of the Aerospace Magnet
Program at Portsmouth's Hunt-Mapp Middle School. At right, students
use microscopes to examine aquatic insects in the field. by CNB