From Western NC to India and back

Charles D. Owen High School on October 18, 2017. All photos by Molly Osborne/EducationNC

On July 28, six STEM teachers from North Carolina traveled to India to learn about the Indian education system, thanks to Burroughs Wellcome Fund in partnership with the University of North Carolina and Go Global NC. After spending seven days visiting schools, universities, businesses, and nonprofits to learn about STEM education in India, the teachers returned home to start another school year.

Education NC and NCCPPR staff traveled to Asheville this week to catch up with five of the teachers and see how their trip to India has impacted their teaching this year. In partnership with the Collider, we hosted a panel with five of the teachers and Jenny Dissen from the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies, who grew up in India and has worked on their national climate assessment.

During the panel, the teachers shared how the trip to India has impacted their teaching this year. Several teachers stated that they have increased the amount of group work their students are doing this year after visiting a school where teachers with classes of 70 to 80 students were successfully using group work to extend their reach.

Sallie Senseney, a biology teacher at Mountain Heritage High School, said she was inspired to give her students more presentation opportunities in class after seeing Indian students in one classroom standing and presenting their answers to their classmates. Lily Dancy-Jones, a biology and environmental science teacher at Clyde A. Erwin High School, said her experiences in India helped give context to her teaching, especially in environmental science. Nathan Arvey, a math teacher at Charles D. Owen High School, was struck by the emphasis on solving problems from the students’ communities that made learning more engaging and relevant to them.

After the panel, I visited each of the teachers in their classrooms. Watch the live stream of the panel below followed by photos from the classroom visits.

Students in Senseney’s class scooped beans into a cup using different adaptations of a fork to demonstrate natural selection.

Senseney demonstrated how different adaptations affect a species survival.

Students solved for the velocity, height, and time of the rockets they launched.

Students use a “Kinnaird chart” to help them solve their equations.

Lily Dancy-Jones uses interactive videos to teach her biology class about translation and transcription.

Teacher Lily Dancy-Jones with her biology class. Molly Osborne/EducationNC