|
Junior seismologists tackle quake
science
By Ian Hanigan and Melissa Milios
Daily Breeze - November 7, 2005
When it came time for the sixth-graders in David Vlasach's Earth
science classes to learn about earthquakes, the Adams Middle
School teacher decided to go beyond the textbook.
For weeks, Vlasach's students at the Redondo Beach campus have
been studying the massive temblor that killed tens of thousands
in Pakistan and left scores of towns in ruins on Oct. 8.
In addition to reading articles daily to learn more about the
causes and effects of the quake, they've also launched a
schoolwide campaign to provide money for relief.
And they plan to educate others.
Last week, the classes broke into groups of four to begin
producing short videos based on their research, with students
playing the roles of geologists, damage evaluators, safety
inspectors and seismologists.
Vlasach said he wanted to use the extreme seismic event as a way
to generate local awareness, to talk about earthquake
preparedness at home and to raise a little money for those who
have suffered great losses.
All of the cash collected by Adams students will be delivered to
the American Red Cross before Thanksgiving, he said.
"Instead of just reading about earthquakes and volcanos and
taking a test on it, this is unfolding right in front of our
eyes," Vlasach said. "It kind of promotes the awareness issue
also."
Wiseburn grant to bring history alive: The Wiseburn School
District has secured a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department
of Education to help bring U.S. history lessons to life.
The "Teaching American History" grant, believed to be the
largest ever for Wiseburn, will allow the district to offer
historical seminars as well as training for teachers.
Over the next three years, officials at the west Hawthorne-based
district plan to collaborate with scholars, museum educators,
university professors and nonprofit organizations with American
history expertise.
Wiseburn will also work with teacher-coaches from the
neighboring Lawndale School District, which previously won the
grant.
"Our teachers have chosen to make history come alive in their
classrooms," Superintendent Don Brann said. "They recognize that
if our students are to be prepared to lead and participate as
citizens in the future, they need a deeper understanding of the
rich heritage that belongs to all Americans."
Bearing witness: In a world where religious intolerance
continues to ignite passions and divide nations, the lessons of
the Holocaust are timeless.
That was the message to 45 Catholic school educators who
gathered in Rancho Palos Verdes last week for a four-day
conference on interfaith teaching and healing.
Top national Jewish and Catholic scholars illuminated the
lessons of Nostra Aetate -- the document added to the Catholic
liturgy in October 1965 that formally condemned anti-Semitism
and persecution of Jews.
"When you teach about the Holocaust, you are teaching about
human beings in the extreme," said Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor,
director of interfaith affairs for the Anti-Defamation League,
which organized the forum. "You are raising ultimate issues of
life and death, of good and bad."
Kathleen Gorze, principal at St. Catherine Laboure elementary in
Torrance, said it was important to bring the lessons learned at
the conference back to kids.
"We have such an opportunity in Catholic school to talk about
these things," Gorze said. "You can't hide this away."
Nancy Gordillo said she hoped to invite a Holocaust survivor to
visit her seventh- and eighth-graders at St. John Fisher School
in Rancho Palos Verdes.
"There's nothing like the voice -- hearing the voice," Gordillo
said.
College shopping?: Marymount College, a private two-year campus
in Rancho Palos Verdes, is hosting a free Fall Preview Day
starting at 9 a.m. Thursday. High school students and their
families are invited to tour the campus, meet with admissions
officers and financial aid experts and get a taste of college
life. For more information, call 310-377-5501, Ext. 311.
-- Ian Hanigan and Melissa Milios
|