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Teachers Join NY Sun Works for an Action-Packed Professional Development on Election Day
Have you ever wondered what features of a NY Sun Works greenhouse classroom are environmentally responsible, how a plant might be like a hydroponic system, or, how light energy transforms into chemical energy (food) in plants?
At this year’s fall professional development workshop, NY Sun Works Greenhouse Classroom teachers from across the city explored and discussed these very questions from the new Discovering Sustainability Science Curriculum for middle school. They worked together to develop plans to implement the new lessons in their own greenhouse classrooms, set goals for themselves and their farmer scientists (students), and even had time to make their very own jar of refrigerator pickles.
The goal of this fall’s professional development workshop was to provide teachers with the opportunity to explore the brand new middle school curriculum. And on the rooftop greenhouse of the PS 333, explore they did! First year and returning greenhouse classroom teachers worked in small groups to brainstorm ways to implement the new lessons, discussed and worked through potential challenges they might face when trying out these lessons for the first time, and drew strong and clear connections to student activities and learning already taking place in their classrooms. All teachers navigated through the NY Sun Works Learning Center – the online platform that stores all of the Discovering Sustainability Science Curriculum, multilevel learning materials (including our colorful, engaging, and information NYSW Reports), as well as resources and tips for teachers on how to grow crops in their GHCs and maintain the different hydroponic systems.
Finally, a NY Sun Works teacher workshop would not be complete without the introduction of a simple way for students to prepare the crops they grow, for eating. This time, the focus was using chemistry, or the process of pickling, to preserve cucumbers. At the end of the day, the teachers left the rooftop greenhouse having made valuable connections with fellow GHC teachers over shared experiences including first year butterflies, curriculum implementation strategies, and student farmer scientists goals and successes. They had new ideas for how to bring the hydroponics systems into their lessons such as, “use the vine crop system to teach about photosynthesis and cellular respiration”, “[this is an] awesome lesson [for] preparing students for the regents exam” and “I love how this topic [GMOs] applies to something meaningful to students.” They set clear goals for the rest of this year ranging from “use my knowledge of the crop system to develop a cross-curricular lesson that can be discussed in multiple subjects” to “implement at least 5 lessons” to ”have a huge harvest party with students and parents!” And, they left with a jar of freshly made refrigerator pickles.
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NY Sun Works Launches NEW Middle School Science and Sustainability Curriculum Aligned To The 2019 NYC Science Scope and Sequence and Amplify
NY Sun Works Launches NEW Middle School Science and Sustainability Curriculum aligned to the 2019 NYC Science Scope and Sequence and Amplify
Our middle school curriculum asks students to take charge of their own learning, become actively engaged in the NYSW mission, and develop a personal connection to their GHC. Students are invited to take on different roles — activists, engineers, researchers, scientists, botanists, etc — as they journey all over the globe and even into space in order to explore the plight of the planet and how scientists (like themselves) are fighting climate change and the problems it brings.
Our goal in creating the middle school program was to build upon and expand the themes introduced and explored in our elementary curriculum. And, like our elementary program, it is designed with two pathways (GHC Connect and Sustainability Extension) that uniquely complement the mandated curriculum. Our GHC Connect units are designed in lesson sets, typically trios, and augment the science units of study as they reinforce the standards being taught within that unit. Our Sustainability Extension (which arrives in spring 2020) is also designed in lesson sets, exposes students to current environmental concerns, and models sustainable solutions for living in a changing world.
We continue to use investigations, NYSW Reports, project-based research challenges, and evidence-based debates to take students around the earth as they explore the issues facing our planet and deepening the climate change crisis. Students are asked to become leaders in real-time as they explore the potential cascade of small actions, combined with the power of communities, to combat and change the tides.
With our new middle school program, the NY Sun Works education mission further empowers students to answer a call for action and to be part of the solution. We believe that students who learn from our curriculum turn into life-long, data-based, progessive scientists who display agency and independence.
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TheJournal: Borough President Adams Invests $15 Million in STEAM Education and Hydroponic Classrooms
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams has announced a $15 million capital investment in bring STEAM education to over 50 schools. The money will be used to fund the construction of multiple hydropic labs and to create new spaces where students can engage in experiential learning a variety of fields.
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BK.com: Ribbon Cut on New Science Lab at PS 183 Following Participatory Budgeting Win
Today, students, teachers, school administrators and members of the school’s PTA joined Council Member Ben Kallos to cut the ribbon on a new $600,000 hydroponics lab. P.S. 183 won the discretionary funds from Council Member Ben Kallos to build the lab during Participatory Budgeting in 2017 with 1,514 votes.
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BronxDaily: Hydroponic Greenhouse Classroom Opens Doors At The Highbridge Green School
Students, teachers, New York Power Authority (NYPA) and NY Sun Works staff, local elected officials and DOE representatives gear up for an exciting ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of The Highbridge Green School’s hydroponic greenhouse classroom. NY Sun Works has opened almost 40 new hydroponic science labs this year, bringing their total to 139 Greenhouse Classrooms across New York City.
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Back to School with 35 New Partners
NY Sun Works Greenhouse Classrooms are growing by leaps and bounds (or leaves and shoots!)! It’s been a busy year with a total of 35 hydroponic labs having been installed so far, and another 5 ready for construction in the early fall. We are thrilled to welcome so many new partner schools from the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. We have added new elementary, middle and high schools, including both District 75 schools and Gifted & Talented schools, to our program. Our new teachers started with a group training in June to learn the basics about hydroponic systems and get an introduction to the NY Sun Works curriculum; they will continue with individual training sessions at their hydroponic labs when the school year begins.
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NPR.org: How Hydroponic School Gardens Can Cultivate Food Justice, Year-Round
After a full day of school a few weeks ago, 12-year-old Rose Quigley donned gloves and quickly picked bunches of fresh lettuce, Swiss chard, kale, mint and oregano. But she didn’t have to leave her school in Brooklyn, N.Y., or even go outdoors to do it.
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Causing a Commotion
Blog post by NYSW Youth Press Team Member y Meaghan DelleCave, a student at St Saviour High School
“If you love the ocean, cause a commotion!” So said one of the many groups of student presenters at the 2019 New York Sunworks Youth Press Conference. The Conference, themed “Discovering Sustainability Science,” featured students from schools partnered with New York Sunworks as part of the Greenhouse Project. Students presented their research, made possible through their schools’ Greenhouse Classrooms, and answered questions on their environmental concerns.
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NY Sun Works – Rebirth our Earth
Blog post by NYSW Youth Press Team Member Silvie Leaf. Silvie is a 5th grade student at PS 333
On May 20th, 2019, at Symphony Space on Broadway and 95th in New York City, the NY Sun Works Youth Conference was held. At the conference, there were 25 students and five guest speakers talking about why it’s important for everyone to help save our planet. Read »
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NY Sun Works Hosts Science and Sustainability Youth Conference
On Monday, May 20, 2019, from 10:30am to 12:30pm EST, 53 students from 16 NYC public schools will be presenting their research on Sustainability Science to a sold-out auditorium of 700 students and teachers during the the 8th annual NY Sun Works Youth Conference. The Conference will also be streaming live from Symphony Space 2537 Broadway, New York, NY.
