This weekend I took 5 of my honors students to the Arizona Evirothon. It’s a two day competition for high school students. Students compete with other teams from around the state in wildlife, forestry, aquatics, and soil by taking 3 tests at different stations. Each test is 55 minutes and includes complex scenarios that requires critical thinking and application of knowledge. After their tests, students have two hours to prepare a 10 minute presentation. The presentation senerio this year involved sustainable agriculture. Each team had to answer the senario by using the concepts learned plus defend their decisions.
Nine teams competed this year. Forty five kids have up a Saturday to talk and learn about the environment and environment issues. It gives me hope for the future.
It’s easy to forget that there are kids out there who still value knowledge. Listening to these kids talk to each other makes me realize that the future will probably be okay. Sometimes as a teacher, you focus so much on the low kids, the kids that don’t get it, the kids who don’t care, the kids who to have to force to think because they’ve never had a deep thought in their lives, that you forget there are kids out there who think, who learn, who are capable of moving us forward.
I love spending time with those kids. They give me hope. They’re going to figure it out and be ok. They’re going to contribute positively to the world and we’re going to be ok.
Musings of a Science Teacher 