Thursday, April 7, 2016

Keystone Newsletter

My classroom featured in the Keystone Newsletter! Awesome!
Key Issues in Action
Duke Energy and Key Issues are Making an Impact

Jennifer Coll and Kellie McClarty share their experience with bringing Key Issues strategies into their classrooms and community with the help of a Duke Energy and Keystone Science School grant. 

"Thanks to Duke Energy and the Keystone Science School, Galaxy Middle School in beautiful, sunny Central Florida has started an indoor gardening program in all of our 8th grade classrooms.

The project has impacted about 400 students this year, and will impact many more in years to come. Thanks to a generous grant from Duke Energy we were able to order 4 large indoor garden devices that have allowed our students to complete real-life, hands-on experiments. In a few of the plant labs the students set up each tier of the device to allow for different amounts of light, in another they manipulated the amount of water. This allowed students to see how much light and water was optimal for Photosynthesis to occur.

When Spring arrives, the students will take our school's butterfly garden to the next level. We have a small outdoor butterfly garden that the students are going to beautify and expand! Students will start the seedlings inside so that they can watch them sprout and grow.  Once they are big enough, they will transplant the seedlings into the outside garden. The plan is to eventually track the Monarch butterflies that visit our school's garden.

Some of our colleagues have even been inspired to start an edible indoor garden as part of a new class on nutrition for the next school year.  Students will actually be eating what they grow!

Thank you for your support. Our students and teachers greatly appreciate your generosity! You have encouraged young minds to GROW!"
-Jennifer Coll and Kellie McClarty

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Environmental Issues! Students using the new probes and Indoor Garden to manipulate variables!
Scientists at work!! Thank you Duke Energy for the probware, Futures Foundation for the indoor garden and supplies, and KSS for all your support and guidance!


Students are using Vernier Probeware to study phase changes! Thanks to Duke Energy for supporting teachers and students!!



Saturday, November 7, 2015

Yeah!! I received the Probeware!!!

What an exciting day! I received the Probeware that I was able to order because of the generosity of Duke Energy. My students are already using the Probeware. The engagement is up, the interest is up, and the collected data is so accurate! My students can now be part of engaging STEM lessons that actually include the technology portion! I will post pictures of the Probeware in use soon.



Friday, October 9, 2015

Duke Energy Grant

We will be receiving our Duke Energy grants pretty soon! I can't wait to get new Probeware for my students. Our pH unit begins next week, and the students will be able to use the water testing kit I received at the Denver, Keystone conference. This equipment will definitely benefit students, and allow them to experience STEM labs that none of them have ever experienced before!
Thank you Duke Energy!!






Sunday, July 12, 2015

Scouting out potential environmental sites for a lesson

Sunday, July 5, 2015
Today I went on an early morning excursion with my colleagues in search of a source of water near our school. Our goal was to find a source of water which would enable our students to implement a water testing lab that we will receive from our Duke Energy funded PD trip to Keystone Science School in Colorado.  We didn't have much luck, the water has dried up, but we did enjoy our 3 mile trip through the scrub! Lyonia Preserve offers a beautiful scrub habitat that provides the perfect habitat for the Scrub Jay! Too bad I didn't see any!





Scrub Jay and wetland picture at Lyonia - Taken several years ago - not sure if we could have used this source even if the water was still there. https://ssl.panoramio.com/photo/27538055
https://ssl.panoramio.com/photo/34834044


Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Sunday, June 28, 2015
Today was departure day. We were on the bus headed for the airport by 6 am. A huge moose ran across the street in front of our bus on the way off. What a grand exit! Thanks to Duke Energy and the Keystone Science School I was able to participate in an adventure of a lifetime this week. I collaborated with teachers from all over the US, and I hope to stay in contact and work with all of them in the future to continue best practices that will help our students grow. Future students will learn how to respect and study the environment, design and implement ideas, and use our resources to sustain a healthy and thriving environment. I hope to motivate the future engineers and biologists that will be our future someday!
Denver International Airport - PACKED!!