Riverboat’n on the Red

Riverboat’n on the Red evolved from a partnership between Oklahoma Department of Education, Valiant Middle School, the Oklahoma Historical Society, PAST and the local Hugo Community. It began with the problem of how to introduce maritime history into a state that conceived itself as landlocked. Visions of early settlers both Native American and European always employed wagons as the only mode of transportation — of course this did not explain why all the earliest forts were on rivers. In the late 1990s the discovery of a large riverboat in the Red River outside of Hugo Oklahoma forced historians and educators to rethink the state’s history.

The program began with a brainstorm pairing historians and archaeologists with teachers from a local Middle School. The program pivoted on the historical journey of a riverboat traveling from New Orleans over one thousand miles to Fort Towson Oklahoma. No content area was left out nor was anyone in the school. Home Rooms became landings and grades transformed into commodities that could be traded once a day. Detentions and unexcused absentees resulted in snags that slowed down a vessel. After the finish of the race the winning team was awarded a rack of antlers just as historic riverboats sported after winning a race. But more importantly the programs had amazing results in test scores and attendance. Grades across all subjects improved by 20% and detention disappeared.

Schools and programs PAST has partnered to help develop:

1. MC2 STEM High School: DaVinci & the Age of Englightment, Light, and Our Footprint
2. Metro Early College High School: Garbology, Growing America, Clarity vs. Purity
3. Linden McKinley STEM Academy: FITC
4. Hawaii Schools/NOAA/Fish & Wildlife: The Natural & Cultural Landscapes of Papahánaumokuákea National Monument

SCRUNCH

Scientific exploration takes place annually to exotic and remote places on the globe. At best a handful of experts get to go along and the public, if lucky, may get to see the results of the expedition much later in a magazine article or documentary. PAST in partnership with the deepsea specialists at C&C Technologies wanted to change this scenario, providing real time access to exciting deep sea exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. To accomplish this outreach education was address in the project from the very beginning of the design plan. The PAST team was part of the conversation from the earliest brainstorm enabling them to see where education could marry with the research.

The program SCRUNCH evolved from the fact that pressure at depth is a major factor of research. Employing a simple Styrofoam cup, PAST and a group of teachers began building activities in Math, Language Arts, Science, Art and Social Studies that explored the properties and processes of pressure and deep sea research.

At the same time PAST embedded a documentary film team in the research expedition to capture video of the project and send it back immediately via the web so that the public could engage in the research as it happened. These seemingly simple steps and transdisiplinary approach changed scientific expeditions forever.

Under Construction: Blacklick Watershed

The Blacklick Watershed Program engages the entire third grade cohort of teachers with the Reynoldsburg City School District. This is the watershed on which all of the residents live. Many of the schools are within walking distance of creeks that feed the Blacklick. Beginning with a weeklong professional development session, the teachers brainstormed projects for their individual schools that would all fall under the main program, address the learning standards of the third grade, and connect the projects to the community and grow the sense of community among the teachers.

Six projects arose from the brainstorm one for each school. The teachers as a cohort found activities that they could do across the district to impart knowledge about watersheds, water rights, environment, and civic responsibility. They also created activities unique to their school’s specific project. Continued professional development allows the teachers to share successes and help one another with constraints and obstacles.
The program is delivering very real information to both the students and their families as well as providing an avenue for local businesses to become involved. Ultimately, each project will culminate in a presentation that reflects the student learning. There will be a book, an historical timeline, a production on water, a web quest, informative broadcasts, and a scientific research outreach project to other third grades stretching all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

The success of this program in growing STEM transdisciplinary education has prompted the expansion of the program in a well-designed scaffold that will eventually encompass grades K-8 providing a pipeline of students who are STEM ready for high school and a cohort of STEM teachers who systematically transform an entire school district to Program-Based Transdisicplinary Learning.