Despite the cold winter day, I was excited to teach Chemistry! The topic for the day was isotopes, which was my favorite chapter to teach in the book. As a co-founder of the school, I enjoyed taking a break from managing the business side to interact with the community. I co-founded the Living Water School with my wife in 2015. It is a small private school based in the DC area school with nearly 40 students and 6 teachers.
“Do you know what isotopes are?” I asked the one and only student in my class.
“They are the same element,” she replied sharing what she understood from reading the chapter.
“True, they are the same element. Isotopes of an element have the same number of protons and electrons. But they have a different number of neutrons.” I paused, gathering myself for the real lesson of the day. “Do you know why isotopes are so important?”
“No.”
“The ability to manipulate isotopes has shaped world power. The most famous manipulation is of Uranium-238. The ‘238’ is the atomic mass. When Uranium-238 is refined into Uranium-235, it can undergo nuclear fission, which is a process that gives us nuclear energy and nuclear explosions. Let’s watch a video on the use of an uranium bomb in World War 2.” We proceeded to watch a YouTube clip of the “Little Boy” bomb that the U.S. dropped on Japan in 1945.
My student’s eyes lit up as the video played. A typically dry topic was now coming alive.
After we chatted about the video a bit, I transitioned to present day, “Russia recently invaded Ukraine. Why doesn’t the U.S. defend Ukraine by attacking Russia?”
“I don’t know,” she replied.
“Because like the U.S., Russia has nuclear weapons. Countries with nuclear weapons avoid direct confrontations with other countries that have those weapons because it could escalate into a nuclear war. Having nuclear weapons is like having a gun in the house…it deters outsiders from invading your space, assuming they know you have one.”
In less than an hour I delivered chemistry, history, and geo-political lessons. This style of teaching STEM topics is stickier than ploughing through dense technical material. Unfortunately, ploughing through material is how most STEM subjects are taught.
Think back to your math classes in high school. If you had a typical teacher, you learned about numerous formulas and concepts that had no connection to your life at that time or even now. Have you used the quadratic formula lately?
When I taught Geometry to a student that was on the basketball team, I made it relevant to him. I started the class explaining why Geometry was important and how the Chicago Bulls successfully employed the Triangle Offense to maximize spacing on the court, so Michael Jordan and his teammates had better opportunities to attack the defense. My student was enraptured at how triangles played a role in sports; I gained his interest for the remainder of the class.
Educator Gary Thomas in his book, Education: A Very Short Introduction, referenced the work of Jerome Bruner, who made major advances in cognitive learning theory, by noting that excellent teaching is the result of “integrating forms of information and styles of learning in such a way that the learner learns usefully and meaningfully, with understanding.” He also stated that it is the job of the teacher is “not slavishly to follow some formula about cognitive development but rather to use their experience and empathy to teach material as the time seems right.” These quotes sum up my philosophy for teaching.
STEM education that reaches students where they are in life and experience is key to increasing their passion in the area instead of creating head knowledge. I know this is difficult to do in today’s industrialized education model where 30 kids are packed into a classroom with a single teacher. The teacher in this case will not have time to teach material in a way that is unique to each student. Lessons are served up like lunch at my high school cafeteria in the late eighties and early nineties: You get what you get. No gluten free, organic, or peanut free options. If you don’t like it, too bad!
That is why I advocate schools with smaller class sizes, such as the Living Water School, along teacher training so staff can better connect with students as the key to improving STEM understanding and appreciation, especially in African American communities. If such schools are not available in an area, then I recommend finding an afterschool or weekend STEM program that teaches students in a relatable way. This is the only way our children can succeed in a world where artificial intelligence and other technological advances are progressing by the day.
The Living Water Center 
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