UCI Water PIRE team launches a K-12 outreach program with The Academy in Santa Ana, featuring a spellbinding performance by Professor Peter Bowler, the Water PIRE’s answer to Bill Nye the Science Guy. Read more here!
| PIREWolf Productions |
This is a new and exciting K-12 outreach program designed to leverage the intellectual and physical resources being generated by the UCI Water PIRE in the area of water sustainability. While some projects will focus on water issues in Australia, others will build on our research expertise to provide innovative and hands-on projects focused around topics in the US. Specifically, this program will:
- Provide an interactive format for students and teachers to engage outside experts in fields related to material being taught in the classroom.
- Demonstrate community interest in student learning and success by personally addressing student populations and their lessons/projects.
- Provide material easily assimilated into curricula and class time in the form of short (3-5 min. videos) covering topics selected by collaborative talks with teachers.
- Enhance student curiosity in subject matter by stimulating classroom discussions and responding to student questions.
| Details & Origin of PIREWolf Productions |
We recently participated in a project based learning exercise developed by Blaine Jones, PH at The Academy in Santa Ana. His high school students were charged with preparing for and holding a debate about the fate of the O’Shaughnessy Dam, which created the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite. Students had to learn about the water cycle, how water is managed, and how that management affects different groups of people such as fishermen and hydroelectric power companies.
We developed a complementary program, PIREwolf Productions*, to make videos directly addressing Blaine’s students (aka the Firewolves), discussing several factors that should be considered when deciding on the removal of the O’Shaughnessy Dam (or of any dam or infrastructure) and also answered their questions directly.
We were then invited to watch the ferocious (yet still diplomatic) debates held in the Firewolves’ den. At the end of these debates, the invited audience members determined who won the debate (not an easy task!) based on information presented and arguments made. Students were also evaluated in order to help them improve their public speaking and debate skills.
What a fantastic way to prepare for the real world! We are already working to grow our video library for Firewolves participating in this & other project based learning exercises with the help of RBF Consulting, CH2M Hill, and of course other PIRE researchers & friends.
If you would like to learn more about how PIREwolf Productions can interact directly with your classes please contact us at water-pire@uci.edu
*When students at The Academy were deciding on their mascot they were torn between the phoenix and the wolf. A compromise was reached by creating the Firewolf. Inspired by the Firewolf mascot’s origins and to acknowledge The Academy’s help in the initial development of this program, we decided to call this program PIREwolf Productions. Thank you, Firewolves!
| Programs Under Construction |
Teacher Workshop Series
We are currently developing a workshop series that would help guide the generation of problem based learning exercises for direct implementation in the participants’ classrooms. Our goal is to help teachers develop exercises they feel confident to present, that cover numerous NGSS**, and promote higher order thinking related to Water PIRE’s primary outreach educational goals. Please check back for more details soon!
PIRE Under Fire
Inspired by Alan Alda’s The Flame Challenge and our recent interactions with The Academy Firewolves, PIRE Under Fire is a program designed to challenge our science communication skills while educating various K-12 audiences. Water PIRE participants will be explaining various water-related concepts with the goal of educating their audience members while improving their science communication skills through audience critiques. Our participants will create short videos answering questions or explaining concepts selected by K-12 students and/or teachers, which will then be judged by the appropriate audience with a winning video selected.
If you or your students have a concept or question for our PIRE participants to address, you would like your class to participate in the judging, or if you would like more information please contact us at water-pire@uci.edu
We plan to kick off this program in the fall of 2014. Check back for more details soon!