19
Nov '21
Innovation and Creativity: Space & The Universe
19
Nov '21
Jubilee’s Middle School students had a great time developing activities with the theme “The Earth and the Universe.”. Among the topics were: the horizons of the ground, phases of the moon, and space exploration.
Middle School Science teacher Ms. Sauceda shared, “I always like to be innovative and do different things than what we commonly do with these topics, more than making a model or drawing the universe. I look for activities and adapt them to our themes (i.e. soil horizons). We created a terrarium with the eighth grade students. They looked for the materials in advance and on the day of class we created and simulated each horizon.
With the seventh grade class, we were looking at the topics of the sun, the stars and the moon, and we created the phases of the moon with Oreo cookies to demonstrate each phase. In sixth grade, we studied “Space Exploration!” The students were fascinated with everything that has happened over the years, and how mankind, through the grace of God, have taken great steps to explore the universe. We completed an activity in which each one of them had to dress up or create a project on the universe and space. Many wanted to be astronauts, others made rockets and some even the universe. There is no doubt that the students loved these activities. They showed a lot of enthusiasm and joy in making them. Likewise, the support of the parents was very evident.”
“It seems to be a very creative way to learn. I really liked this activity, my mom enjoys helping me with these projects too. She helps me find the recyclables or other materials that are needed. If I need help I tell her and she makes it with me.” -Scarleth Banegas, 6th grade student.
“I really like these activities, they help me understand and remember better. It would be nice to do them more often. It is an excellent way to use our creativity. Sometimes the teachers ask us to make a model, which is sometimes repetitive, but to change it up we made terrariums. This is more entertaining, creative, and it can be an ornament or a gift for someone special. It is something out of the ordinary, and we did it all together with the teacher.” -Carlos David Soto, 8th grade student
“It seemed very interesting to me, and at the same time very educational. We combined our abilities and knowledge with the fun of food. For the phases of the moon, the materials were black cardboard, oreo cookies and colored pencils. We used the black cardboard as the background to write the moon phases, then drew the earth in the center of the cardboard, and around the drawing of the earth we placed the oreo cookies like the moons. We removed the cream in some of them so that they would form the phases of the moon 🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑 It is a great way to learn and benefits me to know the different phases of the moon.”
-Jady Arias, 7th grade student.
The teacher was also very satisfied with the students’ work and the support of their parents.
“It gave me great satisfaction to see that their parents supported our activities by making costumes and everything else for their children. I have very dedicated parents who are willing to help and be part of the teaching. I must say that my students are the best and that I am sure that God will use their lives and they will be excellent professionals. This year it has been incredible to share with them” shared Ms. Sauceda.
Without a doubt, the teaching-learning process has not been easy this year, as we continue with virtual classes. It is tiring for both students and teachers to spend long hours in front of a computer, but we must emphasize that this has not been an impediment to developing creativity. It is great that these activities can occur even in the midst of this pandemic, because activities like these help with stress and boredom for students. CJI has trained teaching staff willing to give their best in each class, thus showing their professionalism, dedication and love of teaching.
