Earlier this week, two middle school teachers from Bedford Stuyvesant Collegiate (from the Uncommon Schools network) dropped by the Science of Smart Cities classroom to see their students build circuits, as part of the Energy Unit of the program’s curriculum. The day of the visit, the students learned about the flow of electrons through a conductor and how the material of a conductor affects electrical current in the circuit they built.
Jake Jung, middle school math teacher, describes his visit:
“I’ll be honest and say that I came to visit Science of Smart Cities strictly with the goal of getting to see my kids for a quick moment and hopefully getting the chance for a quick “Hello; how ya doing?” What I can say that I got out of the visit, though, was so much more. For one, the generosity of Ben with his time in taking my colleague and I around and giving us a tour of so many different parts of the NYU School of Engineering program was deeply heartfelt. Additionally, I not only got to see each and every one of my students; but, what’s more, I got to see them all in action and having FUN with science! Every single room that we walked in to, it seemed, was full of kids having fun with learning and that, to me, was really special. I’m glad I came to visit SoSC because it’s always heartening to see kids you love doing things that they love, but it’s even more heartening when those things that they are loving are things that are directly impacting their education and leading them towards a more promising future.”
Caresse Fernandez, middle school science teacher, shares her thoughts:
“A couple months ago when our school pushed to have students apply to Science of Smart Cities, I never could have imagined that it would have this sort of impact on each and every one of our students. The amount of learning and thinking that goes in in each of the classes are incredible. Science of Smart Cities has an excellent set of teachers who are truly dedicated to helping each and every student understand the material and have fun learning it! The student to teacher ratio allows for every student to be heard and for every question to be answered.
I felt so proud watching each and every one of my students succeed in wiring their own circuits – something that they wouldn’t even learn about until next year, let alone get to actually have some hands on experience with. It was amazing to witness my students working successfully with different students and teachers. Science of Smart Cities is definitely doing something great in combining fun and exciting learning while still pushing students to think critically and in ways they never thought possible.”
