By Naomi Kruh
Staff Writer
Making connections to the real world with topics taught in school can be difficult, but one Costa science teacher made it her goal to figure out a way.
Science teacher, Teresa Nielsen was hoping to find a way to make a connection with what was being taught in her class to the real world. With the assistance of teacher-librarian, Jane Lofton, Nielsen was able to come up with a research project about the Hermosa Beach oil drilling.
“I thought this was a perfect segway to talk about an issue that is very important in our community right now,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen wanted her students to research the oil drilling and form their own opinion. Students were then instructed to send an email to the Hermosa Beach City Manager and City Council members expressing their opinion on the topic.
“We normally don’t get a lot of chances to make our voices heard and this was really cool because an actual City Council member is going to hear what I have to say,” sophomore Sophie Dafesh said.
Nielsen came up with the assignment after being disappointed with some writing assignments that students had turned in earlier in the year. Nielsen hoped that the students would have a better end result if the subject they had to write about was a familiar topic.
“I knew that they were capable of doing better and I wanted to challenge them and give them a little more incentive to put some more thought and effort into their writing,” said Nielsen.
Since the students wrote the letters, there has been an array of recognition. The letters that the students wrote were included on the agenda for the City Council’s March 25 meeting and a story was also published in the Beach Reporter.
“The letters were very well prepared, and it was clear the students did a great job thoroughly researching the issues to arrive at their position,” said Council Member, Hany Fangary. “They also did a great job providing the information and facts in their letters that support their position.”
Since gaining recognition from the city council and members of Hermosa Beach, the students have started to notice that their words can have an impact in their community.
“The fact that we got to voice our own opinions and actually have the heard was a major change,” sophomore Zachary Dushenko said. “It was really cool that even though Nielsen’s plans to have Council Member, Nanette Barragan, come to Costa on April 16 to speak to students about her side of the oil drilling. Fangary and a representative from E &B Natural Resources may also join to express their views.
“I am looking forward to visiting Nielsen’s to thank the students for being part of the process and to further engage them on the issue and let them know how else they may be able to impact the decision between now and the November election,” Barragan said.
Nielsen is looking into reserving the library for the speakers. Nielsen invited other science classes such as AP environmental and earth science because she believes the topic pertains to them as well.
“This is getting much bigger than I ever anticipated, however, that is not a bad thing by any means,” Nielsen said.
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