Introduction
“To the youth of today, I also have a wish to make: be the scriptwriters of your destiny and feature yourselves as stars that showed the way towards a brighter future.”-Nelson Mandela 1
Our world is driven by the everyday discoveries of scientists across the globe. The majority of advancements in human history are rooted in science, whether it be by accident or by persistent experiments and data-driven research. Whether it be gravity, evolution and natural selection, photosynthesis, genetics, medical prescription drugs-vaccinations and anesthesia, electricity, using DNA and fingerprints to solve crimes, space and earth relationships and patterns and how they impact our environments and way of life, or animal adaptations and the constant discovery of new species.
Whenever there is a mystery or problem that arises, there are scientists working tirelessly behind the scenes trying to find a solution. Among some of the great minds that have made these groundbreaking contributions to our world are George Washington Carver, Mae Jemison, Percy Levon Julian, Charles Darwin, Katherine Johnson, Gregor Mendel, Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, and Sigmund Freud to name a few. Right now, in my classroom of 8-year-old students is the generation who will someday be in positions to make even greater discoveries. I am charged with sparking their interests and introducing them to the basics of these very complex areas of science. Not always, but certainly most times it is when a child is young, that they begin to realize just how they will make their mark on the world with what brings them joy and intrigues their minds.
It is my greatest hope that as an educator I can help my students develop a love for the sciences at an early age, so that one day they may grow up to be the Darwins, Washington Carvers, Newtons, and Einsteins of their generation. I have the honor of serving the community and children at Elizabeth D. Redd Elementary in Richmond, Virginia. Redd is an inner-city, Title I school with grades K-5. We have approximately 500 students, and the majority of them come from low-income households. Our students are predominately African American and Hispanic. Many are new to the country from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador and speak English as a second language.
My unit, “Biodiversity in Pocahontas State Park: Being Caretakers with Wildlife Corridors” will focus on the Pocahontas State Park in Richmond, Virginia and how it’s changed over time. I will look at how humans have affected it by building around it since its origin in 1946 to the present.
Pocahontas State Park also features two lakes (Swift Creek Reservoir and Beaver Lake), an aqua park, mountain bike and equestrian trails, fishing, hunting, boating are also possible, depending on the season. Within the park, there is 64 miles of walkways. It is the largest state park in Virginia with nearly 8,000 acres. My school has been given the great opportunity to partner with a local company named Blue Sky Fund, they are on a mission to provide transformational experiences for urban youth through outdoor education. They are committed to teaching inner-city students about the environment and how to be responsible citizens in caring for it. We take field trips to different parks in the city and explore the environments and the organisms in them. Pocahontas State Park is one of the parks we visit. With our field trips there, students will be able to get a hands-on, real life engaging view on our unit topics.
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