Over these last weeks of virtual learning, we have spoken a great deal about how well our teachers and learners have met the challenges of their current situation. We have seen many examples of our teachers adapting their courses and lessons, often with particular relevance to the time we are currently living in. One such example of this is Ms. Lester and her senior  Environmental Systems & Societies IB class. For their final project of the year, the students were tasked to apply and relate their cumulative knowledge from their course to the COVID-19 pandemic in a meaningful way.  

We spoke with Ms. Lester about the projects and were lucky to have some of these well-thought out and well-researched projects shared with us:

“The students were given a choice from eight prompts on which to base their projects. Examples of these prompts included, create a presentation (with activity for fellow students to complete); compare and contrast technocentric solutions (i.e.vaccines) to anthropocentric solutions (i.e. self-isolation) for the COVID 19 Pandemic; or create a video in any format you like (i.e. youtube blogger, media sensationalist, report from the government, etc.,) concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and how it relates to ideas in our course.

I was unsure how this project would translate into our VLE experience… as the Seniors’ worlds have been turned upside down… I was extremely impressed with their end products. They really took the challenge to heart and have created informational presentations that hit the mark exactly.” 

Here is a sample of the work from four of our senior students and their subject matters include quarantine vs. vaccinations; coronavirus vs. climate change; the approaches taken in South Korea vs. Spain; looking at solutions from an anthropocentric approach vs. a technocentric approach.  

The students' work clearly represents a well thought-out approach to not just the assignment, but to the current situation of living in the Covid-19 pandemic. It is enlightening to explore scientific studies through the eyes of our students.

#ASHexperience