Don't Tell Me You Don't Care

I'm ending another semester this week. Another round of finals. And another group of students will leave my classroom, ready for the summer and eager to enjoy some time off. However, I'm an educator. I love it, I really do. I am not the best by any stretch, but I believe that with each passing semester, I'm getting better as I hone my skills and find out how the kids respond the best. I am not so naive to think that some (if not most) of the kids will push this class to the back of their minds, never to ponder the formation of a tree island in the everglades and the influence that extended hydrology has on the formation of the type of soil and therefore, the nutrient composition.
I mostly teach students that are not environmental science majors, biology majors, any type of science majors, or or not environmentalists, activists, advocates, or generally care. So, the biggest struggle I have is getting A reaction from them, positive or negative. It is not easy to have forty faces staring at you, counting down the minutes until class ends, but, I have to try. Nevertheless, I believe in what I'm saying. I believe that what I'm teaching is something bigger than any of them and much bigger than myself. I talk about how the world works, really. But, I have to find a way to somehow relate that to them, and it can be quite tough. But I believe now that it can be done. And if you want proof, look no further than Saturday morning on NPR. I'm referring to Car Talk.
I have very little to no knowledge of cars. I also have very little to no interest in them as well. But for some reason I love Car Talk. Tom and Ray Magliozzi have been intriguing listeners since 1977. They are able to take regular issues that people have and make it very entertaining. IT is estimated that 4 million people a week listen to the show. This is quite outstanding for a radio show, but for cars, its even more amazing. The things is, it's all about relating the material to the audience. And form my class, it's the same way. For the first two thirds of the class, I could see it on their faces, dismay, boredom, often stress as I tried to explain why studying population dynamics of pandas directly affects them? But then, a minor breakthrough. For the last third of the class, the topic turned to the oceans. This just happens to be my favorite, and an area that  the students really didn't know too much about. And for this topic, I am much better at relating the info, and I found that the way to get into the heads, was through their stomachs. Yes, everything can be related in the form of seafood, they ate it up, metaphorically. Discussing overfishing was easy, the recent decline of corals became interesting as I described how subtle changes in temperature can trigger bleaching events which is good for no one. I talked about the odd creatures that lived under the sea and how that they don't act like organisms on land. It was oddly refreshing as I noticed their eyes fixed upon the screen as I told them the story of how certain lobsters "talk" by peeing on each other. When we discussed how removing top predators from a reef affects the corals, they were quite stunned. I showed them personal videos of my dives and all the creatures I encounter they became enthralled with this ecosystem that I love. I drilled into them the process of ocean acidification, and even though they may not believe in climate change, they needed to reduce their CO2 emissions, or there goes their precious shrimp.
But, my greatest pleasure came from my lecture on sustainable seafood. It became apparent very quickly to them that the choices they make at their favorite sushi restaurant has drastic and often detrimental affects on the ocean. Now, whether or not that translates into real life application and activism, I don't know. But at least I know that they know. And that is all I can do.
So my reward for the last few weeks? The class had the highest average of the semester, in the low 80s. So I leave the semester generally encouraged. I know now of what it is going to take as I enter into a new term with a new group. And I know now that at the very least, someone can take what I teach and apply it.



~B