We are keeping alive the inborn sense of wonder in kindergarten!  The children are given the opportunity to explore, observe and experience the sense of excitement when making new discoveries. 

 

One example of this inquiry-based approach to science occurred during a study of fish in Katie and Linda's kindergarten class. First the children were challenged to determine what was needed in a fish habitat, and then they became actively engaged in creating a safe environment for our fish visitors. They were then given the appropriate tools (fish!) and began exploring! Through watching, we disproved many of our early assumptions about fish. Some thought that fish only eat fish food so we tested a variety of foods and formed new conclusions. We assumed that fish open their mouth all of the time (like we see on television) only to find that over a one minute period, the Beta fish only opened his mouth one time (but 32 times when being fed!), at the time of publication, we were collectively searching for an answer to the question, "Do Beta fish have tongues?" 

 

Our conclusions have not come from books or from expert scientists, they have all come from our ability as young children to stop, ask questions, and take time to observe our world with an open mind!

 

View photos . . .

 

by Mark Oftedal, Track and Cross Country Coach

The inaugural track season at Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School came to a close last Friday with an Awards Picnic in Millcreek Canyon. The athletes and parents presented me with a gift that I would like to tell those reading the E-Marker about. Even though I try to keep our travel to a minimum, our team still traveled over 1000 miles this season.  This mileage included short little jaunts to East High's track with my '88 Honda (still nearly 40 mpg) carrying starting blocks, water bottles, the first aid kit, and the trunk lid tied down over protruding, rattling hurdles. Also put to use was one of RHSM's gray, eight-passenger vans, taking a small number of runners to a meet, and then the stately Le Bus rolling along the highway to destinations like Manti, Morgan and Kamas. I'm quite proud of our school's proactive, progressive "no idling" policy as it does send a strong message to others. It is not uncommon to step off the bus at a track or cross-country venue and be greeted by the exhaust of dozens of idling buses. The steps RHSM is taking in regards to the environment is commendable and now what the track team has done takes us further along that path. What our track athletes and parents did to honor me for my coaching this season was to offset the impact our team had on the planet by purchasing renewable energy credits through the University of Utah's renewable energy program. The gift will provide 45 MWh of pollution-free wind energy to the western US grid, thereby avoiding the emission of over 30 tons of CO2. Not only does this contribution offset our team's travel, it will also offset the track team members' use of electricity and natural gas use at RHSM for one year! Now if you are a RHSM 4th grader and you're reading this you might say, "Hey Upper School Track Team that's great, but do you have any idea what we've been up to here at the Lower School?"  When contacting Chris Hill, a professor in the department of Biochemistry, about the University of Utah's renewable energy program, I learned that the 4th grade is very involved in reducing their environmental impact. This year they funded renewable electricity for the grid equal to more than twice the total electricity that they use at school. You can see details at http://windpower.utah.edu. The campaign is still active and anyone who is looking for a highly cost effective way to fund wind energy and offset their carbon footprint can contribute.  Just over $3/year makes one student's share of school electricity come entirely from wind sources and $30/year funds wind energy equal to the annual usage of a typical US household.  Okay 2009 track team, the bar has been raised. 
 
I wish to send out a heart-felt thank you to the 2008 RHSM track team:  Wynne Connelly, Alec Darr, Alexander Edgley, Ben Florsheim, Jacob Fuhrman, Jackson Hannon, Taylor Hollen, Chloe Joesten, Zoey Martin-Lockhart, Aaron Phillips, Max Sharp and their families for this extremely thoughtful expression of gratitude.
 
For more information about the University of Utah's wind program please contact Chris Hill (chris@biochem.utah.edu).