In the Provo City School District, educators are more than just teachers. They are innovators, allies, and stewards, tirelessly shaping the future of education. The Provo School District Foundation recognizes and supports this dedication through a mini-grant program focused on outstanding educators like sixth grade teacher Machelle Stott.
Today we have the opportunity to step into Machel Stott's classroom, a center of scientific curiosity and learning. There, her entire sixth-grade class acts as a scientist in her multifaceted project, which includes milkweed insects, terrariums, aquariums, and a broader science curriculum. From a small space in the classroom.
Mashell Stott's classroom provides live demonstrations of real life cycles. Here, students gain hands-on experience setting up habitats for milkweed insects and observing their mating, spawning, and hatching processes.
“The aim of this project is to show children how they grow throughout their lifecycle,” explains Stott. “The children helped create a habitat in a plastic bag with water and food. They watched mating, spawning, and hatching. They were so excited about it.”
The classroom also has a reference garden, a small-scale experiment where students can observe plant growth and compare and correlate it with the plants in the terrarium.
Seamlessly integrated into the year-end curriculum, Stott's projects are about more than observing flora and fauna. It extends to the complex ecosystems found in classroom terrariums and aquariums, where students can learn about the interactions between consumers, composers, and decomposers.
“It all fits perfectly into our year-end curriculum. Learning how to conduct scientific research, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of research, and controlling and investigating variables are all incorporated.”
This hands-on approach helps students understand food webs and energy flow within ecosystems, which are important components of scientific research.
Stott flips through the pages of student notebooks, showing Lilly's detailed observations over time, and the engagement and enthusiasm the project inspires year after year. Stott has been running this project for her four years, and each year the anticipation grows among students who look forward to this engaging hands-on learning experience.
When asked for advice for new teachers considering a similar project, Stott advises them to just give it a go and give themselves some grace. He jumps in there and adjusts on the fly. You may need to discard it or adjust it to suit your class, and that's okay. ”
Machel Stott's classroom is a space where students do more than just read about complex science concepts. They get their hands dirty. The specific learning experiences she creates for her students make her classroom a dynamic environment for students to learn and grow.
The Provo School District and its Foundation continue to support and celebrate the creativity and dedication of teachers like Machelle Stott. Educators like her transform the educational experience and inspire future generations through their commitment and innovative approaches to education. We salute Machelle Stott for her amazing work and thank her for the tremendous impact she has had on her students and the wider community.
