Winter 2009
LiFE stands for Linking Food and the Environment, which is an inquiry-based science and nutrition education program developed collaboratively by TC's Science and Nutrition Education programs.
From the LiFE website:
The LiFE curriculum has been developed to make scientific literacy a realistic goal for children living in urban poverty. In the LiFE Program, children have opportunities to experience science as inquiry in connected and culturally relevant ways through the domain of food; their teachers develop knowledge of the content, culture, and discursive practices of science; and their parents and other care givers are supported in their own efforts to interact comfortably and knowledgeably.
In LiFE, children, along with their teacher and parents study food, from production to processing to waste production and from transporting to nourishing their body. Through using the "intellectual" and "social" dimensions of food they figure out how the biological world works and how science, technology and society interact to impact the sustainability of the natural environment.
Dr. Isobel Contento is principal investigator, Dr. Angela Calabrese-Barton is co-principal investigator, Dr. Pam Koch is project director, and Ms. Marcia Dadds is assistant project director. Several of our students in the Program in Nutrition have made contributions to the project behind the scenes and in the classrooms. This is just a glimpse into three students' recent experiences in the classroom.
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The teachers and students at PS 154, located at 250 W. 127th Street in Harlem, have taken to the LiFE curriculum with great enthusiasm and interest. PS 154 is a school with a dedicated administration and many fine teachers. At the same time, it is a school struggling to help a number of troubled and disruptive students while keeping classroom academics on track. Since implementing the LiFE curriculum early this year, two days out of the week, six classes made up of 4th and 5th grade students at PS 154 become "food scientists" where they explore and learn about the food that they eat and where their food comes from. The class size range from 20-25 students per class and students have the opportunity to work independently as well as in groups as they move through the student activities of exploring, experimenting, and theorizing about their food. Responses to the curriculum have been positive. The teachers notice that their students are making connections with their food and the food system that they otherwise would not have known and students engage in plenty of thought provoking discussions. Not only are the students learning, but also the teachers themselves, have admitted to thinking a lot more about their food and the food system. Although one of the biggest challenges is dealing with sometimes disruptive and troubled students, it is also the most rewarding to see the amount of learning and interest that can be brought about in a classroom through the domain of food. Helping implement the LiFE curriculum has been a wonderful and rewarding experience!
- JANICE WEN
I have been working to implement the LiFE program in PS 101, which is located on East 111th Street in Manhattan. The teachers and students who are taking part in this program are very diverse, which makes the work challenging, but also quite interesting. The classrooms range from 4th-6th grade with both accelerated classes and special education classes as part of the mix. It is interesting to see how each lesson is adapted to meet the needs of the individual classes of students. One teacher likes to make concept maps with each lesson, while another teacher likes to have the students present their ideas in groups and ask them follow-up questions that really get them thinking. However, all of the students enjoy the lessons
where cooking or tasting is involved. I have found that each time I walk into a classroom, students know they will be doing LiFE and they get very excited. I enjoy seeing the students being creative as many lessons involve predicting and making theories about what will happen, why or how it works. I think sometimes individual creativity is a component that is missing from traditional classroom lessons and the students really enjoy knowing there is no right or wrong answer. They often come up with long, detailed scenarios to explain the ideas presented. I have really enjoyed my time working at the school and the students and teachers have as well.
- CHRISTINA RILEY
I have the great honor of working with six special education classes at Community School 211 (CS 211) in the Tremont Hill area in the Bronx. Though the students function at lower-grade levels, they are in the target age group for the upper-grade curriculum: Choice, Control, & Change (C3). Together, their teachers decided C3 would be the better choice in terms of content and applicability to their students' lives. A major challenge is that the reading materials and assignments were designed for students functioning at a higher grade level. Many of the teachers go the extra mile by adapting the materials and conducting additional preparatory lessons to get students familiar with lesson topics. The students have been enthusiastic and open-minded. In one classroom, a few students always ask me, "Are we having you today? You're the scientist!" It has been a pleasure watching these students develop ideas about the connections between food, science, and their lives. One student said, "It's like we're cars, and we use food up like gas." The students are also sharing what they learn with their peers: students in outside classes were amazed to learn about Syndrome X from them. On a meta level, it is interesting to see how each teacher's personality and teaching style influences how they implement the curriculum. The experience has been an education for me, and has been a great way of taking what I learned in one classroom and applying in another.
- MAGGIE MOON
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For more information on the LiFE program, visit www.tc.edu/life, e-mail LiFEatTC@columbia.edu, or call 212.678.3480.