Cal Poly students teach kids about Gold Rush
ONTARIO - Erika Gonzales can't wait to get her hands dirty in teaching.
But before she gets her own classroom, the Cal Poly Pomona student last week had a group of fourth-graders from Creek View Elementary School searching for gold by using oval aluminum lids to sift through dirt and water.
"Students want to do this, they want a pan, they want to get dirty and they want to know how cold the water is. They don't want to just read about it," said Gonzales, 22, a multiple-subject credential student at Cal Poly.
Through a class at the university led by professor Gary Garfield - which focuses on learning strategies for teaching social studies and history - future teachers are able to bring exciting, engaging, hands-on lessons to elementary school students. In this case, it's Suzanne McDonough's fourth-grade class.
But before she gets her own classroom, the Cal Poly Pomona student last week had a group of fourth-graders from Creek View Elementary School searching for gold by using oval aluminum lids to sift through dirt and water.
"Students want to do this, they want a pan, they want to get dirty and they want to know how cold the water is. They don't want to just read about it," said Gonzales, 22, a multiple-subject credential student at Cal Poly.
Through a class at the university led by professor Gary Garfield - which focuses on learning strategies for teaching social studies and history - future teachers are able to bring exciting, engaging, hands-on lessons to elementary school students. In this case, it's Suzanne McDonough's fourth-grade class.
While Garfield's university class is learning about strategies for teaching social studies, McDonough's class is studying the California Gold Rush of the 1850s.
On Thursday, Gonzales set up two large plastic bins outside the classroom, filled them up with water and dirt, spray-painted rocks gold, threw them into the water, and told the kids to have at it.
She said students got to feel things, work in pairs, communicate with each other and compare their rocks.
"The boys like to compare their rocks more than the girls, the girls are like 'I don't want to get dirty,"' Gonzales said.
"But really, kids want to get dirty and this allows them to do that, and they get to keep the 'gold' rock."
For 15 years, Garfield's students have been involved in a variety of collaborative educational endeavors with McDonough's class.
Garfield has 20 students who, over a four-week period, get to visit the elementary school and put educational practices to work.
"The idea is for my students to get the hands-on learning experience," Garfield said. "And we all know when kids learn that way they remember it best."
McDonough's students rotated through stations that discussed the Gold Rush - panning, the assay office, hydraulic mining and the environment as well as the rocker box.
Fourth-grader Alden Garcia said he liked having different teachers in his class.
"They give us a few minutes to get what we're doing on our own and if we need help they help us," he said. "This is good because you're growing and you need to be more independent when you do things."
Another fourth-grader found the different stations fun.
"You get to try stuff you don't get to do in a regular class," said Christian Argumedo, 9. "Plus, the teachers make old stuff new."
The Creek View fourth-graders are not the only students learning a couple of new things.
Cal Poly multiple-subject credential student Laura Mowrey said that while she interacted with students, she discovered their different motivations.
Mowrey, 22, led the assay office station.
"Some are satisfied with just the worth of the gold, but then there are students who want to know the worth of gold today. So they want to do extra math problems and calculations," she said.
"Some don't want to do the math problems, they want to look at their partners' paper, but I try to tell them that they're going to have to use this type of calculations their whole life."
Gonzales said although testing is an important tool schools use, not all kids learn by reading and drilling information.
"This engages them, gives them the history and gets them into an activity," she said. "Our motto at Cal Poly is learn by doing and so this actually demonstrates that."
On Thursday, Gonzales set up two large plastic bins outside the classroom, filled them up with water and dirt, spray-painted rocks gold, threw them into the water, and told the kids to have at it.
She said students got to feel things, work in pairs, communicate with each other and compare their rocks.
"The boys like to compare their rocks more than the girls, the girls are like 'I don't want to get dirty,"' Gonzales said.
"But really, kids want to get dirty and this allows them to do that, and they get to keep the 'gold' rock."
For 15 years, Garfield's students have been involved in a variety of collaborative educational endeavors with McDonough's class.
Garfield has 20 students who, over a four-week period, get to visit the elementary school and put educational practices to work.
"The idea is for my students to get the hands-on learning experience," Garfield said. "And we all know when kids learn that way they remember it best."
McDonough's students rotated through stations that discussed the Gold Rush - panning, the assay office, hydraulic mining and the environment as well as the rocker box.
Fourth-grader Alden Garcia said he liked having different teachers in his class.
"They give us a few minutes to get what we're doing on our own and if we need help they help us," he said. "This is good because you're growing and you need to be more independent when you do things."
Another fourth-grader found the different stations fun.
"You get to try stuff you don't get to do in a regular class," said Christian Argumedo, 9. "Plus, the teachers make old stuff new."
The Creek View fourth-graders are not the only students learning a couple of new things.
Cal Poly multiple-subject credential student Laura Mowrey said that while she interacted with students, she discovered their different motivations.
Mowrey, 22, led the assay office station.
"Some are satisfied with just the worth of the gold, but then there are students who want to know the worth of gold today. So they want to do extra math problems and calculations," she said.
"Some don't want to do the math problems, they want to look at their partners' paper, but I try to tell them that they're going to have to use this type of calculations their whole life."
Gonzales said although testing is an important tool schools use, not all kids learn by reading and drilling information.
"This engages them, gives them the history and gets them into an activity," she said. "Our motto at Cal Poly is learn by doing and so this actually demonstrates that."
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