I don't teach 8th grade math, and unfortunately didn't have the opportunity to participate in the project. While the magic didn't happen in the garage, it did happen at Town School for Boys and I do want to help spread their word. For background on our partner community please read my earlier post.
Thanks to our 8th grade teachers and 8th graders for embracing Global PBL and our partner school in Sierra Leone. I am proud!
Read a message from 8th Grader Ben:
The 8th grade algebra class was given the guiding question: How can we use math to understand and help stop the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. We used exponential equations to create predictions of the amount of cases in West Africa. We discovered that there could be roughly 30,000,000+ cases of Ebola in a year from now (in West Africa) if something is not done to stop it. We realized that we needed to do something to help as fast is possible.
We Skyped with a young man named Hindo who is a law student in Sierra Leone that we were introduced to through our teachers and the World Leadership School. Since the schools are all closed, Hindo organized local educators and other leaders in the community to educate others about the disease. They are traveling from village to village giving out hand-washing stations and educational talks.
I have enjoyed this project. We were able to apply math to real world topics. I think our class as a whole was able to put forth a meaningful action plan and reflection to a very important world problem. These kinds of projects are also open-ended and allows the students to contribute in their own ways, and in my case, making a video. I knew I couldn’t make as much of a difference on the bake sale, assembly, or the other teams, and that making a video was a way I could help the cause the most. I wanted to start small, advertising for Hindo’s cause in our community.
Overall this project was a realization of the Ebola epidemic. Being here in the US, I often forget of the problems that don’t involve myself. But after talking to Hindo and hearing about his experiences, I really wanted to do something to help in anyway I could for the people of West Africa and give to people like Hindo.
We hope that you are also inspired by our project, and will want to help make a difference too. If you are not able to donate funds, please help us by sharing this video with friends and family.
