Seventh Grade Quest Students Address Challenges at Climate Change Expo
Critical thinking and presentation skills were on full display on January 25 as seventh grade Quest students demonstrated their adaptation and mitigation strategies to climate challenges at the annual Climate Change Expo. Family members were invited to attend the event during which small groups of students presented their research topic and climate challenge, along with strategies to develop solutions.
Students demonstrated global and social awareness with the wide range of climate challenge topics they chose. According to Middle School History Teacher Dan So-Schoos, students were tasked with identifying a climate challenge currently present in the United States, developing an adaptation or mitigation to address the challenge, while also identifying elements of climate justice that arise as a result of this challenge.
“Our Quaker values are weaved into this process as students identified the climate justice elements of their challenge,” he said. “For example, the group that studied the decreasing Colorado River flow learned how certain Native American populations have been left out of the process as decisions are made regarding water allocation in that region.”
Dan is joined on the seventh grade Quest instruction team by Middle School Science Teacher Deborah Bruvik, and Middle School English Teacher Paul Rizzo. The team was also quick to credit Science Teachers Matt Lubicky and Drew Newman, who visited classes to provide feedback during the early stages of student projects to help groups hone in on viable topics.
Seventh Grade Quest Expo Topics
- Beluga Whales
- Coral Bleaching in the Florida Keys
- Decreasing Colorado River Flow
- Dust to Diagnosis: Valley Fever and Climate Change
- Ghost Forests
- Green Transit – NYC’s Journey to Sustainability
- Hawaii Wildfires
- Loggerhead Sea Turtles
- New Jersey Sea Level Rise
- Philadelphia: An Urban Heat Island
- Spread of the Lanternflies
- Winter Wonderland (energy infrastructure not able to withstand cold weather)