SUSTAINABILITY ACROSS

Making the world a better place begins Nicholas WhitefeatherManning, . He teaches ecology to ninth graders at Kensington High School in Philadelphia, helping them understand how their individual choices can impact climate change and the quality of their lives.

To do so, WhitefeatherManning, who studied biology at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, uses realworld, hands-on experiences to motivate his students to care about and understand environmental issues.

“Start with what they know,” he said, echoing a lesson he learned at Penn GSE, where he was a member of the inaugural Weiss Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows in the Urban Teaching Apprenticeship Program.

That means, WhitefeatherManning added, looking at what grows, or doesn’t, in his students’ backyards. Or asking them to look right outside the classroom window at the litter-strewn streets and sidewalks. Then discussing and researching litter’s impact on water and air quality and the food chain—not only locally but throughout other biomes.

“Those are [curriculum] choices I am making to relate to my student’s lives,” said WhitefeatherManning.

In addition, he has his students grow plants (mustard, for instance) and then conduct experiments to assess the effect on plant growth when exposed to sunlight or shade, more or less water, and even toxic substances such as bleach. The students then graph results, relating their findings to plants in gardens or window boxes at home. The class also dissects owl pellets, investigates the food chain, and explores renewable and non-renewable resources.

“My Penn education talked about trying to be authentic, keeping it real for students but also real for yourself,” he said. That means, said WhitefeatherManning, choosing topics that he not only enjoys teaching but that his students see as having an impact on their world.

“It’s all connected to their lives,” he says. “The more we think about it, hopefully the more we do about it. ■