{"id":4592,"date":"2013-11-13T16:59:26","date_gmt":"2013-11-13T21:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=4592"},"modified":"2013-11-13T16:59:26","modified_gmt":"2013-11-13T21:59:26","slug":"villanova-college-is-bringing-science-to-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/villanova-college-is-bringing-science-to-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Villanova College is bringing science to life"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Wallace Pidgeon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Who knew science and math could be so much fun? And be brought to life with practical experience outside the classroom? The Grade 8 Science and Math students at Villanova College\u2019s Middle School do. <\/p>\n

Last week, Grade 8 students left the classroom, shared their bikes and participated in an outdoor bike lab \u2013 and this was no ordinary bike ride.
\nThis was a field research and data collection exercise, the kind of practical and real life experience that is part of the learning culture at Villanova College.<\/p>\n

Teachers Gianpiero De Rose and Qb Mascarenhas are only two of the many faculty members who are committed to bringing Math and Science to life by integrating the STEM pathway learning curriculum into various outside the classroom learning experiences.<\/p>\n

STEM represents the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Practical, real-life experiences create a \u201ccool\u201d factor that inspire a love for learning in these budding engineers, mathematicians and scientists.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngaging kids in active learning,\u201d explained Mr. Mascarenhas, Villanova College\u2019s Upper School Physics Teacher. \u201cThe STEM program is based on engaging [more students] in math and science using technology and practical applications.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Mascarenhas brings over a decade\u2019s worth of practical engineering experience from industry.<\/p>\n

The practical application of math and science is not lost on Mr. DeRose who teaches Grade 7 and 8 Science and Math.<\/p>\n

\u201cSTEM is about escaping the textbook and trying to give students real-world experiences,\u201d added DeRose.<\/p>\n

The outdoor bike lab is one of many practical labs students are exposed to. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe start the year off with our mechanisms unit which is the physics unit for our elementary curriculum and we have just finished studying simple machines; wheels and axles, gears, and inclined planes,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo, in keeping with the philosophy of giving our curriculum real word application, we feel this lab is a great teaching opportunity. Most kids have a bike or, at the very least, have ridden a bike but don\u2019t understand how it works.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis lab takes students\u2019 prior knowledge from classroom teaching and has them apply it to real-world scenarios. It is important to take learning outside the classroom because the more we, as teachers, challenge students to think in unconventional ways, the more significant the learning experience. Teaching isn\u2019t about filling [students\u2019] heads with information. It can, and should, be so much more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the hope that none of the students think that math or science is \u2018boring\u2019 the entire Villanova College student experience is engaging and motivates students to learn.<\/p>\n

Not surprising the inspiration for an outdoor bike lab came to Mr. De Rose outside the classroom on the annual field trip to Ottawa and Montreal two years ago. During a bike tour along the Rideau Canal, Mr. De Rose realized that his students really didn\u2019t capture the whole premise around gear ratios and mechanical advantage.<\/p>\n

Siena Thalassinos and Antonio Peluso were partners and they soon understood this activity as being about more than just riding a bike \u2013 it was a math and science experiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bike lab in science class is to see the differences in gears, the difficulties in riding on different surfaces, seeing if it\u2019s easier or harder to do,\u201d Siena explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s basically mechanical advantage,\u201d Antonio added. \u201cWe are trying to find what gear ratio has more of a mechanical advantage in different terrains.\u201d
\nThe exercise is about finding out if there is a gear relationship to the level of difficulty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to see different ratios of gears and how they work and if riding is easier or harder on a lower gear,\u201d continued Siena.<\/p>\n

In class, Mr. DeRose has taught the students that mechanical advantage is designed most of the time to make things easier. Now, outside the classroom, the students are experiencing the effects firsthand. This is STEM in action.<\/p>\n

Next May, when Villanova College\u2019s Grade 8 class travels to Ottawa they will truly see how these concepts are put it into practice on their bike tour around the Rideau Canal.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who knew science and math could be so much fun? And be brought to life with practical experience outside the classroom? The Grade 8 Science and Math students at Villanova College\u2019s Middle School do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/2013-11-13-13.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-1c4","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-15 20:52:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}