EAST is Forerunner to Common Core

Daniel Carmona, a Fayetteville High School junior, left, explains a bucket garden system Nov. 8 to visitors Sherry and Jim Kribs during an Environmental and Spatial Technology Lab Night Out event at the Fayetteville High School’s West Campus in Fayetteville.
Daniel Carmona, a Fayetteville High School junior, left, explains a bucket garden system Nov. 8 to visitors Sherry and Jim Kribs during an Environmental and Spatial Technology Lab Night Out event at the Fayetteville High School’s West Campus in Fayetteville.

A technology program, born in Arkansas classrooms 16 years ago, is being praised by students and teachers for teaching skills that are at the foundation of the new Common Core State Standards.

At A Glance

EAST Initiative

The EAST program is in 190 public schools in Arkansas, including 16 elementary, middle and high schools in Benton, Madison and Washington counties, and two community colleges, including NorthWest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville.

Source: Staff Report

Long before Common Core became the buzzword in Arkansas classrooms, students were introduced to terms like collaboration and project-based learning in the Environmental and Spatial Technology program.

EAST is just as relevant today as when it was founded in 1996, said Matt Dozier, program director.

“EAST was Common Core before Common Core,” Dozier said.

The Common Core standards want students to be able to apply what is learned in the classroom to real life experiences.

The concept behind EAST is to put technology in the hands of students and ask them to develop projects to address real-life problems in their communities. The projects at schools across Northwest Arkansas are varied.

Students at Greenland High School received a grant to develop a strategic plan for the city. Students at Har-Ber High School developed a program to honor veterans seven years ago that has grown each year.

Zach Jackson, a senior at Fayetteville High School, enrolled in EAST as a sophomore, based on the recommendation of an older brother.

“It’s student-led. We decide what to do,” he said. “It has benefited me a lot in college applications.”

Jackson and two classmates last year earned national recognition from EAST for a service project. Called Pedal Power, the students used a bicycle to produce electricity to generate a battery that operated a water pump at a vegetable garden at Owl Creek School.

During a recent open house at the EAST classroom at the ALLPS Center, the students showed a video and explained the project. The ALLPS Center is an alternative program housed in the former West Campus.

Jackson, Mason Hollis and Brennan Sharpe worked about 400 hours on the project, about half the time outside of class.

At A Glance

Common Core

Common Core refers to new national standards developed in collaboration with teachers, school administrators, and experts, to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare children for college and the work force. The standards define the knowledge and skills students should have within their K-12 education so they will graduate high school able to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing academic college courses and in workforce training programs.

Source: www.corestandards.o…

They also spent about $150 of their own money to develop Pedal Power.

“This taught me how to use classroom resources to help the environment,” Sharpe said.

The students honed their presentation skills by teaching students at Owl Creek how to pedal the bicycle to produce the power, Hollis said.

The students said the project helped them develop self-motivation and problem-solving skills they will need in life.

Debra Lamb, EAST facilitator at Har-Ber High School in Springdale, said EAST takes the lessons of core classes, like English or math, and applies that learning to everyday situations.

Instead of memorizing math concepts, students are using those concepts to figure out the dimensions of a veterans museum or to plan a budget for a veterans event, Lamb said.

“Common Core is what EAST has been doing for years,” Lamb said.

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