Connecting Kids to
Real-world Health Science
Health science encompasses a broad group of disciplines
focused on the delivery of health care. Simply put, science,
technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) knowledge
is applied to research and clinical practice in order to diagnose
and treat disease, and to maintain and improve health and
quality of life. Global population growth, increased longevity
and other factors are combining to make health science more
important than ever before. As a result, demand for health
science professionals is expected to grow by 20-40 percent or
more through the year 2022 (bls.gov).
El Toro Elementary School has taken on a new role as
a Health Science Academy under the leadership of its new
principal, Darren McDonald. He was previously the lead
teacher, teaching 6th grade at P. A.Walsh through that school’s
successful implementation of its STEAM program.
“El Toro is breaking new ground with our focus on health
science,” McDonald said. “We’re partnering with Kaiser
Permanente, St. Louise Regional Hospital and local health
professionals, to provide educational pathways for our kids to
explore health-related fields. Health science will have a huge
role to play in their future.”
“We’re also partnering with San José State University, Santa
Clara University and Stanford Medical School. Their graduate
students will come and teach our kids how to do triage, for
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example. Health professionals at Stanford Medical are taking
our teachers on ‘instructional rounds’ so the teachers can learn
how it’s done and simulate the experience with our students.”
“There are tremendous resources available through
organizations such as NASA, Google, eBay and others. We want
our students to take the Next Generation Science Standards
to the next level, so we’re designing curriculum and programs
that allow them to explore physical, mental and emotional
health in their academic studies. Our health science focus is
tightly integrated with Common Core. It’s all about learning
how to explore real-world problems, model solutions, and then
present results effectively. Our kids will be working together in
a science lab-style environment, which works really well.”
Modeling Restorative Justice,
Embracing Diversity
gmh
In speaking with Principal Heather Nursement,
TODAY learned that Martin Murphy is the first MHUSD
school practicing restorative justice. Now in the second year
of following this model, she said “It’s a powerful approach to
dealing with students’ behavior on campus that shows them
how their actions affect others and holds them responsible for
those actions.” (GUSD’s Solorsano Middle School implemented
restorative justice last year.
To create a sense of community, students create “restorative
justice circles.” Working together they come up with a common
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016
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