South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
SCIENCE
social distancing.
Seven online classes are currently available for $5 each at www.yeafrog.org, and more will be added throughout the summer so students and parents can have fun, engaging science projects to use in this period of education uncertainty.
“We teach the young and young at heart,” said Kristen Hoss, executive director. “Everybody needs a chance to learn.”
But how do you do a science project when you’re avoiding going out as much as possible or don’t feel comfortable dropping by a store?
Easy. YEA’s classes are often DIY — do it yourself. Upcycle materials from your house, yard and neighborhood to learn about anything from wiggly worms and gardening to fish traps and ocean acidification.
Dave Enchautegui, a 12-year-old boy from Coral Springs, took YEA’s most recent DIY fishing gear class. The one-hour virtual class was hosted on a video streaming app called Ring Central. Dave and his mom, Tara Bazinsky, learned to make their own fishing poles out of sticks from their yard, twine from their home, wine corks for floaters and earrings for hooks.
“We’re probably going fishing right after logging off,” Bazinsky said, smiling at her son as he practiced casting his line in the living room and then laughing as he accidentally hooked his clothes. “We have two canals in our neighborhood.”
Though Dave was recently gifted a modern fishing pole by his grandpa, the boy was eager to try his own invention on the local bluegills and peacock bass.
“I really liked learning how to tie the knots,” he said. The blood knot, a cinch-like knot made from a series of twists and loops that’s used to fasten floats, weights and hooks on fishing line, was his favorite.
Dave’s mom, a secondgrade teacher who adjusted to online classes with her students earlier this year, said she loves the YEA programs and is signing Dave up for the fourday fishing camp next.
“It’s perfect,” Bazinsky said. “I was looking for just stuff for him to do to keep him busy over the summer. This has been really helpful.”
For Nancy Barcia, a fifth grade teacher at St. Joan of Arc Catholic School in Boca Raton, YEA’s virtual programs are a bright spot for her students’ pandemic-forced remote learning.
“We always do science field trips,” Barcia said. “Once the pandemic hit, we needed to go online.”
The composition, science and drama teacher said she immediately jumped on board when her principal pitched YEA’s “The Sea and Me — Prevent a CO2 Calamity” class as an alternative.
Barcia worked with
Cindy Davidson, left, and Emily Wells dig out invasive Hawaiian Scaevola plants from the dunes in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea before planting native sea oats.
Hoss to set up a Google Classrooms presentation where her 40 students and their parents could log in during their normal class hour and participate. Each parent received an email
with a list of simple ingredients for the project. And while some originally disliked the video platform, Barcia said, when class time came, everyone was pleased.
“We could’ve gone on for five hours straight; it was great,” the teacher said. “The parents were thrilled. The kids’ reactions were wonderful. We are definitely going to use it again.”