For example, one activity uses the transit system to teach algebraic concepts. Students ride the bus and learn about positive and negative integers by adding and subtracting streets as the bus changes directions. They count the number of people who get on the bus over a period of time and use this information to explore probability. The writing activities help to prepare students for eighth-grade math and to develop the math portfolios required by the new state assessment system. A job shadowing program provides all eighth graders with at least one visit to a workplace that interests them.
Speakers discuss their careers and the preparation needed to perform their jobs.
Teachers take small groups of students to visit a local business, industry, hospital, or other workplace of interest. For example, one student entered payroll information on a computer as part of a job-shadowing experience at an insurance company. Another group worked with naturalists at a local nature preserve to check the condition of native plants. In collaboration with a local aviation magnet high school, a larger group of 120 students journeyed to a local airport. Back at Western, students worked on a two-week aviation and aeronautics unit.