Ian Adler of York, a senior environmental science major at Muhlenberg College, uses video to teach science to elementary schoolers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adler has been interning with the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, and until schools in Pennsylvania shut down, he had been going to Allentown School District elementary schools several times per week to conduct lessons.
But now, like teachers and professors around the world, Adler is creating video content to serve as virtual lessons. He is doing this primarily for Roosevelt Elementary School in Allentown, through the Office of Community Engagement at Muhlenberg College and the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, though the videos are publicly available. What were once carefully planned in-classroom lessons have morphed into something more free-form, according to Adler.
Creating lesson plans that engage young students is challenging enough, Adler said. When nature is the lesson, it is even more difficult to teach over video. Adler's students are usually outside and up close to the subject matter.
After graduation, Adler will head east to Lehigh University for a one-year graduate program in secondary education. He plans to keep teaching through the end of the elementary students' school year.
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