Teacher Spotlight: David Brock

As a Biology teacher at Roland Park Country School, an all-girls school in Baltimore, Md., David Brock recognizes the relationship between the environment and all of the subjects discussed in his class - even concepts such as the cellular production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Brock's students use their knowledge of ATP production to determine which plant species create the most biomass for consumption in a food web.

"My students and I use the natural environment as the context for everything we do in class," Brock said.

In addition to bringing the environment into the classroom, Brock brings his students out into the natural world to study class concepts firsthand.

With grants from the Institute for Ecosystem Studies, the Toshiba America Foundation and the Captain Planet Foundation, among others, Brock developed "The Little Things that Run the World," a nationally recognized program that engages the 9th grade Biology students at Roland Park in a self-designed research project that explores human impacts on soil microbial populations. Brock said the environmental field study is a great opportunity for students to put into practice the key concepts they learned in class.

In addition to The Little Things program, Brock uses the Environmental Science Summer Research Experience (ESSRE) for Young Women as a context for teaching and learning. The three-week research internship in soil ecology grew out of an annual class project that explored the soil chemistry and biota of the school's urban woodlands. The regional program is now available to 9th and 10th grade girls from any school in the greater Baltimore area.

Many Roland Park graduates have gone on to pursue careers in science, and Brock feels that the work of the girls in "The Little Things" and ESSRE will have a lasting impact on environmental education. Participants in both programs have developed protocols and methodology for the science involved and have created web pages that provide experiments and lessons for teachers around the country to use in their own classrooms.

"I have my students guide the direction of their research from the very beginning, so that what they find and do will actually mean something to them," Brock said. "My students walk away from their soil ecology work knowing both their power as scientists and their responsibilities as citizens. How could I ask for more?"

Submitted by David Brock, Roland Park Country School

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