Ninth graders learn by teaching

ROYAL CITY - It has often been said that you learn more when you are teaching, and some of Royal High School's freshmen took that message to heart recently.

As a part of preparation for the Measurement of Student Progress (MSP) exams, the ninth grade physical science students from Dr. Eric Carlson's and Randy Miller's classes made presentations to all of the fifth grade students at Red Rock Elementary.

The presentations came in the form of the spoken and written word. Ninth graders demonstrated their knowledge with colorful, smartly organized posters, explaining the content.

Before doing their teaching stint, ninth grade physical science students researched forms of energy, specifically how energy transforms and transfers. In groups of 2-4 students the ninth graders presented to small groups of fifth graders in their classrooms.

Afterward, the physical science students gave the Red Rock students energy quizzes by which to judge if they had taught well. Fifth grade students were able to answer the questions with the information provided in the presentations, as well as on the posters.

"For example," Carlson said, "a student was able to state that we do not make energy. Rather we take it from something, such as putting gasoline in a car. The gasoline provides chemical energy to the car, which then takes that energy and transforms it into kinetic energy to move."

The ninth grade students collected the quizzes and returned them to Miller and Carlson so they could evaluate how well their students had taught the concept of energy.