{"id":38634,"date":"2020-04-21T11:39:23","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T15:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/?p=38634"},"modified":"2020-04-23T14:53:24","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T18:53:24","slug":"making-a-difference-once-climate-challenge-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/climate-superstar-challenge-students-samsung-tablets","title":{"rendered":"Making a Difference, One Climate Challenge at a Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Maki, a seventh-grade teacher from\u00a0Aspen Ridge Middle School in Ishpeming, Michigan, is passionate about science, STEM education and keeping his students engaged.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Students

James Maki instructs students in his Earth Science class on how to use the classroom\u2019s new Samsung Galaxy tablets won as part of their participation in the Climate Superstars Challenge.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI teach Earth Science to seventh graders, and I am always looking for interesting ways to stress environmental awareness and energy conservation,\u201d said Maki whose students were among the winners last year in the annual Climate Superstars Challenge<\/strong><\/a> held by the National Environmental Education, Samsung and the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s ENERGY STAR\u00ae program.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Related News<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Read\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Sustainability<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

See the News<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n

A Legacy of Environmental Engagement<\/span><\/h3>\n

Maki was referred to the contest by a colleague from the Clear Lake Educational Center<\/a>, an outdoor science education campus located in the Hiawatha National Forest of Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula. He coordinates the annual seventh grade class trip to Clear Lake each September, where students spend a few days engaging in STEM-based learning and recreational activities in the great outdoors.<\/p>\n

When Maki caught wind of the challenge, he knew it would be a good fit for his science classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students were very excited to participate ,\u201d said Maki. \u201cAt first, it was the prospect of winning tablets for our classroom that motivated them. However, I\u2019d say that by the time we completed the tasks, the students were truly motivated to make a difference in their environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the Climate Superstars Challenge, for 10 days last Fall, middle school classrooms across America completed daily tasks designed to raise awareness of energy consumption and provide strategies for being more energy-efficient and environmentally conscious. Classrooms that completed at least seven tasks, including taking the ENERGY STAR\u00ae Pledge<\/a>, were automatically entered into a drawing to win five Samsung Galaxy Tablets with ENERGY STAR\u00ae Certification.<\/p>\n

\"Students

Students in James Maki\u2019s seventh-grade Earth Science class use their new Samsung Galaxy tablets to help with their class projects.<\/p><\/div>\n

Maki\u2019s students, in particular, were no strangers to environmentally-focused class projects both inside and outside of the classroom. In 2017, Maki organized a roadside clean-up<\/a> with his seventh-grade students. Together, they collected more than 300 pounds of trash and debris along a quarter-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 41 in honor of Earth Day.<\/p>\n

Climate Challenge a Hit with Students<\/span><\/h3>\n

Maki was able to incorporate the tasks into his existing lesson plans by dedicating a few minutes each day to work on them as a class. He says he felt they were a good use of class time as they didn\u2019t take too long to complete and students seemed to enjoy them, especially the more creative tasks like designing an electric car of the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got some real interesting designs for the electric cars,\u201d said Maki. \u201cMy students love to draw.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Maki\u2019s seventh-grade class worked their way through the Climate Superstars Challenge and learned more about energy efficiency, he says he could sense their increasing curiosity and excitement about the topic. They weren\u2019t satisfied with the general scope of the challenge and wanted to apply this newfound knowledge to their everyday lives. With their teacher\u2019s guidance, the seventh-graders began to formulate a plan to address some inefficiencies they had noticed within the school itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey identified paper towel waste in our middle school restrooms, researched solutions to the problem, and presented a proposal to the school board to have energy-efficient hand dryers installed in the restrooms,\u201d said Maki.<\/p>\n\n

Students\u2019 Dedication Pays Off<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

At the conclusion of the 2019 Climate Superstars Challenge, Maki\u2019s seventh-grade earth science students and 19 other classrooms across the country were selected to receive free tablets from Samsung for completing all of the climate challenges successfully.<\/p>\n

\"James

James Maki\u2019s seventh-grade Earth Science students were excited to win brand-new Samsung Galaxy tablets as part of the Climate Superstars Challenge.<\/p><\/div>\n

While the prize was certainly a welcome reward for his students\u2019 hard work, Maki appreciated the opportunity to provide them with valuable environmental education in a unique, engaging way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would certainly encourage educators to sign up for Climate Superstars,\u201d said Maki. \u201cMy students gained a deep understanding of energy and resource conservation. They even went so far as to act on this new appreciation for the environment by seeking to conserve resources at their school. I couldn\u2019t be more proud of them!\u201d<\/p>\n

Middle school teachers can sign up <\/em>here<\/em><\/a> to participate in this year\u2019s Climate Superstars Challenge to be held this October.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

This article first appeared on <\/em>Neefusa.org<\/em><\/a> in December 2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\"James

Two of James Maki\u2019s seventh-grade Earth Science students get acquainted with their classroom\u2019s new Samsung Galaxy tablets.<\/p><\/div>

\"James

Students use their new Samsung Galaxy tablet to learn more about the geography of their hometown in Ishpeming, MI.<\/p><\/div>

\"James

A student uses her classroom\u2019s new Samsung Galaxy tablet to watch an instructional video related to her class project.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Maki, a seventh-grade teacher from\u00a0Aspen Ridge Middle School in Ishpeming, Michigan, is passionate about science, STEM education and keeping his students engaged. \u201cI teach Earth Science to seventh graders, and I am always looking for interesting ways to stress environmental awareness and energy conservation,\u201d said Maki whose students were among the winners last year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":38655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29719,17563],"tags":[270,34,225,35,50,354],"blue-badge":[],"class_list":["post-38634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corporate","category-corporate-education","tag-climate-superstars-challenge","tag-education","tag-energy-star","tag-stem","tag-sustainability","tag-tablet"],"acf":{"turn_off_retargeting":false},"fimg_mobile_url":"https:\/\/img.us.news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/21082201\/JamesMaki_EarthScienceStudents_SamsungGalaxyTablets_1-2.jpg","fimg_url":"https:\/\/img.us.news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/21082201\/JamesMaki_EarthScienceStudents_SamsungGalaxyTablets_1-2.jpg","primary_category":{"term_id":29719,"name":"Corporate","slug":"corporate","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":29719,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1026,"filter":"raw","term_link":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/category\/corporate\/","term_path":"corporate"},"badge":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38634"},{"taxonomy":"blue-badge","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blue-badge?post=38634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}