West Orange Students To Appear On Emmy Award-Winning TV Series

West Orange, NJ – A group of West Orange students will soon appear on an Emmy award-winning television series.

School officials announced that the West Orange High School Adaptive iSTEM (Integrative Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program will be featured on “Classroom Close-Up” on March 5.

The class was filmed in December as part of their series highlighting innovative projects in New Jersey public schools and featured students from the WOHS Self-Contained Special Needs class, administrators stated.

The segment centers on a group project that saw students and their instructional assistants creating loops and tracks to a working rollercoaster.

Throughout the course, the students built upon what they learned and worked with electricity and circuit kits, school officials stated.

The course also utilized a modified DECIDER process, developed at WOHS for technology and engineering classes, administrators stated.

Now in its second year, the West Orange High Adaptive iSTEM class was created and developed by WOHS teacher Deb Coen (who teaches Technology and Engineering, Digital Photography, Introduction to iSTEM and Basic Electricity) and Ryan DelGuercio (Supervisor of Technology and Engineering).

They were aided in their efforts by Dawn Ribeiro, Director of Special Services 7-12, Jodie Goldstein, Transition Coordinator at WOHS and other team members, school officials stated.

“The students learned that it was OK to fail and try new things to find solutions,” Coen noted.

“The students initially begin out very hesitant to try out the various activities. We start off with the structures activity which is something fairly easy and concrete for them - although hot glue guns are new to them in many cases and there is a learning curve - and advance to the roller coaster project which is our culminating projects. By the point we get to the roller coasters it is so great to see how far they have come and what they understand. They really are able to understand and solve problems - both inside the classroom and using the same skills outside the classroom - with a thoughtful process. By differentiating what each student does it truly helps them be successful. With 10 kids in the class all at various levels, there are sometimes 10 different activities being done all based on the same ‘anchor’ project.”

“This program has been an unbelievable success,” said Coen. “By accommodating learning styles with hands-on projects in a less restrictive environment, we are helping to prepare our students for post education, employments and independent living.”

To see the DECIDER process developed by West Orange High School, click here.

WHEN WILL IT AIR?

The program will air on NJTV on 3/5/2016, 4/3/2016 and 4/9/2016. The times are Saturday at 5:30 a.m., and Sundays at 6:30 a.m., 12:30 PM and 7:30 PM.

Check local listings for channels.

To see the segment online, visit: http://classroomcloseup.org/segments/adaptive-istem/

Photos courtesy of Cynthia Cumming

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