ACCESS visit

I chose to visit Alba Middle School to observe the ACCESS lab. Alba Middle School is located in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. Bayou La Batre is my home town and I graduated from Alba High School.  At one time the campus was home to grades K-12. A new high school and elementary school were built and the old facility became the middle school. I thought only high schools had ACCESS labs, but to my surprise this middle school has a fully functional lab.  I contacted the science department at this school (because I wanted to know how a science teacher incorporates this lab) and a 7th grade teacher named Andra Meredith was able to give me a tour and answer my questions. She was very helpful and accommodating.

    

 The lab had 6 round tables with 4 to 5 chairs around them.  There were two 42 inch flat screen monitors on opposite walls of the room and a teacher's station in the front of the room.  Mrs. Meredith had used this lab several days before my visit.  Her students have been learning about food chains and predators and prey.  She had scheduled a field biologist to talk with her students about predators and how owl pellets (owl pellets are oval shaped masses of indigestible remains of animals preyed upon by birds of prey) are used to determine many factors about a certain area.  On the day of my visit Mrs. Meredith's class was dissecting and examining owl pellets that the biologist had talked about.   Click on this link to see an example of the lab and how to order them.  I have dissected owl pellets before and it was interesting to see how another teacher presents the same  lab.  I loved how she incorporated the learning lab into her lesson and gave the lab a real life application.  Mrs. Meredith is eager to incorporate other classes into this activity by using their portable lab and by making contacts at various schools in the county.

My visit to see the lab and how it is used has been very beneficial. Once I return to the classroom and if I am teaching at a high school with an ACCESS lab, I have a better understanding of how the lab can be used.  Mrs. Meredith gave me so many ideas, and I was encouraged to see how easy it is to incorporate into a class.  I look forward to this opportunity that has been made available to teachers by the state of Alabama.