On July 9th, 2024, I got the honor to visit my general studies teacher Ekambaram (Eka) Elumala for his Biological & Environmental Issues Focus Area. Eka is a biology teacher from Mercer County Senior high School, Harrodsburg, and had previously taught in India, Republic of Maldives and Malaysia.
The class started by visiting their compost bins filled with dirt and organic matter. The composting bins stunk but everyone had fun seeing part of the compost process. Conversations spurring from curiosity between scholars lasted until the end process of the compost.
Inside the classroom, scholars started to clean petri dishes to culture bacteria for their microbiology part of class. Scholars scrubbed the petri dishes lid to bottom while conversing. They talked about being excited to go to a farm to learn related issues. Every once in a while, Eka asked questions to flow brain energy and conversation between scholars such as: “ Is dilution the solution to pollution?”, “When growing good and bad bacteria, how do you get rid of bad bacteria?”, and “Why culture bacteria?” Scholars bounce ideas off each other when justifying their answer or respectfully disapproving of another.
In addition, they did an ecological footprint activity with points to signify their ecological impact (the more negative the less impact). This time around they did the shelter and food category. For example if they owned a large house with a big lot they got 50 points while if they lived in an apartment they got -50 points. For food, If they ate meat more than once a day they got 600 points, if they composted they got -200 points and if they ate their own grown food they got 0 points.
The discussion got on the fruit waste of each school. Lauren Burton from Madison Central High School thought their school fruit waste was 1,800 while Matthew Whitlock from Oldham County High School thought their school fruit waste was 0 because they didn’t offer free lunch. This activity was an eye opener to scholars about their dependence on natural resources to sustain their lifestyle. The tone of conservation throughout the class was fun and light, specifically when Eka jokes “this is the richest class I’ve had” after 3 scholars admitted they went to private school in Kentucky.
After class I got to talk to Eka about their usual plans in his class. I learned that their usual class consists of exploring the outside, specifically a creek near Murray State University. There, they check the water quality to see how it changes periodically and check the ecosystem’s diversity. He stated “[his] class is meant to explore the outside to learn about issues in the world around us.”
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