Kōrero EAG, S1, E19 - Jessica Galli - a podcast by Malia M. Hoffmann, Ed.D. & Alfred Y. Ramirez, Ph.D.

Jessica Galli teaches 7th grade integrated science in Whittier, California. As a first year teacher, she spearheaded PBL integration for her school. She created a large, 13-week unit called "Disaster House" where students were given coordinates to build a hypothetical house (usually on a fault line and where many natural disasters take place). Through multiple different resources, students learned about the disasters, how they occur, and what structures would withstand them. By the end of the unit, students had learned about weather, plate tectonics, thermal energy, erosion, density, engineering practices, and how to research for materials to build their house. In the twelfth week, students created a model house where each material, such as Popsicle sticks, represented a real-life material, such as white pine wood. The last week of the unit was Disaster Week where they subjected their model houses to mock-natural disasters occurring near their coordinates such as earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, tornadoes, landslides, and hurricanes. To make things even more interesting, she dressed up in a gorilla suit as King Kong and stomped around their little towns with the leaf blower (for tornadoes and hurricanes) and kept the costume on when students performed all other simulations. The students still talk about this unit today! She can be followed on social media on....

Instagram @mrs.jgalli

Further episodes of Kōrero EAG - Start Local, Go Global

Further podcasts by Malia M. Hoffmann, Ed.D. & Alfred Y. Ramirez, Ph.D.

Website of Malia M. Hoffmann, Ed.D. & Alfred Y. Ramirez, Ph.D.