My role as a teacher is to ask provocative questions and to help the students make a path toward the answers. If they are motivated to find the path, they will carve it themselves. Effective teaching focuses on why and how - not what. The goal should be to spark each student’s imagination, to find a hook in their heart and mind so that they feel a need to learn the material. The rest is easy because the student is then able to drive his or her learning.

 

As a student at New York University studying Early Childhood and Development, Sarah Corning was inspired to develop a program that is minds-on science, balanced, inquiry-based, and interactive. For over 15 years, our program has been able to do just that and more, making our mark on the way that children all over NYC are able to explore STEM concepts. 

Poet William Butler Yeats remarked, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” Truer words were never spoken. For many students, a passion for education is often ignited by an inspiring teacher. Sarah was that spark for my children.
   

Her ability to engage children in observation of their environment and transform complex material into engaging imagery inspires children to be curious learners. My children are now adults and Sarah's influence in their life is evident in their successful careers.  "Do you remember when Sarah said or did..." is still very present in their conversations. In a world that is expanding constantly, nourishing the ability to approach complex subjects with curiosity, openness, and joy is a gift that is natural to Sarah.

 

Cristina Kartheizer is a therapist both in a community clinic serving the underprivileged and in private practice in NYC. She graduated from NYU and now specializes in trauma work using multiple modalities, languages, art, and sand tray. She is confident that this program is critical for tomorrow's learners and that it should be available to all children.