CEHHS faculty member Dr. Chris Burke's partnership with Ms. Lazarowicz, an elementary science teacher at Neinas Elementary School, started in Fall 2012. Dr. Burke met Ms. Lazarowicz while she was presenting about her use of the outdoor classroom and school garden at the South East Michigan Stewardship (SEMIS) Community Forum. Following this visit Dr. Burke arranged for his EXPS 220 class to come to the school and work with her students to do experiments in the outdoor classroom.
Neinas Elementary School is a community-centered school located in South West Detroit. The student body reflects the local community and is 78% Hispanic 10% White and 10% African American. The school has multiple strong community partnerships including E & L SuperMercado (the local supermarket) & Greening of Detroit. These partnerships helped support the development of the school’s outdoor classroom. Since this initial visit in Fall 2012, eight of Burke's EXPS classes (five sections of EXPS 220 and three sections of EDD 485) have collaborated with Ms. Lazarowicz’s students. Burke's students have studied native Michigan plants, and rain gardens culminating in the installation of a rain garden at Neinas in the outdoor classroom. They have also studied irrigation systems and structures culminating in the building of roof top garden planters. This past year Dr. Burke's EXPS 220 / EDD 485 students started studying structures that will help inform the planning and building of an Earthship. Dr. Burke's work at Neinas has been a productive and valuable part of his teaching at the College of Education, Health, and Human Services by providing a place for UM- Dearborn students to engage in Academic Service Learning and collaborate with elementary students on long term school projects. It has also been a valuable part of Dr. Burke's scholarship in that this community-based research helps him examine the process of developing students' sense of science agency and connection to the process of scientific investigation with the community. Dr. Burke's partnership with Ms. Lazarowicz has resulted in presentations at the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative Place-Based Education Conference, the National Association of Multicultural Education Annual Conference, The Ecojustice and Activism Conference and most recently the SEMIS Community Forum.
Dr. Chris Burke believes that this work is important as it provides CEHHS students with an opportunity to see and work with a highly effective teacher in Detroit who is actively working to cultivate community connections and implement place-based education. As Burke says, "This opportunity helps CEHHS students develop an understanding of the importance of cultivating relationships with K-12 students, their parents, and the community. It also provides them a chance to engage in community-based science where they learn how to balance the formal rigors of science with the complexity of authentic questions that emerge from students engaging with the community".
Burke's three year collaboration with Neinas has also provided him with a space to conduct scholarship related to the facilitation of students’ science agency, developing and sustaining school community partnerships, and place-based education. For more information on Dr. Chris Burke and his research please visit his faculty profile page.
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