American School of Bombay

Despite various setbacks to getting my project and collaborations with schools going, I was looking forward to my visit to the American School of Bombay. Of the schools I’ve visited, this one I skyped with back in LA, the students have great access to tech and small class sizes and basically go to a dream school.

My intro to the school was through 5th grade teacher Andrew Marama, whom I met at the NAGC Convention is Orlando last November. I figured any school in India that supported its teachers by sending them to NAGC overseas was worth checking out, and it certainly was.

Taking the edge off of the expense of staying in Mumbai, thanks to Andrew, was my introduction to Robert Zook, science and maker coordinator extraordinaire. Robert picked me up at the airport and shared all his expat comforts with me and briefed me on ASB. We became quick friends and got into the kind of intense conversations that passionate teachers have. It’s his third year at ASB and he suggested I look into teaching at an international school. The thought had never even occurred to me. He made a convincing case. He’s been able to kind of carve out his own position there, doing what he loves with supportive colleagues and administrators.

Life in Mumbai can be challenging of course, but the school really looks after their teachers. Watching Robert work with students was marvelous. He has inspired not one but several maker spaces on both the elementary and secondary campus.

Doesn’t this look like a fun place to learn?

Rube Goldberg contraptions are so much fun for people of all ages.

This is the maker space in the Reggio Emilia section of the school.

These are inexpensive tools that can inspire young children to build things out of cardboard. Awesome, I have to get these!

Robert was justifiably proud of his collection of robotics kits, especially this one. Now he has to get some Spheros SPRK+ They can afford them.

One can only imagine how much work it takes to organize, stock and maintain all these materials for students free exploration. Robert has before-school and Saturday maker times where he is mobbed by students and parents. Every school should have that going on.

He also rocks the tie-dye lab coat and rainbow diffraction glasses.

Microscopes, balloon rockets, science through toys is the way to go!

The awesome Aquapod with some interesting modifications.

Look closely, you can see students and teachers included on the wall.

Another creative use of space to give students a place to play, learn, and sometimes even hide.

Although it did not appear that the school was going to be able to incorporate my project into their curriculum, it was still a thrill to visit their school. I wish they’d given me a chance to present to the students and parents, as I’m sure they would have been receptive. They also had a chance to use the amazing Amplify Science Engineering Internship I’d negotiated to share with them. Maybe it was too good to be true to get these goodies for nothing, but it was there for the taking. Hopefully sometime in the future we can find a way to collaborate as I really admired what I saw at the school.

Hanging out with Robert and the teachers was loads of fun. I joined them for someone’s birthday party at a snazzy restaurant and had the snazziest meal of my trip.

Andrew was leading a school play the next day so I checked that out in the morning.

Then I went back to the secondary school and got to see more innovative science instruction. The teachers collaborate to craft lessons together and then deliver them separately but at the same time. If they need to combine classes they do, and each child gets the attention he or she needs. Robert also shared with me how the school does R&D into best teaching practices and then work together to implement their ideas. I’ll definitely be studying their work for years to come.

The classic table beautifully painted on the wall.

You have to love a mission statement incorporated into the school environment like this.

Testing the rate of heating/cooling of water and land using models and data probes.

A look at the teacher display. Students sit around a lab bench and have block periods where they can work independently and cooperatively as the teacher sees appropriate. Students were well trained in how to focus while using technology.