Fifth Graders Use a Hackathon to Tackle a Real-Life Environmental Issue

            In this Elementary School Journal article, Adiv Gal (Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology, and the Arts) describes how fifth graders in a rural school in northern Israel studied the interaction of two species of birds competing for nesting space in the roofs of school buildings. Starting in 2015, one species, the lesser kestrel, which had lived in the area for decades, was being displaced by another, the common myna, which is one of the world’s most invasive species (myna were introduced to Israel in the 1990s as pets and then established a population in the wild).

            As part of an ecology curriculum unit, students took notes on a burgeoning conflict between the two species:

• Mynas displaced kestrels from their nesting boxes, reducing available spaces to nest.
• Mynas stole food from kestrels during chick-rearing time, decreasing chicks’ supply.
• Mynas attacked kestrels midflight, preventing them from reaching their nests.
• Mynas knocked down kestrel chicks as they waited for food.
• Mynas sometimes killed and fed on kestrel chicks. 

The result was a marked decline in the kestrel population around the school.

    As students observed this interaction and drew on what they had learned about ecology, they began to ask ethically related questions: Should the school get involved in the conflict between these two species? Was it right to take the side of the kestrels? After all, the myna did not choose to be an invasive species. Was there a way for the two species to coexist peacefully?

            Teachers seized the opportunity to help students go beyond the standard ecology curriculum and explore real-life science that was unfolding right before their eyes. Teachers decided to implement an 8-hour hackathon as the culminating activity, using 21st-century technology to address the age-old question of survival. Students worked in small teams in their classrooms, equipped with laptops and internet access, with ornithology experts on hand to help. Teams did online research, thought through effective approaches to the myna/kestrel conflict, and built models of their proposed solutions. Teams then presented their findings and recommendations in a plenary meeting, followed by a gala dinner, with outside experts there to comment on the solutions.

            Teams came up with four possible technological solutions to the problem, each making use of a camera that could distinguish between the myna and kestrels:

• Water is sprayed on myna when they approach nesting boxes.
• The sounds of a hawk are played when myna approach.
• The mynas’ nesting box entrances are closed.
• A dummy of a hawk will jump out of a small hiding place when mynas approach. 

Gal says the hackathon was a great success, engaging students and building a number of skills: creativity and innovation, flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, social and interdisciplinary skills, productivity and accountability, leadership and responsibility, critical thinking and problem solving, ethical reasoning, collaboration and communication, media and information literacy, use of technology, and science knowledge.

            “The teachers also benefited from this innovative approach,” Gal concludes. “They were able to move beyond traditional pedagogical techniques and explore new teaching methods that engage students more deeply. The hackathon required them to facilitate learning rather than simply deliver information, guiding students through complex problem-solving processes.” 

“Holistic Education Through Hackathon” by Adiv Gal in Elementary School Journal, June 2025 (Vol. 125, #4, pp. 549-575); Gal can be reached at adiv.gal@smkb.ac.il. See Memo 813 for related ecology activity involving birds flying into a school’s windows.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1095 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

A Novel Way for Teachers to Get to Know Students

            “Positive student-teacher relationships are the foundation of meaningful school experiences,” say Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, Lupita Romo-Gonzalez, and Damhee Dee Dee Hong (University of California/Santa Barbara) in this Elementary School Journal article. They describe how a small predominantly Mexican-American school district in California gave families in grades 4-6 a Fujimax Polaroid camera, film for 20 photographs, a small photo album, step-by-step instructions on how to use the camera, and information on the ethics of taking pictures and getting permission from subjects. Students were asked to take photos of their lives outside of school, including family members and how they spent their time, and consider sharing albums with their teachers and talking them through the photos. 

            Students were enthusiastic about the project; for many, it was the first time they had taken physical, non-digital photos. They appreciated being able to decide what to photograph and who would be allowed to see their albums. Kids snapped photos of family members, friends, stuffed animals, snow globes, gems from Mexico, computer games, piggy banks, decorations, religious artifacts, decorations for Muslim holidays, pets, favorite foods, books, and themselves as they engaged in various activities.

            “With 20 photographs to capture their lives,” say the authors, “the students in our study had to make choices about what to include and what to leave out. Although many students disliked the limitations on the number of photographs they could take and named people, places, or things that were missing from their albums, by and large, they felt well represented by the photographs they took.” In interviews, students said they loved the opportunity to do a show-and-tell for teachers about their homes, families, interests, and culture. One sixth grader had photos showing his interest in paleontology and hoped his teacher would make a curriculum connection. 

            “Educators and school leaders can take these results as a starting point from which to design and launch their own context-specific initiatives,” say the authors, “– using photographs, videos, drawings, or other means of personal expression – to increase teacher understanding of students in ways that center student agency.” 

“Building Classroom Relationships Through Photovoice” by Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, Lupita Romo-Gonzalez, and Damhee Dee Dee Hong in Elementary School Journal, June 2025 (Vol. 125, #4, pp. 675-700); Sattin-Bajaj can be reached at carolynsattin-bajaj@ucsb.edu.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1095 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Shaping the U.S. History Curriculum in a Contentious Time

            In this article in Time, James Kloppenberg (Harvard University) pushes back on the recent assertion that the U.S. history curriculum has been rewritten in a way that replaces “objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” That’s not correct, he says, but it is true that since the 1960s, the curriculum has moved beyond the previous emphasis on America’s heroic achievements on the world stage to a more nuanced and balanced narrative. 

            “Historians have been asking different questions and probing other dimensions of our past,” says Kloppenberg. “Combining old and new methods, including the discovery of previously unknown sources and the use of statistical analysis, historians digging in the archives have uncovered solid evidence concerning the expansion of freedom for many Americans and the denial of freedom for many others. The experiences of enslaved Africans, women, Indigenous people, ordinary soldiers, owners of small businesses, and countless other Americans have emerged from a generation’s painstaking research into a new light.” 

            The revised curriculum is entirely compatible with telling the story of the nation’s myriad accomplishments and being “a flag-waving patriot with an abiding love of the U.S.,” as Kloppenberg describes himself. “But to see American history as simply a narrative of heroism would be a lie unbecoming of a great nation,” he says. “Telling Americans only those parts of our complicated history consistent with preconceived notions of American grandeur is unacceptable to everyone who cherishes our nation and its history.”

            But aren’t historical facts just facts? It’s not that simple, says Koppenberg. “From the almost infinite array of information historical actors leave behind them, historians put together interpretations consistent with recognized rules of evidence and reasoning.” There are heated debates about those interpretations in peer-reviewed journals, and what emerges needs to be backed up by facts and documentation. “Although entitled to their opinions,” he says, “historians are never entitled to their own facts.”

“The Truth and Sanity of American History” by James Kloppenberg in Time, July 7, 2025 (Vol. 206, #1-2, pp. 22-23); Kloppenberg can be reached at jkloppen@fas.harvard.edu.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1094 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.