Dan Burkett Earns National Geographic Educator Certification
Source/Author: Raffi Darrow, Ebytes Editor
May 06, 2021
Shorecrest Upper School Science Teacher Dan Burkett has been named a National Geographic Certified Educator. National Geographic certifies educators committed to making the world a better place by empowering students to be informed decision-makers equipped to solve meaningful challenges in their communities and beyond.
The program is designed to encourage interdisciplinary education, teaching educators to connect their course content to real world issues from a variety of perspectives and scales.
For his capstone project, Mr. Burkett taught his Shorecrest Upper School chemistry students about ocean acidification. This connects to the chemistry curriculum by applying the measure of acidity - the pH scale - to marine environments. His students also learned how equilibrium processes impact marine pH, and explained how these processes are connected in the context of Le Chatelier's Principle, which states that chemical systems, when stressed, will respond to minimize change.
Students examined how ocean acidification is damaging ecologically, learned about coral bleaching, and researched economic impacts due to ocean acidification. They also researched laws that have been enacted or proposed to mitigate ocean acidification. After completing their research, students designed infographics that communicated their results in a captivating way.
“Designing this capstone project was enjoyable and my students found the infographic assignment engaging.” Mr. Burkett reported. “I’m excited to continue to apply what I’ve learned through this program to help our students understand how what we teach in our science curricula impacts society as a whole.”
