By Dr. E Adam Smith, Service Learning Coordinator

On January 8, a group of grade 5 students worked away diligently in our new Makerspace. The students created jump ropes, tic-tac-toe boards, and other games which they will donate to a local public school in our community. Their work with drills, laser cutters, jigsaws and other tools was just another step in this group’s quest to learn about inequality in our society and to take steps to help improve the situation. Since the beginning of the 2019-20 school year, this group of students has worked on a service learning project that led them into the Makerspace.

One day early in the fall of 2019, a group of Ms. María López’s students started questioning why girls did not have the same opportunity as boys to play soccer on the school fields during recess. Their line of questioning led to thinking about whether students at local SEP schools had the opportunity to play sports, and whether or not they had access to teams, equipment and spaces.

It was a labor-intensive process to get to where students were making products in the Makerspace. The grade 5 students have spent countless hours asking questions, discussing and reshaping their perspective with all the data they were collecting. In order to find out about SEP student access to sports fields and equipment, grade 5 group created and conducted a survey with students attending our Upper School Gamma program. Though they were able to glean valuable data and information, the group found that this information was insufficient to make any conclusions about access in SEP schools.

As a next step, the grade 5 students wanted to visit SEP schools in the area to interview the heads of school, speak to the students, and observe the facilities. ASF’s Service Learning Program was able to schedule visits and in small groups our students went to four schools in the neighborhood to gather information. Through the interviews and observations, our grade 5 students learned about the restrictions facing local schools in terms of facilities, resources, and scheduling. Through this data gathering and processing, the students determined that one way they could help was by creating and donating games to a local school to enhance recess time in the limited space available.

As the Service Learning Coordinator, I have been very impressed and pleased with the progress of this project. The students have used inquiry to pursue knowledge and learn about inequality in our community. The students started with assumptions, but through research and data collection have changed their perspective of what is the root cause of the problem. It is essential as an institution and a school community, we do not project our assumptions on other groups, and these grade 5 students have become a model on how to make a change using data and research, not our preconceived perspectives. The dedication and commitment our students have shown to this project is nothing less than inspiring as it has been entirely driven by student effort and interests. As they move forward, this group of grade 5 students is determined to continue to work towards greater access for students in our own school and those in our local community.

Dr. E Adam Smith

Questions/Comments: smithea@asf.edu.mx