A circuit project designed by ninth grade physics student. Photo by Elliot English.
November 11, 2024
In an icebreaker activity on his first day of ninth grade physics class last year at Brookline High School, Ilya Tagiev told his classmates he hates physics.
“It was true, I did hate physics,” said Tagiev, now a 10th grader. “I was expecting physics to be really hard, and then I went to Ms. Kissel’s class. It changed my perspective.”
Stacy Kissel is one of eight educators who teach ninth grade physics using a curriculum she developed alongside two other BHS teachers. The curriculum, first piloted in the 2019-2020 school year, is experience-based and highlights labs and observational learning instead of prioritizing theory and math.
It flips the order of learning on its head, replacing the standard “confirmation lab,” which proves what students have already learned, with experiments that inspire questions.
The curriculum encourages collaboration and has unified teachers and students, Kissel said.
“It used to be very much that the lab was at the end of the unit, whereas now we have activities as introductions to units,” Kissel said. Students “learn the science of ‘why.’”
In one experiment new to the curriculum, students learn about circuits. They create themed displays using donated holiday lights — strands with some working bulbs and some non-working ones. They build switches with cardboard, aluminum foil, bottle caps and other materials and must produce different brightness levels.
The curriculum overhaul was supported by the BHS Innovation Fund, which provides grants to school faculty to create initiatives such as new curricula. The fund pays for educators’ time, allowing them to use one of their class periods to work on new ideas instead of teaching a class.
The curriculum thrived during pandemic learning, as students brought experiments to their homes, according to Jen Spencer, a physics teacher who helped develop the curriculum.
“We were able to have lessons for kids doing a pendulum at home while some kids are in the classroom,” Spencer said. “We had circuit projects that kids would bring home with them and then take back to school.”
The curriculum also shifts the order in which physics concepts are taught, saving algebra-based modules for the end of the school year to allow teachers to refresh their students’ memories in math class, Spencer said. In the new curriculum, students use math to explain their observations instead of the other way around.
Experiential learning like this project inspired Tagiev to continue his study of physics in his free time and changed his outlook on the subject. Tagiev, who moved to Brookline from Russia two years ago, said he hopes to become an aerospace engineer.
“Compared to Russia, there was absolutely nothing, it was all textbook,” Tagiev said. “In the U.S., it was all hands-on experience.”
Spencer said she has witnessed the way the new curriculum has transformed physics from an intimidating subject for students into an exciting one.
“It’s really taken physics into a realm of, ‘Oh I can do this. I can absolutely do this,’” she said.
Fund-supported Rethinking the Restaurant continued to engage the BHS community with innovative programs like Top Chef. See this year’s winning menu and chefs.
200+ people registered for the 2nd Annual 5K for Innovation. Watch them go!
Students shared their perspectives and class projects from Fund-supported programs at a recent showcase. See some of their comments below.
2023-2024 Champion of Innovation Roger Grande spoke with Barbara Moran about climate education in a packed auditorium.
The Fund is thrilled to be funding two new programs next year:
Heritage Spanish Speaker Pathway.
Three Spanish teachers (Marta Fuertes-Rodriguez, Kevin Whitehead, and Pedro Mendez), in collaboration with a Spanish-speaking English teacher (Eric Colburn), have designed a two-course pathway tailored to the needs and proficiencies of heritage Spanish speakers at BHS. The goal is to foster community, identity, and pride in learners’ heritage while also building stronger literacy skills to provide a faster pace of progress toward Advanced Spanish courses.
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Public Memory Innovation Fellow.
As the Fund’s 2024-2025 Innovation Fellow, Social Studies teacher Mark Wheeler will partner with librarians Bridget Knightly and Shelley Mains. They’ll identify opportunities in BHS social studies courses for students to think more deeply about what “history” is, how it is constructed, and how we choose to remember and convey particular events.
We’re excited to continue supporting these three popular programs:
Data Science and Social Justice.
This popular course uses problems related to a variety of social justice topics to analyze data, understand sampling, distinguish correlation from causation, recognize bias, and use probability and modeling to create and support data-based arguments.
I saw the class and I just thought it was so different from any other math class. I had this perception that math was a lot of lecturing.
We constantly get to talk about and analyze what’s going on in the world, why it’s happening, why it’s important. – BHS students
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Queer Student Program (QSP).
The QSP was designed to support LGBTQ students throughout their experience at BHS through special course offerings and affinity programming. The QSP offers a wellness course and a 9th grade Hub/Advisory class specifically for LGBTQ students, and helped launch the “OUTstanding Speaker Series.”
One of the things we often talk about in the queer community is the notion of found family and how that makes us feel like we belong. And then, when you feel comfortable in a space, your ability to succeed academically [improves] too. -BHS student
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Social Emotional Learning-Tutorial (SEL-T).
During SEL-T blocks, students learn to identify stressors, and develop coping and self-regulation strategies to support academic and social success at school.
I think that the main thing that I have learned is that I can go to adults and other students, and I will get the support that I need. And I don’t have to do it all by myself. Before joining SEL-T, I wasn’t as willing to go talk to teachers and advocate for myself. – BHS student
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We’re proud to announce another success:
Climate Science and Social Change.
This popular and impactful course is rolling off the Fund and has been integrated into the 2024-2025 BHS course catalog! This is exactly what we hope for at the Fund: We support faculty to develop and/or refine an innovative course or program, and then it becomes part of the Town-funded curriculum. Congratulations to passionate educators Roger Grande and Briana Brown, who created the course for our students (and our planet). Read more.
Spanish teacher Erica O’Mahony (right) will be taking over the role of Fund faculty liaison next year from long-time liaison Britt Stevens and Zac Broken Rope (center and left). We thank Britt and Zac for their dedication to the Fund, and we’re thrilled to have Erica onboard.
Several dedicated, longtime Fund volunteer leaders are also passing on the baton this year: Maureen Fallon, Mary Beth Landrum, Polly Ross Ribatt, Bill Nancarrow, and Masu Haque-Khan. We have several board members stepping into leadership positions, including new Board of Director Co-Chairs Rob Lawrence and Ben Stern, and Vice Chair Mona Mowafi.
Please join us at our fall Gala-Rama, Nov. 14, 2024. Mix and mingle with parents, teachers, and Fund volunteers – all while supporting the BHS community and the Innovation Fund. Save the date today, and stay tuned for more information!
At the Brookline High School Innovation Fund, our mission is to catalyze innovation at BHS by supporting faculty-driven curricular initiatives that will inspire our students and prepare them to thrive in a changing world.
BHS Innovation Fund • 617-713-5201 • 115 Greenough Street, Brookline, MA 02445
Whether a frequent patron, a one-time visitor, or merely a passerby catching a delicious scent of cookies in the halls, most students have heard about the Tappan Green Restaurant. But do they know how the restaurant really operates?
The student-run restaurant opened under its new name in the fall of 2021 in a custom-built facility located on the first floor of the STEM commons. It is staffed by students taking Restaurant and Culinary classes, which are categorized as a Career and Technology Education Elective. The class is under the supervision of three chefs, who function as the teachers of the class, while also working alongside the students.
In Restaurant and Culinary, students alternate between various stations. Stations such as bakery, prep, salad and barista allow students to gain valuable experience in a wide variety of the tasks involved in running a restaurant.
Restaurant and Culinary Careers teacher Divonne McCoy, one of the restaurant’s three chiefs, said students gain worthwhile experiences in the restaurant.
“After this class we’ve had students that went on and got a job because they have experience working on a register or in the bakery or making wraps or sandwiches,” McCoy said.
Career and Technology Education Curriculum Coordinator Britt Stevens said the value of the real world experience students gain from Tappan Green is helpful for many students.
“The Restaurant is one of our only remaining truly vocational programs in that it’s entirely work-based learning. So students are getting Career and Technology Education credit to be operationally running the restaurant. So it’s a very hands-on class,” Stevens said.
According to Stevens, the class allows students and teachers to interact in a work environment, rather than an academic one.
“The relationship is very different with the restaurant teachers because they really work side by side with students and rely on students to be able to execute the operation of the restaurant,” Stevens said.
Junior Selene Yo, a Restaurant and Culinary Careers II student who worked breakfast last year and now works lunch, details the unique relationship between the Chefs and restaurant students.
“They are your boss, you’re doing tasks given to you and you’re working with them, as well as them telling you what to do,” Yo said.
The restaurant functions as an independent business. Financially, it is self-sustaining, meaning that profits offset the cost of operations, according to Stevens. Additional profit is kept in the restaurant’s revolving budget to be saved for future expenses.
The restaurant also has a catering team that second and third year restaurant students can apply to and join. This paid job takes place after school where a small group of students caters local events, according to Stevens.
In addition to giving students culinary opportunities for their figure, the restaurant gives its students important lessons in leadership, according to McCoy.
“They come in and learn work ethic and how to manage, and if you’re here for more than one year we give you more responsibility for a leadership role,” McCoy said.
Zach Ellinor, The Cypress. Staff Writer • April 10, 2024
How do kids reckon with climate change and activate to meet the challenges it poses? Roger Grande speaks with WBUR’s Barbara Moran about the transformative power of placing climate justice at the center of education. We invite you to participate in this community discussion with Barbara Moran, WBUR Environment Reporter, and Roger Grande, BHS Climate Science and Social Change Teacher and Innovation Fund Fellow. Students, parents/guardians, faculty, Brookline community members and all are welcome. This event is free of charge. Reception to follow.
Location: 22 Tappan Theatre, Brookline, MA 02445
Date and time: Tue, Mar 26, 2024 6:30 PM
Missed the event or still thinking about it? View slides here.
Social Emotional Learning Tutorial (SEL-T): A representative from the Kevin Love Foundation, which created some of the curricula that inspired SEL-T, came to watch BHS teachers and students in action.
Rethinking Restaurant: Student chefs at Tappan Green recently donated 50 family-style meals, as part of a student-led project. Another student is hosting a “Fuel the Athlete” speaker series.
Climate Science & Social Change: Students recently presented their Re-Green the Streets Design Competition projects, which identified best practices for re-greening cities and mitigating the urban heat island effect.
And that’s not all…!
Engineering Innovation & Design: Work from last year’s Adaptive Technology project was showcased at the recent Day of Disability Education.
Queer Student Program (QSP): This month’s OUTstanding Speaker Seriesfeatured Andre Isaacs, a Chemistry professor from the College of the Holy Cross. Students from QSP, AP Chemistry, and the African American and Latino Scholars Program attended.
Global Leadership: In collaboration with the Food Justice Club and Tappan Green, students are planning for the upcoming TAP (Together Against Plastic) challenge to educate the BHS community about single-use plastics.
Hub/Advisory: Juniors and Seniors attended guidance seminars on post-high school planning, and all students attended a school-wide webinar on student rights and representation by the BHS Student Government. Up next? Healthy habits and stress resilience.
