Here are some of the egg drop projects from my 8th grade STEM class
miércoles, 15 de noviembre de 2023
My Experience Teaching Abroad, by Lydia Foster-Smith
While I am here in Spain, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to intern at Lycee Francais de Seville, a French international school for children ages 3-18. I work with students 1:1, in small groups, or entire classes, including being the head teacher for a Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) class. Through working at Lycee, I have been able to experience teaching in another country compared to my experiences in schools in the United States. One major difference I have noticed is the level of security of the school. Back in the United States, with so many tragedies involving guns and schools, our schools are always locked and visitors must sign in at the front office before going anywhere in the building. The staff and students all have IDs to badge into the building, and visitors have to press a button to speak with the secretary from outside before being let inside. We also have school police officers onsite at all times. As we discussed in class, there is such a presence of guns and firearms in the United States, that just does not exist in Spain. In the US there is such an emphasis on personal freedom because it is such an individualistic culture. Some people feel that this extends to owning firearms as well. However, in Spain, this desire to own a gun to prove that you have personal freedom does not exist. In Spain, the idea of someone coming into a school with a gun and shooting students and teachers is completely unheard of. The school doors aren't even locked, anyone can just walk in, wave to the secretary if they choose to, and walk around any corner of the school. The staff don't have badges, and visitors don't have to sign in. Overall, I have loved my time working with kids in Spain. One of my favorite parts is how excited my students are to hear about American culture and win American candy as prizes. For example, in my STEM class we had an egg drop competition where any group whose egg survived the fall won Halloween candy. 😀 It makes me so happy when students who were very shy the first day start waving and yelling HI TEACHER whenever they see me in the hallways. I feel so lucky to have been able to experience Spain as both a student and a teacher these past few months.
jueves, 9 de noviembre de 2023
Slow waiters, by Karoline Nelson
One huge cultural difference I have experienced since being in Spain is that of the restaurant industry. My first night in Spain, my friends and I decided to go out for some drinks and food. The entire time we were there, the waiter did not smile once, and was very slow to bring us our food. I remember saying to my friend that I thought he hated us and was probably annoyed by us. However, at the end of the night he gave all of us free shots! I left being very confused, as I had assumed the whole time he was annoyed with us. I then began to realize that this is pretty typical in Spain. Servers do not work for tips, which is a factor in why they do not feel the need to be fake nice to people. In the US, most servers have to be extremely nice to customers, even if they do not want to, in order to get tips. Many of my friends only get 2 dollars an hour, and the rest of the money they get is through tips. In Spain, they receive a salary, so they are not working for tips. Also, in the US speed is very much appreciated when it comes to food. In Spain, it is normal to stay and eat with friends for several hours, therefore it could appear they are intruding on the customers time if they were checking in a lot.
In class, we learned about different mindsets in different cultures. The US has an individualistic mindset, and are always on the go and working. This represents the competitive nature that is seen in the US. Therefore, the best waiters are rewarded through tips. In Spain however, they have a collectivistic mindset. Waiters are not working for tips, and it is not seen as competitive. This leads to the very different ways in which servers act in Spain compared to the US.
https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/spain-server-salary-SRCH_IL.0,5_IN219_KO6,12.htm
https://www.tripsavvy.com/should-you-tip-in-spain-1644349
Here is my friend and I at the restaurant!
Food Can Make Your Day or Walk You to the Grave, by Vivianna Alfaro. A great example of the activity 2
Just as the creation of the washing machine has made daily tasks easier for all who can afford them, the natural development of various ways to buy food can be viewed in a similar manner. While some may not directly view a large supermarket or fancy restaurant as “technology,” I assert that relatively modern methods of buying food are indeed direct results of technology; from the ability to build stores with large fridges and freezers to the possibility of importing food from different continents is most definitely subject to the technology we have created and currently have access to. In his TedTalk, Hans Rosling divides the world’s population into different categories based on the washing machine and other technological creations, so here in this essay I divide the world’s population into four main groups based on food consumption called Michelin Star group, the Whole Foods group, the Walmart group, and the Food Desert group— labels inspired by the U.S. but in which will be compared to Spain and Nigeria as international references.
“Michelin Star Consumers”
There are a limited number of restaurants awarded this label in the world and are also more expensive to purchase a meal at. Some customers fly to an area specifically to have a Michelin dining experience, making this an exclusive way to buy and consume food.
“Whole Foods Consumers”
Next we have those with the income and accessibility to shop at grocery stores with healthy food choices but at a cost. Whole Foods (the grocery store) in the US has aisles of powdered mushrooms and superfoods along with organically grown produce, meat, etc. However, as one can see in the image above, Whole Foods is not accessible to everyone in the U.S. due to both its location and price, imposing limitations on possible customers. In Spain, it could be compared to a Sanchez Romero supermercado although the comparison is not perfect. In other countries, such as Nigeria, luxury supermarkets are not well recognized.
“Walmart Consumers”
Larger supermarkets that are more populous and have cheaper prices are more accessible for a larger number of food consumers. The food may not be as high in quality as that sold in a luxury supermarket, but it is more affordable. In Spain, Walmart’s food section could be compared to a Día supermercado. In Nigeria, their chain supermarket system is not very developed, with their more infamous chain Shoprite only available in 13 cities; with this being said, it is crucial to note that much of the country (33%) is cultivated land, with small farms producing at least 80% of the food. Therefore, local food markets and stores in Nigeria could be compared as an equivalent to Walmart produce, and those who buy food in this manner could be placed into this category. One critical difference between the population of consumers who eat food from a Walmart and from local produce is the quality of the food. Originally, I created this category with the mindset that these consumers do not have easy access to “healthier” foods due to various factors, with income standing as a main inhibitor. As I place the Nigerian citizens who mainly shop at local markets here into the “Walmart Consumer” group, it is crucial to note that their limited ability to shop at a store like Whole Foods does not necessarily limit their ability to eat a healthy diet. The danger here would concern local production— droughts, floods, any environmental occurrences that can negatively impact availability of local food production.
“Food Desert Consumers”
U.S. food deserts are generally defined as areas where healthy food is not at all available to the community. Instead, driving around streets in food deserts you will find liquor stores and fast food options. As previously stated, Nigeria has a lot of fresh food being actively produced, so a simple lack of grocery stores would not be a proper definition for this category in relation to Nigeria. In this text, then, a food desert consumer is an individual who does not have “easy” access to “healthy” food wherever it is they live. “Easy” in the sense that it would take a lot of time and effort to reach a place that sells meats and produce, and “healthy” in the sense that the food is fresher and will have a more beneficial impact on one’s physical health.
I am over the word limit, so instead of going into the connection of food to physical health and life expectancy, I will stop here. Resources I used and extra notes for class discussion are below:
Connection to health/ extra notes:
Just as the washing machine gives people the chance to fulfill other areas of their life such as educating themselves, being in a place where you are not concerned about getting healthy food allows you to:
Avoid debilitating health conditions such as Type II diabetes, obesity, Kwashiorkor, chronic heart disease, etc
Function better cognitively
Have a boosted mood and motivation to develop other areas of your life as well (EX: you feel stronger mentally, so you decide to start a business or enroll in college)
Income and accessibility directly contribute to where people can shop- at wholefoods, fly to a michelin star, eat at McDonalds because that’s the closest thing to them, etc
New York City’s lowest income neighborhoods. Similarly, disparities exist in diabetes prevalence rates; 5% of adults living in the Upper East Side neighborhood report a diabetes diagnosis, compared with 10–15% of adults living in East and Central Harlem and North and Central Brooklyn
Obviously, this information comes from stats in the US, but there are so many more scientific articles discussing the direct impact of food on health
Therefore, if a community is reliant on local fresh food like Nigeria, they will most likely not show the same results even though I place them in the food desert. But what this does mean is that if something were to happen to local produce (ex: lack of rain), then the people could be in trouble and suffer other health conditions
The study found that people in the eastern Louisville lived as much as 12.6 years longer than some of their neighbors in northwestern areas. 12.6 YEARS LONGER. Like let that sink in.
https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2011/december/data-feature-mapping-food-deserts-in-the-u-s/
https://studentwork.prattsi.org/blog/2022/07/18/walmart-locations-in-the-us/
https://www.businessofbusiness.com/articles/breaking-whole-foods-likes-rich-people/
https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/restaurants
https://nwtnlfn.org/2021/02/26/the-local-food-system-in-nigeria/
Measuring food deserts in New York City’s low-income neighborhoods. Cynthia Gordon, Marnie Purciel-Hill, Nirupa R. Ghai, Leslie Kaufman, Regina Graham, Gretchen Van Wye. 27 May 2010.
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