JTMS Science Teacher Goes Green at Summer Clinic

While science is her specialty, it was writing that went a long way toward making science teacher Claude Larson a Simmons Scholar.

Larson applied for a grant to attend a sustainable energy institute through the generosity of Maitland P. Simmons. He left a million-dollar grant to the New Jersey Science Teachers’ Association, enabling teachers to attend the institute.

“I was lucky enough to be selected, and I believe the essays that I had to write as part of my application were weighted very heavily in the decision-making process,” she said. “They wanted to know our motivation for attending the institute. What were we going to do with all this information once we received it?”

Larson said she learned so much, not only from the professors who ran the institute, but from her fellow attendees.

“We bounced ideas off each other, and we all tried new things and got to play with all the equipment they had for us,” she said. “In fact, we created a wind farm together,” she said.

Not only did Larson receive innovative ideas, she got about $700 worth of equipment to bring back to the classroom, including three turbines with working components, a solar water heater, solar water pump, solar car, solar boat, about 30 solar panels and a solar energy kit with motors, generators and capacitors.

“The kids can create their own blades with the turbines to see what kind of blades work best to provide energy,” she said. “They can also turn on a wind turbine, charge a capacitor and turn on a light. It’s a great lesson, because they don’t understand what connection wind turbines have to turning on lights until they see this.

“It was a great week,” said the 18-year veteran teacher, who has been at Jefferson for 8.5 years. “I got to spend a whole week with like-minded science enthusiasts, and I got a lot of great hands-on information to bring home to my kids.”