By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
Students study plants and living history, thanks to program
Hillsborough High School students in Timothy Zavacki’s Applied Technology classes will study hydroponics growing plants without soil thanks to a Hillsborough Education Foundation (HEF) curriculum grant the group awarded last month.
Mr. Zavacki’s grant was one of nine grants, totaling $7,500, the HEF awarded at the Jan. 26 Board of Education meeting.
”I have always been interested in this topic, and I figured that this would be a great chance to integrate it into the Introduction to Technology class, to go hand in hand with the composting unit,” Mr. Zavacki said. “The field of biotechnology is so diverse, yet very limited with what you can do. This is something that people do not think about very much or know that it can be done.”
With the grant funds, Mr. Zavacki intends to use nutrient film technique in his classes. The technique allows a steady water stream to flow past the plant roots; the plants are suspended above the water flow. Mr. Zavacki intends to use goldfish to provide nutrients for the system, since the fish waste would provide the plants with necessary nutrients.
Other projects include a grant focusing on acceptance and tolerance, and a grant for a science resource room allowing elementary school students to perform laboratory experiments.
”We really believe that through knowledge, we foster understanding,” HEF President Susan Spagnola said. “We’re very blessed with the (teaching) talent we have in the township.”
A selection committee, which includes HEF board members and Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Lisa Antunes, chose the grant recipients from an applicant pool. The committee considers the number of students a project will reach and whether a project could progress beyond a first-year venture.
One HEF grant will enable several high school history classes, including U.S. History II and History Since the 1960s, to interview and video record guest speakers as they talk about their experiences in the Korean and Vietnam wars, the civil rights movement, and events leading to the present, district Social Studies Supervisor Toby Kansagor said.
”The students will be able to interact with these purveyors of history,” Ms. Kansagor said. “The students and our speakers will be able to learn more about each other. Our videos will be stored so that others can benefit from the history and the personal experiences of our speakers.”
A November 2008 teaching workshop introduced HHS physics teacher Tiberiu Dragoiu-Luca to iclicker, a portable, handheld device that allows students to electronically answer in-class questions by pressing a button. Like response buzzers from TV game shows, students can “ring” in answers during lessons, increasing their involvement in the lessons, Mr. Dragoiu-Luca said. Noting the success when coupled with Tasks Inspired from Physics Education Research (TIPER) questions used at the workshop, Mr. Dragoiu-Luca applied for an HEF grant to purchase a classroom iclicker set.
”Teaching physics, a not-required-to-graduate elective course, to seniors is a challenge every year; especially in the second semester, when all students are already with one foot in college,” Mr. Dragoiu-Luca said. “The project I intend doing is aligned with what other professors have done before. I have in mind using the iclickers and TIPER questions during instruction, not just as an assessment tool. It is my hope that students will like it and become more interactively engaged.”
The HEF raises money for the grants, and its other programs, including computer and art classes for local seniors citizens, and scholarships, through the annual Taste of Hillsborough event and a golf outing. For more information on the HEF, visit the Web site at www.hef.org

