Chicago high school teacher heads to Japan for new lessons

For Michael Kosko, work is more than just a 9-to-5 gig. This environmental science teacher is trekking across the globe on a mission to bring back valuable lessons to his students at Al Raby High School. His destination: Japan.

Kosko, one of four American teachers attending a technology exchange program this summer, hopes to learn new problem-solving methods he can teach to his students.

“I’m interested in technology and always looking for ways to integrate it in my classroom,” Kosko said. “I’m looking forward to talking with engineers about finding solutions to real-life environmental issues and bringing those ideas back to my students.”

Kosko said he’s teaching a new STEM elective program for seniors next school year, and wants to talk to experts and professors to adapt a curriculum focused on projects and collaborative activities.

The Tomodachi Toshiba Science and Technology Leadership Academy, a weeklong program in Tokyo, will bring together 24 teachers and students from the U.S. and Japan to learn about and propose ideas for “intelligent” and “disaster-resilient” communities, according to Eddie Temistokle, a Toshiba spokesman.

Teachers and students take part in group discussions about disaster prevention and their effect on communities and perform hands-on activities to test disaster prevention methods, according to the Tomodachi Japan website. Students and teachers will also go on field trips around Tokyo; they’ll visit science museums and Toshiba facilities and end their trip with a group presentation.

This is the third time the annual academy has been held; it is sponsored by Toshiba, the Tomodachi Initiative and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), and is designed to build American and Japanese relations using science and technology to address and solve environmental and climate issues. The program was created in response to a 2011 earthquake that created a 30-foot tsunami. It killed about 16,000 people, with about 2,500 still missing. It also caused meltdowns in the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

“The program might be geared more towards Japan-specific problems, but we do have our own environmental issues in Chicago: pollution in the Great Lakes, crazy winters and summers. I want to bring back similar approaches to work with my students to implement Chicago-centric solutions,” Kosko said.

Students in eighth through 11th grades involved in the Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision organization and high school teachers who are NSTA members are eligible to apply for the exchange program.

Past program activities included learning about the engineering design process, a step-by-step method on how to create new products, and then asking students to create a tower that could withstand environmental disasters using that method, according to the Tomodachi Japan website.

“I think with the greater movement towards STEM-based economies and careers and increased globalization, it’s important for students to have two views, care for their immediate communities, and the knowledge that they are part of a bigger global community,” said Kosko.