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ZANESVILLE – Teaching science is more than just a career for Miranda Ketcham.

“I picked (teaching) science because I enjoyed it, but I also feel like science is everywhere around you,” she said. “It’s relatable to almost everything you’re going to come across in life.”

That’s why the 15-year West Muskingum employee has always prioritized using those hands-on, real-world activities in her high school classes’ curricula.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she had to get creative to keep her students engaged. And making school something to look forward to was more important than.

She couldn’t go back to all the experiments previous classes had so she prioritized the hands-on labs that could be done safely.

“I know it helps the kids make these connections to things in real life, if they can see them and go through the motions and do them,” she said. “I just felt like it was a huge, important part I had to try to keep.”

Making science fun

Science isn’t every child’s favorite subject, Ketcham said, but she wants to make it fun in her health, physical science and sports medicine classes.

She was first inspired to become a teacher when she was in school. Always a good student, she looked forward to going to class and seeing some of the teachers to whom she attributed the interest in her future career.

“I just thought, I want to be that positive role model, provide that positive environment for students,” she said. “I love seeing them from ninth grade all the way to senior year and seeing them go onto the next adventure.”

The Muskingum College alumna started as a health and physical education teacher at West Muskingum Middle. After teaching special education for several years, she began teaching science at the high school.

After schoosl closed for a period in the spring, she debated whether to move to virtual lab options in her physical science classes or remove them altogether.

“I definitely didn’t want to cut those hands-on labs out. Some kids live for that stuff,” she said.

Ketcham still keeps her usually goal of two or three labs per chapter — practicing mass and measurements, scientific method labs, chemicals or balancing equations, and learning about endothermic and exothermic reactions.

This year it involves a lot more precautions. Like usual, they’ll wear gloves, aprons and goggles if handling chemicals, but gloves have become more common in labs they weren’t typically needed.

Labs are staggered during class to limit contact, and everything is sterilized. 

“I wanted to keep as much continuity as I could, keep some of the things that I did that I could pull off safely,” she said.

By extension, learning about why all of those precautions were important also became part of daily lessons.

Contextualizing pandemic for students

West Muskingum is on a hybrid learning model, meaning students have the option to work fully remote or come to school 

Ketcham is teaching the in-person classes, while other teachers are taking on some of the online class duties.

“It seemed very surreal when it first happened,” she said of learning about the first coronavirus case in Ohio. “The governor is on the news, saying schools are closing … It quickly became very real when we first put things together in the spring.”

The virus quickly became relevant to her students’ lives. But as a science teacher, she hoped to make it relevant to their lessons.

The health class curriculum already included discussing current events. A major talking point this year has been the pandemic.

A textbook chapter about vaccinations became a debate about the recently approved COVID-19 vaccines. Units on communicable diseases were accompanied by discussions about the coronavirus.

“I do think it’s wonderful that we do have the vaccine, a lot of science and technology went into it, which is an awesome thing to touch on,” she said.

Sports medicine classes have also been a challenge to modify. It normally involves a lot of person-to-person contact, which has led to some additional learning opportunities about how the virus spreads as lessons were modified.

To this day, she’s still only seen many of her students from the eyes up, but that means they’re doing their job, stepping up to follow the new protocols, she said.

Ketcham is proud of them for sticking it out during a hard time, which is why she prioritized making school — traditionally a social activity becoming physically distanced — something to look forward to.

“Even though they’re still in high school, this affects their world greatly — their present and their future,” she said. “I’m just thankful for the kids. Even in a weird pandemic year, I’m thankful we can still make it work.”

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Twitter: @erinccouch

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