David Kukla

Kukla’s winning program, “21^st Century Student Learning: Think Global, Act Local”, is designed to help his students at Sabino High School master the state’s mathematics requirements. This program will allow students to work in small groups to solve problems, re-enforcing a student-centered philosophy as well as design and implement a green energy plan for the school that reduces both resources used and energy costs. Students will explore the options, costs and funding sources from various solar and power companies and examine the process school districts take for contract bidding. Kukla, with the help of the ING grant, will re-imagine the classroom experience, boasting Apple iPads as learning and feedback tools versus using only white boards to work mathematical problems. The new technology will also allow them to have classroom access to both the Internet and to classrooms abroad through ePals and Skype as well as other sources to further enrich their information gathering and processing. Kukla, who lives in Tucson, hopes his program will be a model for 21^st century education where students are able to apply the math and technology skills they’ve mastered to authentic, real-world problems in context rather than select events appearing in their text books.