Robin Bucaria

Bucaria’s innovative program, “Skywriting 2.0: Explorations from the Urban Wild”, is a cross-curricular project developed for 11^th and 12^th-grade students at Copper Hills High School. By integrating astronomy, biology, chemistry, and language arts, the goal of the program is to use cloud-based collaboration to increase observation, reading, inquiry, writing, and technology skills. Students will read the works of various nature writers such as Terry Tempest Williams, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson to consider their relation to the natural world. In astronomy, biology, and chemistry classes, participants will learn the science behind the observations of the authors they study and post the explanations on a research wiki. They will also conduct fieldwork within their environment by collecting data on astronomical occurrences, making biological observations of the flora and fauna in the area, and conduct environmental assessments. Existing video and photography resources will be used to record the observations. Through the program, students will be prepared with the collaboration and technology skills necessary for the working world. Bucaria, who lives in Salt Lake City, hopes the program will help students, parents, and the community to learn of the interplay between humans and the environment.