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Students learn to better community

The theme was making your community a healthier place at Kelowna Christian School last week.
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Grade 8 students Ashleigh Krusehel

The theme was making your community a healthier place at Kelowna Christian School last week.

Grade 8 students gathered on Tuesday night, Jan. 31, to showcase their science projects which were developed by students to help the community.

The project-based learning event revolved around human cells, as part of the curriculum, said teacher Brent MacArthur.

“What they’re doing is creating a dialogue between themselves as doctors and an actual patient which is their parent. Once they’ve been diagnosed they go to the specialist (which are the students),” he said.

Parents went from room to room, waiting outside in the hallway to be called for a check-up, like a real doctor’s office.

Aria Davis, 13, had a project which looked at providing better options for people with allergies and food restrictions in restaurants.

Her group did a survey and found “some people complained about how they didn’t help people with allergies and food restrictions,” said Davis.

The group was also “researching anaplasia and lactose intolerance, so we wanted to do something about that and we decided to do something along the lines of food and allergies,” she said, adding the goal is to have restaurant menus including more options for those who are vegan or who have an intolerance.

The students came up with the ideas on their own with a bit of guidance, said MacArthur.

The point of the presentations was to give students the chance to use critical thinking, he said.

“It’s more about the process; it’s critical thinking. They get the chance to collaborate. They get to communicate their findings in different ways which is real-life experience.”

This is the second year Kelowna Christian School has held the doctor-style presentations.

“It’s running way smoother this year, a little bit of experience goes a long way. I love seeing all the work that they’ve done come to a really cool conclusion,” said MacArthur.

Around 50 students presented their workshops after initially starting the projects at the end of November.