As part of Black History Month, 8th graders at North Bergen’s Robert Fulton School learned about prominent African Americans and their achievements in a unique way. On Friday, the students displayed their research and dressed the part, not only for their teachers, but for students in the 6th and 7th grades.
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The entire 8th grade class at the school, some 150 students, each selected an important African American in history from a field of topics, including science, politics, sports or entertainment, just to name a few. They gathered facts about that person, created poster boards and dressed up in character. They formulated questions and answers about the person, and then when the 6th and 7th graders reviewed their projects, they had to answers posed to them by the undergrads. It was a creative, hands on learning experience for everyone involved.
Each of the students I spoke with, as well as the 8th grade teachers who came up with the project concept, Beatrice Naik and Melissa Percontino, agreed. Hands on learning beats just reading and gathering facts from text books, no question about it. It was fun, educational and engaging.
