Last semester, Indiana State University professor Jim Speer’s Introduction to Environmental Science class participated in Do Now U, a collaboration between NCSCE and KQED. For the project, students created science blog posts using multimedia, news articles, trusted websites, infographics, and more. One post, “Should We Install Fields of Artificial or Natural Turf?” written by Hunter McCord, Andrew Medsker, and Brandon Madhaffey, was selected for publication on KQED’s website.
Hunter, Andrew, and Brandon’s post was recognized by STATE The Magazine of Indiana State University for being part of a national conversation about the benefits and drawbacks of using natural and artificial turf athletic fields.
The post prompted nearly 300 responses in comments, on Twitter, and other blog posts. In the STATE article, Hunter said, “I really enjoyed seeing the response from the other students, either by tweeting out using our hashtag [#DoNowUTurf] or responding to our article online. It was cool that we started a discussion with students across America.”
Explore other Do Now U posts here, and look for more posts featuring a variety of topics in the future. Involve your students in any of these conversations by using the comments sections and designated hashtag for each post.