Giving Compass' Take:

• To inspire student interest in STEM education, Deborah Cornelison, a teacher in rural Oklahoma, created a culture of curiosity and hands-on learning to show how science can improve the surrounding community.

• What can other educators learn from Cornelison's efforts, which produced real-world results, such as a better heating and cooling system in school and healthier food options?

• Here's how to gradually introduce STEM education into the classroom.

On March 9, a few days after teachers in Oklahoma threatened to walk out to demand more funding for public schools, I was standing next to Deborah Cornelison, a veteran science teacher, in the courtyard of Byng Junior High School. At 11 a.m., the school’s only outdoor space was already hot, and a group of teens moved underneath a large beige canopy to catch some shade. The protective canvas — spread over half of the school’s only outdoor space — is there thanks to students in Cornelison’s physical-science class. In 2008, four ninth-graders investigated the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation, tested different types of shade materials, and — in a district with limited resources and no wealthy PTA — raised funds to purchase and install it.

One of five schools in a rural southeast school district, Byng serves mostly white and American Indian students in Pontotoc County, the home of the Chickasaw Nation. The district, located in a tiny community of about 1,100 residents, was lucky to be open on a Friday: Nearly one-fifth of public schools in Oklahoma have shortened the school week to four days to help fill the gap caused by the budget cuts. From 2008 to 2015, Oklahoma cut its spending on public schools by 23.6 percent — more than any other state.

The canopy is one of many ways in which students in this rural school serving 320 teens have used science projects for class to improve their community. Cornelison’s students have also pressed their school to change heating and cooling practices to reduce the elevated levels of carbon dioxide they found in the classrooms, lobbied for healthier food options in the school cafeteria, and developed stronger school-emergency plans, such as yearly lockdown drills, which inspired a state law that extended them to all campuses in 2007.

Projects like these earned Cornelison, who now works as a trainer of principals and teachers at the Oklahoma Department of Education, national recognition during her tenure at Byng from 1988 to 2014, as well as a spot in the National Teachers Hall of Fame. Meanwhile, her students have traveled across the country, often flying on an airplane for the first time, collecting  more than 300 awards at local and international science competitions, including some of the world’s most prestigious. For many students, access to the competitive science-fair circuit also brought acceptance letters to coveted universities, internships, and eventually a career in stem, law, health care, and other fields.

Read the full article about this science-fair dynasty by Kristina Rizga at The Atlantic.