Cooperative Projects
Education 190 initiates collaboration between students and the local community through its cooperative projects. Coop projects unite theory with practice. As a core requirement of the course, each student explores an educational issue learned in Ed 190 by working closely with local K12 schools, civic organizations, local businesses, and preexisting programs in order to develop innovative, socially productive solutions. Students are also encouraged to plan projects that can be sustained beyond the semester, which has resulted in many long-term projects. For example, students interested in addressing the availability of alternative transportation for low-income communities founded BicyCAL, a project designed to increase access to bicycles, to advocate riding as a means of alternative transportation, and to offer free education on bike safety, maintenance, and construction . Through these projects, Ed 190 has built many strong relationships with community members and organizations. Students have access to a large database of preexisting organizations so that they not only can accelerate contact with their community partners but also have an array of resources at hand. Many of these community contacts are Ed 190 alumni. Dennis Javelo, who took the course in 2005, is now a high school teacher at Fremont High in Oakland who regularly makes his classroom available to current Ed 190 students. Another Ed 190 alumna, Lily Aguas, is now a graduate student at Cal who teaches her own section. She is also the founder and coordinator of the coop project Fun in Science, which is now an approved field study section for the Education minor.