SPECIAL TO NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
ENGLEWOOD – Dr. Michael Passow is a nationally-recognized science teacher who has worked with all levels of students, from honors to special needs, in earth science, chemistry and biology.
Passow is the founder and executive director of “Earth2Class” workshops at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, a unique program bringing together classroom teachers, students and research scientists to explore cutting-edge investigations.
Passow has served as the president of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, past president of the Science Teachers Association of New York State and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers-Eastern Section.
Passow has received many awards, including the American Chemistry Council National “Catalyst Teacher” Award, the Chemical Manufacturers Association “Catalyst Teacher” Award for Middle School Teaching, the Outstanding Earth Science Teacher Award and numerous other citations. He has been listed in the “Who’s Who among America’s Teachers.”
Passow recently retired after completing his 44th year teaching earth science and chemistry, most recently at Dwight Morrow High School. He continues to impart scientific information on his website www.earth2class.org, and through conference presentations in the United States and elsewhere.
I met with Passow this week at the Englewood library, where he will be presenting a talk about the Dwarskill Mastodon in September.
Hillary Viders: How long have you lived in Englewood?
Michael Passow: My family moved to Englewood in 1954. So, for the last 63 years, I’ve had a connection to this city.
HV: You not only reside in Englewood, you are active in several of the city’s commissions and nonprofit organizations.
MP: Yes, I am on the Englewood Environmental Commission and a trustee of Flat Rock Brook Nature Center. I am particularly proud of being a trustee of the West Side Infant Day Care Center. Since 1985, this organization has been providing child care for teenage parents so they can continue in school or go for job training. We have a 98 percent success rate of teenage parents who finish school.
HV: Your website Earth2Class sounds very interesting. Can you tell us about it?
MP: E2C is a unique science/math/technology resource for K-12 teachers, students, the general public and geoscientists. It is a collaboration among researchers and an earth science educator at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University; technology integration specialists from Colegio Bandeirantes, Sao Paulo, Brazil; and classroom teachers from New York, New Jersey and elsewhere.
E2C centers around “Saturday Workshops for Educators” held at Columbia’s Lamont Campus in Palisades, N.Y. One key feature to E2C is involvement of LDEO scientists. Their availability through workshops, website postings and e-mail allows teachers and students access to cutting-edge research, which can be used to develop learning activities directly linked to “real-world problems,” and provide scientists with an effective format to disseminate their discoveries more broadly. Since 1998, we have provided nearly 170 workshops featuring over 90 LDEO scientists.
HV: One of your specialties is weather and climate. What are the most dramatic changes that you’ve seen in climate in the past decade?
MP: The general trend for warmer years, which has been consistent throughout this century, is a major change in climate, and also a major cause for concern. I’ve been teaching climate for more than 40 years. I remember that every January, The New York Times had a summary of the previous year’s weather. We are now seeing temperatures that are much higher and consistently rising from they were in the 1980s and 1990s. In terms of the oceans, scientists that I have worked with are reporting an increase in acidification, which has a negative impact of coral reefs worldwide.
HV: You have lectured and written about hurricanes and tornadoes. Have you witnessed these events?
MP: When I was 16, we had a family vacation in Miami Beach and a Category 3 hurricane passed right over us. That really sparked my interest.
HV: Is this what led you to a career in earth science?
MP: No. Actually, what led me to this field was watching Jacques Cousteau’s “World Without Sun” when I was 10 years old. I went into the theater as a pre-law student and came out as a marine biologist. When I went to Columbia University, I expanded my interest in geology.
HV: As a teacher, how did you keep adolescent students with short attention spans interested in scientific topics?
MP: Actually, even adult students have short attention spans. The key is to make certain that I have examples that are meaningful to my students’ lives, and if the conditions are right, doing hands-on activities. For example, I would have students bring in rocks that they found in their back yards and then tie it into the regional geology.
When teaching weather and climate, we used a lot of computer-based activities. I also have a variety of short videos, such as a collection from the American Museum of Natural History that shows different scientists and the work that they do.
Natural occurrences can also present teaching opportunities and get the student’s attention, such as Hurricane Sandy or an earthquake somewhere in the world.
HV: Do you think that UFOs and other “out there” theories, such as life on other planets, will actually prove to be true one day?
MP: They may happen. But, as I near age 70 and I acknowledge that things that I had wished had happened have not, I do not think that they will materialize in my lifetime. The United States does not and will not allocate the resources and funds for such exploration.
HV: You are an avid kayaker. Is kayaking an extension of your interest in earth science?
MP: Kayaking is where I do a lot of my thinking and planning. I work out plans for conference proposals and publications. It also lets me observe the environment. I kayak a lot in the upper Hackensack River near New Milford, and I am distressed by the fact that there are thousands of pounds of debris throughout the Hackensack River watershed. I am hoping that the Hackensack Riverkeeper, the Environmental Commission and the Englewood Council will fund remediation of the polluted creek near the new apartments on Route 4 so that it can be used for recreation.
HV: You have traveled extensively for work and pleasure. What were some of your most important trips?
MP: In 2010, I was at a conference in Brazil near Iguassu Falls where they had set up a program like Earth2Class. I ran a workshop along with two professors from two universities. It was a very significant experience, because the teachers participating in this workshop had never seen anything like it. It really made an impact, and we are trying to do more workshops like this.
HV: In which scientific fields are the greatest discoveries currently being made?
MP: Some of the major discoveries are being made in medicine, and that definitely needs to continue. There is also a lot of research being done in deep-ocean drilling, and I’m involved in it. One such program is the International Ocean Discovery Program. Important scientific research is also being done by scientists from Lamont Doherty here in New Jersey.
HV: Do you believe that in our lifetime scientists will figure out solutions to global problems like how to prevent or divert destructive weather events?
MP: There are currently many international efforts aimed at these problems. But the support for these initiatives, particularly in the United States, is not a priority. The countries that are most aggressively searching for solutions to natural disasters are the countries that are vulnerable to these anomalies, such as India and China.
HV: As a scientist, what is your greatest hope for the future of our planet?
MP: My hope is that we will develop the knowledge, the funding and the societal goal of a sustainable planet.
HV: After all your years of teaching, is there any scene that stands out in your mind?
MP: About 47 years ago, when I began teaching (at Horace Mann), one of the freshman soccer players came up to me in the hallway about a week into the school year. He planted himself in front of me and said, “Have you ever done anything important with your life?” Without hesitation, I said, “I helped someone learned something once.”