Latest news with #Decibel
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Lockport schools help students explore and explain STEM
Whether it's exploring traits of organisms or building a robot that can throw frisbees, students across the Lockport City School District are immersed in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The success of the district's 12-year science instruction transformation was brought home recently when Lockport's STEM team The Warlocks competed in the international FIRST Championship in robotics in Houston. At last week's districtwide STEM Night, the Warlocks demonstrated its robot Decibel's ability to retrieve and throw orange frisbees called 'notes.' Working within a size and weight limit, students built the robot to move on a series of rollers similar to vacuum cleaner brushes. The team adapted Xbox controllers to navigate the machine and control its frisbee shot. The Warlocks placed fifth in a regional tournament at Miami Valley, Ohio. Competing against the best in the nation April 19, The Warlocks won the Imagery Award that recognized their outstanding visual design, theme integration, and overall team aesthetic. 'Every student in our district is getting hands-on exposure to STEM,' said Denyel Beiter, the district's public relations specialist. 'That's something we've been really intentional about as part of our K–12 STEM Framework. Our goal is to build STEM learning that's rigorous, connected across grade levels, and grounded in real-world problem-solving.' For STEM Night, third-graders Delaney Lute and Kyla Castle presented their class's model for how an organism could adapt to feed itself. Using marbles as potential food, the students tested the effectiveness of spoons and forks as body parts for feeding. The students were asked to build an adaptation that worked better than the spoon. Using chopsticks, clay, and tinfoil, the students built a scoop appendage that performed even better. According to Lisa Stastyshyn, a science instructional coach at Lockport's elementary schools, the project demonstrates the latest, hands-on approach to STEM learning, which begins in elementary school. The shift from 'old-school' science teaching, which focused on memorization, to three-dimensional learning, began in 2013 when Next Generation Science Standards were introduced, Stastyshyn said. The standards were developed by a consortium of 26 states. Content is arranged in a coherent manner across disciplines and grades to provide all students with an internationally benchmarked science education. 'It's more hands-on experience and uses an inquiry model,' she said. 'It's more of a way that the teacher steps back and becomes the facilitator of the learning. We give kids a phenomenon to experience. Then we ask them to consider, think about, and explore that phenomenon.' Stastyshyn said as teachers, 'We don't want to interfere with their thinking' at this stage. Letting students work with models and parts allows them to see concepts at work, and helps children comprehend the subject, she said. Stastyshyn describes the instructional method as a series of steps beginning with E; expose, explore, explain, evaluate, and extend. In some ways, it mirrors the scientific method. She said students get 'a taste' for something that occurs, explore it to come up with their own conclusions and questions, and then the teacher explains what is known about it. 'From that point on, the students are figuring a lot on their own,' Stastyshyn said. 'The teacher clarifies any misconceptions.' The teacher evaluates how well students understand the lesson, and then extends it, prompting children to push their own thinking further. This step got third-graders involved in using engineering principles of design and use of materials to see how a living thing's physical structures might help it survive. At the elementary level, each year is split into physical science, earth science and life science, Stastyshyn said. 'It gets more complex each year,' she said. 'In fifth grade, they're really getting into materials, their properties, and testing them. They're looking more into the chemical reactions and performing data collection.' In grades 6-8, students' instruction branches off into specific sciences, such as chemistry, physics, and biology, she said.
Japan Times
05-04-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
In Los Angeles, Courtney Kaplan says sake is having a moment
A long, white oak counter anchors the intimate space of Ototo, behind which a row of sake bottles are fixed to the wall like beer taps. In the cozy, private dining room, warmly backlit shelves display an eclectic collection of o-choko and tokkuri — sake cups and flasks — nestled among ceramic cats. Meaning "little brother" in Japanese, Ototo is located next to its sibling restaurant Tsubaki in Los Angeles' Echo Park neighborhood. At the helm of what many consider the city's most exciting sake selection is sommelier Courtney Kaplan, 46, who, alongside Japanese American chef Charles Namba, her partner in business and life, has created a Californian sanctuary for sake lovers and the sake-curious alike. Becoming one of America's most influential sake experts wasn't part of Kaplan's original plan, though. "I did not intend to end up in hospitality," admits the American restaurateur. Despite its appearances, Ototo styles itself as a casual watering hole where even novices can drop in to learn more about Japan's national drink. | WYATT NAOKI CONLON Her journey began in 1999, during an undergraduate study abroad program in Tokyo, where she got her first taste of restaurant work at a yakiniku (grilled meat) establishment. The immersive experience proved transformative, allowing her to develop both her language skills and an appreciation for Japanese hospitality. By 2003, Kaplan was back in New York and working as a translator at the New York bureau of Nikkei when her roommate suggested she apply to Decibel, the city's pioneering sake bar. Despite her limited sake knowledge, she got the job and embarked upon what would become a career-defining experience. At Decibel, she learned through immersion — tasting extensively with colleagues and meeting visiting sake brewers, often sampling open bottles together after closing time. After furthering her sake education at En Japanese Brasserie, a trailblazing izakaya (Japanese pub) in New York, and meeting Namba, the two relocated to Namba's native Los Angeles in 2010. Eventually, in 2017, the couple opened Tsubaki, serving modern Japanese fare in a relaxed but refined setting, followed by Ototo in 2019. "We wanted an izakaya that reflected LA — seasonal, dynamic, composed," says Kaplan. 'Not necessarily authentic Japanese but through our lens and experience.' As opposed to creating its offerings from its food on, the menu at Ototo is designed to "taste good with sake." | WYATT NAOKI CONLON Dinner at Tsubaki is a sit-down affair with a sophisticated menu — think dishes like kanpachi (yellowtail) crudo and charcoal-grilled blue prawns with garlic-chive butter — whereas Ototo welcomes walk-ins to drop in for a casual glass and bar snacks. Through Ototo's carefully curated selection of more than 50 varieties of sake by the glass, Kaplan continues to showcase the beverage's diversity, introducing guests to everything from "really meaty, savory" flavors to "spritzy yamahai,' she says, referring to a style of sake characterized by high acidity and umami. The menu of Japanese-inflected comfort food — including a popular Japanese-style chili burger, savory okonomiyaki pancakes with rock shrimp, and oden (seafood and vegetables simmered in broth) — is designed specifically to complement the sake. 'We decided to create a menu that tastes good with sake as opposed to finding sake that tastes good with this food," she explains. Their culinary vision has continued to evolve. In 2023, Kaplan and Namba launched Camelia, a Japanese-French bistro concept that quickly captivated diners and critics alike, garnering two prestigious James Beard awards in 2024 for Best New Restaurant and Outstanding Beverage Program. At Camelia, Kaplan approaches sake pairing differently, selecting styles with 'glutamate depth' to complement the restaurant's richer, sauce-based dishes, like the pairing of Tedorigawa Brewery's yamahai daiginjō (a brew made with rice polished down to at least 50%) with chicken with kōji (Japan's national mold), seaweed cream sauce and grilled cabbage. in terms of popularity, Courtney Kaplan believes sake is approaching a moment of critical mass. | WYATT NAOKI CONLON "For me it's a pairing of harmony rather than contrast," she says "The sake has a soft, velvety texture and underlying umami that brings out the caramelized flavors that the kōji helps develop in the chicken and also echoes the luxurious cream sauce. While rich, the sake still drinks clean and bright." Central to Kaplan's mission is education. Her Sunday Sake School events have become an institution, offering themed tastings with down-to-earth tasting notes that explore everything from rice varieties to brewing methods. "The number one thing I hear is, 'I love sake but don't know how to learn about it,'" she says. "People felt lost at sea." For years, Los Angeles lagged behind New York in sake appreciation, but recently Kaplan has witnessed a significant shift. "A big tipping point was really having wine people coming in excited about sake," she notes, adding that the inclusion of sake on menus at LA's non-Japanese fine dining restaurants like Providence and Majordomo helped push the drink's profile. "I do feel like this might actually be the moment for sake in the U.S. I've heard that many times before, but now I believe it."
