Wachstumshormone

“Lessons for Teaching in the Environment and Community” is a regular series that explores how teachers can gain the confidence to go into the world outside of their classrooms for a substantial piece of their curricula.

Part 9: Digging Through the Brambles

by Jim Martin, CLEARING guest writer

vacantlot2At last writing, I’d decided to explore a place outside for the curricular content which was embedded in it. I planned to do a natural science inquiry, and decided to also look for social studies and creative writing curricula units there based on an area near a dog walk. The area is fenced off from the dog walk, and has entrances to several animal runs along its edge. At its outer edge, this undisturbed area ends at a sharp precipice on the edge of a working quarry. Now, my job is to turn this place into a lesson that will release and exploit the curricula embedded within it.

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jimphotocroppedThis is the ninth installment of “Teaching in the Environment,” a new, regular feature by CLEARING “master teacher” Jim Martin that explores how environmental educators can help classroom teachers get away from the pressure to teach to the standardized tests,  and how teachers can gain the confidence to go into the world outside of their classrooms for a substantial piece of their curricula. See the other installments here.

Understanding Electricity Through Photovoltaics from green levine on Vimeo.

by Jessica Levine
Eckstein Middle School
Seattle, Washington

As a student of David Orr at Oberlin College I helped design the Adam Joseph Lewis Center (AJLC) for Environmental Studies. The building was designed to generate more energy than it consumed– a phenomenal concept for a building. It turned out it was also a pioneering concept for education.

Taking my Oberlin education into my own educational practice has been easy. I teach the science of sustainability in a year-long physical science curriculum for 6th graders at Eckstein Middle School in Seattle.  So, recently, I considered some of the same questions we had set out to explore for the AJLC. Was it possible to generate energy from solar—even in Seattle? Could I maintain a system as a demonstration, for students, families, and community, of what is possible with renewable energy? Could I go off the grid in a large urban public  middle school? Read more

rickjohnsonRick Johnson has served as executive director of the Idaho Conservation League for 16 years.  ICL is Idaho’s leading voice for conservation.

Interview by Chris Gertschen

CG: Is there one particular event or series of events that led you to a profession in conservation?

RJ:  Yes, if you focus on the profession part.  I got into conservation as a volunteer for a lot of reasons wrapped around love of Idaho’s outdoors and a sense I could contribute, but I got into the profession because of a single event. Read more

HarmonyRoll

by Harmony Roll, Taiga Teacher

You don’t need to be an environmental educator, you don’t have to stray from traditional norms, or be on the cutting edge to incorporate place-based education into your daily practice as a teacher. The goal is to create connections, connections to what the learners already know about the world around them. Activate their prior knowledge. Read more

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