Wachstumshormone

Oct

7

Filed Under Activities, Carol Malnor, Children's Literature, Environmental Literacy, Language arts, Outdoor education, Programs, Questioning strategies, Schoolyard Classroom | Leave a Comment

naturetrail-w-title

One of my favorite nature quotations comes from the Japanese conservationist Tanaka Shozu who said, “The question of rivers is not a question of rivers, but of the human heart.”

I wanted to touch the hearts of my middle school students with the beauty of nature as well as inspire them to take care of the local environment. I found the perfect spot for a nature experience less than an hour away from our school campus in the Sierra Nevada. Read more

Jun

27

Oregon Launches Environmental Literacy Plan

Filed Under Environmental Literacy | Leave a Comment

envlitplancoverOn October 1, 2010, the state of Oregon completed its first environmental literacy plan for students in grades K through 12.  State legislation passed in 2009 and supported by the No Oregon Left Inside Coalition created the Oregon Environmental Literacy Task Force, chaired by Traci Price, which was charged with creating the Oregon Plan.  It is designed to ensure that students in Oregon are prepared to address environmental issues related to the challenges of climate change, energy, national security, and health risks.  Now, joining Nebraska and Maryland, Oregon strengthens its commitment as a leader in environmental and sustainable practices by applying environmental literacy in classrooms starting at a young age.  Not only will the Environmental Literacy Plan increase the connection between youth and the environment but environmental literacy helps develop knowledge and skills necessary to address complex environmental issues while contributing to students overall academic achievement.

Having an environmental literacy plan in place will position Oregon to be eligible for pending funds through federal No Child Left Inside legislation which is gaining ground daily.  As part of the Oregon Environmental Literacy Plan, the Task Force is charged with several tasks, including preparing students to understand and address the major environmental challenges facing Oregon and the United States; help establish programs that promote healthy lifestyles through outdoor recreation and sound nutrition; and create professional development opportunities for teachers to improve their knowledge of environmental issues and skills in teaching about environmental issues.

Oct

8

Top Ten List for Developing Environmental Literacy

Filed Under Environmental Literacy, Resources | Leave a Comment

FreshwaterTrust3

from Callister, Jamogochian, Lemos, Weddle, & Yoder (2010) – Community-based Education: Model Programs. Northwest Center for Sustainable Resources.

http://www.ncsr.org/materials/index.html


This top-ten list of advice from Jon Yoder may be of assistance for teachers just beginning to integrate environmental literacy into their classroom:

  1. Start small and find other teachers interested in doing a community project. Support and collaboration are critical for success as you begin this work.
  2. Don’t let issues such as transportation and funding stand in your way. Be creative and persistent and employ the resources of your community.
  3. Getting to know community partners is a must, so be prepared to make calls and meet with potential partners. They are often more than willing to work with you and may have resources you can use.
  4. Make sure that your class does not become a work crew. The work you do should be the work of your partner. This is not a field trip or guest presentation, but joining the authentic work of your partner.
  5. Be organized and plan ahead. You can never foresee all possibilities, but being organized helps you become more successful with students and partners.
  6. Promote the program. It is not about you but about the students and their capacity to serve as a resource for their community
  7. Involve students in the selection of their work and in designing their products. This may be the first time they have some control over their learning. It can be empowering for them.
  8. As your work expands, think of ways that the program can sustain itself when you are no longer there.
  9. Do not worry about having to know the content or being in charge of direct instruction. You will become a facilitator and instruction comes from the community partner and the curriculum resources you organize. One of the great joys of this approach is that you often get to learn along with your students. Sometimes they can even teach you. The teacher is no longer the “sage on the stage,” but instead is the “guide on the side.”
  10. Remember it is about community! The work students do needs to have a context to it. They should come out of their study with a clear understanding of what their community is, how it can function, and possible roles for them to participate. Do not forget that this approach also fosters community building within the classroom and students become reconnected to themselves and to each other.

Jul

30

Charting a New Course for Marine Educators

Filed Under Marine/Aquatic Education | Leave a Comment

turtleThe West Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Health

The ocean plays a critical role in maintaining ecosystems and is essential to our health and wellbeing. Its diversity of resources belong to all of us. Yet, only 1 in 10 Americans understand ocean systems or the threats these systems are facing. It is critical to educate and promote stewardship among our students and the public- at-large in order to restore a healthy, productive and resilient ocean. Read more

Jul

6

An unapologetic advocate…

Filed Under Outdoor education, Perspectives | Leave a Comment

by Rob Sandelin

robsandelinMy primary goal as an educator at the Environmental Science School is to create connections between students and nature. I do this because I believe once students have a deep connection to nature, they become advocates, often for the rest of their life. We have lots of time and experiences with nature as part of our program.

An example. We spent several trips a few years ago along a certain creek watching, counting and learning about salmon. We watched a female dig a redd (her nest) and the whole cycle. Every time we went back the kids looked for red girl, as they had named her. During one rainy day the kids noticed a pipe dumping gunky water into OUR stream onto OUR fish. They were outraged. We followed the pipe back and discovered it was a street drain, full of crud and oil from cars off the road. I did not tell them how to feel or act, they did that on their own, based on their connection to that place. After school they  ALL met and cleaned up that whole street, then, unknown to me, a bunch of them went to an evening political debate between a couple of candidates for mayor. They stood up in a room full of adults, and demanded to know what the candidates were going to do about the street drains in our town which dump oil and gunk onto OUR salmon stream. They were articulate, bright and passionate advocates.

As far as I am concerned, this is why I teach.

Rob Sandelin is a naturalist and environmental educator who has since childhood spent much of his life observing and studying nature in the mountains of the Northwest. He has served as a park naturalist at Yosemite National Park, Olympic National Park, and Denali National Park. Currently he teaches field skills to student naturalists at the Environmental Education School of the Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington. He is the author of This Week in the Woods, a series of natural history essays; the Cohousing Resource Guide; and the Intentional Communities Resource Pages website. He lives with family and friends in the Sharingwood Cohousing Community in Snohomish County.

Next Page →