Edgewood_Science and Environmental Education Methods

I stumbled across this web site. Very interesting articles to check out.

Academic Standards that I think would be useful for lessons related to this site and that could easily be applied to various age groups for differentiation include: Core Science Content and Performance Standards Standard B: Nature of Science B. 4.1 Use encyclopedias, source books, texts, computers, teachers, parents, other adults, journals, popular press, and various other sources, to help answer science-related questions and plan investigations. Standard H: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives H. 4.4 Develop a list of issues citizens must make decisions about and describe a strategy for becoming informed about the science around these issues. H. 8.2 Present a scientific solution to a problem involving the earth and space, life and environment, or physical sciences and participate in a consensus-building discussion to arrive at a group decision. Environmental Education Standards Standard B: Knowledge of Environmental Processes and Systems B. 8.10 Explain and cite examples of how humans shape the environment. Standard D: Decision and Action Skills D. 4.3 Identify 2 or more ways to take positive environmental action. D. 4.6 Develop a plan, either individually or in a group, to preserve the local environment. Standard E: Personal and Civic Responsibility E. 4.2 Understand how their personal actions impact their civic responsibilities toward the environment. E. 8.1 Formulate a personal plan for environmental stewardship.

There are various levels and interdisciplinary options for curriculum on this website. Recommended videos include but are not limited to: High Line History (4:19) & High Line Design Video (4:45) Lesson plans are available for grades 2-7 on topics such as: forces, community activism, park design, and machine aesthetic. Curriculum areas include: science, social studies, English language arts, math and arts. To access lesson plans: click on "Schools Program" listed under the main heading "About" and then click on links to download free lessons. Additionally, the picture book The Curious Garden is a great resource about the High Line for younger students in Kindergarten through second grade. I would use this website for a unit of study on stewardship and local environmental activism. The New York High Line project is an inspiring example of urban planning and could be used to encourage students to get involved in land use issues in their own communities. Comparisons could be made to local community gardens or prairie restoration projects and students could be challenged to design or preserve a green space. For example, it could be a yearly class activity to contribute to the design and function of the school yard or another community space. Students could be required to evaluate community needs, research environmental issues and plants specific to the area, locate reusable resources, and participate in class discussions to make democratic decisions. Schools could get all grades involved in brainstorming and voting on sustainable ways to contribute to their community.

This is a resource published by Scholastic and it contains ten different interactive booklets that focus on science topics. The different booklets are: Creepy Crawly Insects, Animal Groups, Food Chains, Habitats, Life Cycle of a flowering plant, My Healthy Body, Sound, Wild, Windy Weather, Our Home, Earth and Our Solar Systerm. This book can be purchased online or at the Learning Shop and it offers and excellent way to integrate science and literacy and promote nonfiction reading in science. This is a great resource to facilitate the use of nonfiction science texts into literacy as the books also contain various components of nonfiction texts including bold words, pictures, diagrams and tables. With regard to differentiation, this book is great because even though it is technically for grades 2-3 the topics it covers are high interest and I have used several of the booklets with my fourth and fifth grade students. Another component I really like about these booklets is that they are reproducible so my students can take them home and can add to the what they have available to them at home. With regards to standards, these booklets address reading, writing, science and health standards. There are standards for both the end of fourth grade and eigth grade that these resources can be used for. In order to meet eighth grade standards, I would recommend further extension activities. Some of the specific standards addressed include: E.8.6 Describe through investigations the use of the earth's resources by humans in both past and current cultures, particularly how changes in the resources used for the past 100 years are the basis for efforts to conserve and recycle renewable and non-renewable resources THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANISMS F.4.1 Discover* how each organism meets its basic needs for water, nutrients, protection, and energy* in order to survive F.4.2 Investigate* how organisms, especially plants, respond to both internal cues (the need for water)

National Geographic has really useful interactives in many areas of science, but one in particular I love to use is "Forces of Nature." This is useful for Earth or weather science. This online "lab" takes a close look at tornados, earthquakes, hurricanes and volcanoes. 1. Science Standard -- Good for grades K-8. Standard E -- Earth and Space Science. 4.5 Describe the weather commonly found in Wisconsin in terms of clouds, temperature, humidity, and forms of precipitation, and the changes that occur over time, including seasonal changes E.8.3 Using the science themes during the process of investigation, describe climate, weather, ocean currents, soil movements and changes in the forces acting on the earth 2. Integration -- Use in conjuction with a current event surrounding weather or earth activity. Case studies section on the website shows facts and information about actual natural disasters in history. 3. This interactive is easily adaptable to any age group or audience. Higher level students may maneuver through the site independently while younger students or non-readers can watch as the teacher or another student sets off an earthquake. The only drawback is that there is no audio.

All three of these websites are great things for the younger children to view and get a better understanding for life cycles, hibernation, etc. I think these are great because we concentrate so much on explaining these ideas to children, but they rarely get to observe and take data on these types of things in the classroom, but these websites allow us to do just that! It would be neat for all grades to take a look at these, but for the purpose of my research I would show this to Pre K- 1st Grade. The standards that all three of these websites would fall under are: C.4.2 Use the science content being learned to ask questions, plan investigations, make observations, make predictions, and offer explanations C.4.5 Use data they have collected to develop explanations and answer questions generated by investigations C.4.6 Communicate the results of their investigations in ways their audiences will understand by using charts, graphs, drawings, written descriptions, and various other means, to display their answers C.4.7 Support their conclusions with logical arguments C.4.8 Ask additional questions that might help focus or further an investigation F.4.1 Discover* how each organism meets its basic needs for water, nutrients, protection, and energy* in order to survive F.4.3 Illustrate* the different ways that organisms grow through life stages and survive to produce new members of their type For some integration I would use a ton of math and Social Studies in these activities. The student will have to make predictions about the animals they see and relate it to other things in the environment. We will also keep a class chart of how many times we see the mother hummingbird fly away, measure how big the hummingbirds are. We will keep track of how many days it takes for the hummingbirds to hatch, and how many days it takes them to fly away. And we will also keep track of how many days the bears are in their den, and observe their unusual movement. We will also take th

Check out the introductory video on the home page and see how Prezi's work!

Archive from 3/8/11

Using best practices from Community Problem Solving (CmPS) instructional methods, EcoInvestigators is designed to get students in grades 3-5 engaged, excited, and prepared to take on and solve environmental problems in their community and beyond. With funding from International Paper, we have developed this program to help teachers use a variety of rich media resources to teach earth system science, explore global environmental problems and challenge your students to take steps to using data to help solve local environmental problems. This curriculum is in the beta phase and PBS welcomes feedback on the resources and activities provided on the site. http://www.pbs.org/teachers/ecoinvestigators/. If you have suggestions or comments, please send them to djblubaugh@pbs.org.

Here is one example of a backward design template. A fill-able Word version will be posted in course documents.