Professional Learning Strategies for Environmental Literacy with NGSS for K-12
Co-presenters: Betsy Mitchell, Matthew d’Alessio, Brian Foley, Christine Hirst and Gini Vandergon
Maria Chiari Simani
Environmental Principles & Concepts
Focus on local environmental problems.
Engineering
Focus on designing solutions.
CA NGSS Goal:
To Prepare Future citizens and Future scientists.
Agenda
Introductions
Who we are…...
What is the temperature outside?
Location matters
Sacramento downtown v. Sacramento Airport
Near the river v. near the Convention Center
Play with the thermometers and see how the temperature varies in this room.
CAUTION: LASER LIGHT
Submit Another Response
Outside vs Inside
HS-ESS2-4. Use a model to describe how variations in the flow of energy into and out of Earth’s systems result in changes in climate. [Clarification Statement: Examples of the causes of climate change differ by timescale, over 1-10 years: large volcanic eruption, ocean circulation; 10-100s of years: changes in human activity, ocean circulation, solar output; 10-100s of thousands of years: changes to Earth's orbit and the orientation of its axis; and 10-100s of millions of years: long-term changes in atmospheric composition.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment of the results of changes in climate is limited to changes in surface temperatures, precipitation patterns, glacial ice volumes, sea levels, and biosphere distribution.]
Model of Energy Flow in Urban Heat Islands
Model of Energy Flow in Global Greenhouse Effect
NGSS & EP&Cs spiral upwards
K-2 | 3-5 | 6-8 | High School |
Schoolyard | Community | California | Global Challenges |
Notice patterns | Investigate and Describe patterns | Explain what's happening at the overall system level. | Zoom in to the individual mechanisms to explain what's happening. |
NGSS
EP&C
California adopted 5 Environmental Principles that complement the NGSS dimensions.
Your task:
| Kinder | First | Second |
Principle 1 | People need the natural world around us to be healthy so we can survive. | Humans need natural (eco) systems to stay healthy so they can get what they need from them. | People Depend on Natural Systems |
Principle 2 | People can help or hurt the natural world. | Human actions can affect the health of natural (eco) systems. | People Influence Natural Systems |
Focus Questions | How do snails, worms, and isopods help us?� How can we help snails, worms, and isopods be healthy?� How do trees help us?� How can we help trees be healthy? | What is an ecosystem?�What ecosystems are in our neighborhood?�How do we affect the ecosystem in our neighborhood?�How do our neighborhood ecosystems affect us? | What lives in our neighborhood?�What lives in our park, school yard? What does an organism need to survive? How do humans interact with organisms in habitats? What is a habitat? How do organisms interact with each other? What happens when humans modify their environment? Where are goods produced in California?�How are goods processed and distributed in CA? |
| Third | Fourth | Fifth |
Principle 1 | People need things from nature. |
| People need Earth's resources to survive. |
Principle 2 | People can help and hurt the ecosystems around them | | People's behaviors and actions can help, hurt or change the earth and earth's resources |
Focus Questions | *How do humans fit in this food chain? *How do humans depend on and use water? *How do humans change how ecosystems work?�*In what ways do they help or hurt other living organisms? | | *What are the roles of organisms in a food web?�*What would happen if you introduced or removed a trophic level or one organism from the food web?�*How could this impact humans?�*What is the water cycle? *What climate changes are impacting the water cycle?� *What is an artificial wetland and why are people working to build them?�FQ: How has the technology of burning fossil fuels affected Earth's systems and resources? *How have humans learned to use other natural resources other than fossil fuels as energy sources? |
View Snapshot in your grade band
Guiding Questions:
Teacher Leader voice
Christine Hirst, M.Ed, M.S. West Ranch HS
Primary curriculum: Astronomy and Engineering (was Earth)
HS Earth Science:
5th grade teacher
“I have been teaching Enviro Sci every Friday and it has been great.
There is a lot that I could say about the program and the numerous benefits to my students and my practice but one part of the program that really surprised me was how easy it was to keep my class on-task and engaged. As a new teacher, I was concerned that I would have to spend so much energy "controlling" the behavior in an outdoor setting. However, the students are so authentically engaged in the lesson that managing student behavior is a non-issue.
The lessons that were taught at the Summer Literacy institute were well-planned, carefully modeled for us, and super engaging for my class.”
Take home messages
Use the outdoors - relevant and engaging
Strategies for taking students outdoors
Useable activities that easily integrate science, literacy and social studies
Collaboration and planning time
Expertise - scientists and teacher leaders
Student engage in real-world projects that address energy, water, and waste issues.
Alameda K-5 Environmental Literacy Summer Institute
Goals for teachers:
How to do this with middle and high school teachers
What we did:
ELEMENTS |
NGSS |
EP&C |
Literacy connections |
Local environmental issues/local environments |
Blueprint for environmental Literacy |
EMPHASIS ON |
Connection to environment |
Outdoor learning |
Habitats & ecosystems: where organisms live |
Integration w/language arts and social studies |
Planning & reflection |
RESOURCES |
Grad. student scientists (DCI science content, CC & SEP) |
Teacher leaders (literacy, pedagogy) |
Local Providers |
Curriculum (OBIS, BEETLES, FOSS, EEI, Framework, Sobel) |
5 day summer institute for K-5 teachers from Alameda Unified
What we did briefly first week
Assigned lessons
Meanwhile
1st week goal
What we found out -- measures
“This was a wonderful week – fun balanced with lots of things to take away and try with my kids … a much deeper appreciation of environmental literacy.”
Grades K-2 agree/disagree pre post�______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Grades 3-5 agree/disagree pre post�_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Coming up:
Considerations:
Find common environmental themes appropriate for K-5
NGSS Lesson Planning so far...
phenomenon
DCI
EP&C
CCC
SEP
Evidence statements
NGSS
Next week
Make a Conceptual Flow Map
You need to get from one concept to another (not always obvious and sometimes strained)
Next week
End of week goals
Challenges
What worked better than year before?
Grades K-2 Science & engineering practices pre post�_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Grades 3-5 Science & engineering practices pre post�_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
K-2 Cross Cutting Concepts pre post�______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3-5 Cross Cutting Concepts �__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On teacher leaders:
“Their curiosity and questioning without judgement was a really great model to follow”
Written comments about Grad students & teacher leaders were all positive.
On grad students:
“…by designing a good inquiry we don’t need a spectacular site”
Biggest impacts and general patterns