As teaching science moved into the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), teachers needed background in these exciting new standards, yet some were struggling with the complexity of the three dimensions. Some teachers resisted, stating time concerns. Some felt they did not have the science capacity to teach science in elementary school. There was a need […]
“For the love of God, not one more thing!” This was my first thought when hearing about the Environmental Principles & Concepts (EP&Cs) roughly three years into my Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) journey. After much struggle and frustration I was by no means an expert, but was just beginning to feel like I had […]
“Pour ce qui est de l’avenir, il ne s’agit pas de le prévoir, mais de le rendre possible.” (“As for the future, it is not a question of predicting it, but of making it possible.”) ~Antoine de Saint Exupéry (1948) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a special report in 2018 on the […]
“I need a glue gun!” “Should we use black or white paper?” “Think about the angle.” “Let’s try putting the foil here.” “Should we seal it completely?” If you were at Bay Farm School in Alameda on June 12, 2019, you would have heard these phrases coming from teams of teachers who were designing, building, […]
The challenge: How to equitably increase access to environmental and arts knowledge for 4,000 K–12th grade students countywide in just a few months? How to make sustainable changes that will support and transform the landscape after the end of one-time funding? To meet the challenge, the Marin County Office of Education (MCOE) partnered with organizations […]
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” ~John Muir In April 2019, nearly 70 K–12 educators from Amador, Calaveras, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne counties came to a special dinner in Stockton to learn about environmental justice, culturally responsive teaching, and the benefits […]
In May 2019, the California Environmental Literacy Initiative (CAELI) Leadership Council came together to have their second meeting, with a focus on environmental justice and environmental literacy. The goals for the day were to: develop a common understanding of environmental justice concepts and explore the interrelatedness of environmental justice and environmental literacy in K–12 education; […]
What does environmental education look like? Picture it in your mind: You’re likely imagining school children trekking through the woods en route to a team-building exercise, stopping to do leaf rubbings and other nature observations along the way. While this may be the traditional notion of environmental education, it is not representative of the opportunities […]