Tackling the climate crisis requires creating climate champions of all ages—people who are educated on climate science, passionate about addressing the climate crisis, and engaged in concrete efforts to “bend the curve” of global warming. This is why Climate Champions aims to get more teaching, learning, and action on the climate crisis into regional schools. […]
Prologue: Costa Rica Early morning walks to meet the preschool microbús are my earliest memories of engaging the natural world. The sun was usually bright, but the pavement was wet from the predawn rain that routinely showered our suburb in San José, Costa Rica. My grandmother and I looked forward to poking the open dormilonas […]
Eight. This was the percentage of students from the Title 1 high school I attended in Los Angeles who enrolled in and completed a degree at a four-year university. My senior class had nearly 1,000 students at the beginning of the year. At the end of the year, roughly 500 proudly earned a high school […]
Take a moment to go outside and inhale a whopping breath of air. Do you take in a breath of fresh air or do you in fact take in a breath of fresh pollution? The answer to this question lies in where you are taking in this precious air. As science educators, we have a […]
When I entered the Tree Rooms for the first day of the San Mateo County Office of Education’s (SMCOE) San Mateo Environmental Learning Collaborative (SMELC) institute in summer 2017, I knew some of what to expect. I knew I would be taking a break from my responsibilities as a summer camp manager with the HEAL […]
“Research shows that weaving together science and language development can increase students’ academic performance in reading, writing, and science simultaneously.” ~ Sarah Feldman and Verónica Flores Malagon, “Unlocking Learning: Science as a Lever for English Learner Equity” The path that led me to environmental literacy education was less than direct, more of a meandering road. […]
Environmental issues lend themselves to cross-disciplinary integrative learning and science teachers are central to the effort to bring environmental literacy to every California child. . . . At the heart of this broader integrative effort is three-dimensional science learning (NGSS) that emerges from the facilitation of rich environmental learning experiences. […]
For the last 15 years, we have collaborated to create standards-aligned integrated learning models for environmental literacy and the arts in order to support issues of justice. Using these models in the classroom has ignited our students’ imaginations. In early August 2020, as we approached an uncertain school year, we sat down to reflect on […]