September 12, 2018 was a very special day. This was the first day of the unprecedented Global Climate Action Summit, and the official education affiliate event Education: Key to Long-term Climate Action Success at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. The attendees included educators, students, policy makers, and representatives from governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations, businesses, media, […]
I am a proud new member of the elite Teacher Ambassador team for the California Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI), a statewide program to make environmental literacy an integral part of K–12 instruction. A major part of the initiative is the model EEI Curriculum – a free curriculum resource which uses the environment as […]
We are pleased to announce that Senate Bill 720, authored by Senator Ben Allen, co-authored by Assembly Member Tony Thurmond, and sponsored by Ten Strands was officially signed by Governor Jerry Brown and is now law. Thank you to everyone who helped ensure passage of this important legislation, which will continue to build the foundation […]
#Teach4Climate is a social media campaign organized by a flotilla of partners who are inspiring educators to prepare students and communities to be part of the solution to climate change. Today’s youth are the first generation to feel the impacts of climate change and possibly the last that can do something about it. These partners are working […]
As teachers dig deeper into the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and move past the newness of the three dimensions, there’s something beautiful that begins to illuminate. It becomes immediately apparent there are strong connections between the standards and science ideas surrounding the environment and, specifically, environmental issues. Considering the big shift in the NGSS […]
The unit that we are making and the units other teams are making are so rich. I love that they address real-world, local, environmental problems, and that they include elements of project-based learning. It makes me happy to think about children engaging in these lessons and addressing these issues. During the last week of June, […]
Introduction The San Fernando Valley Science Project (SFVSP) recently hosted a two-week summer institute for middle and high school science teachers focused on incorporating the California Environmental Principles & Concepts (EP&Cs) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) into classroom lessons. This summer workshop is offered annually, with 2018 representing the third year of a four-year […]
Students at Foulks Ranch Elementary School, with teacher and National Geographic Education Fellow Jim Bentley, completed the final phase of their Geo-Inquiry project to address the question, “How can we make water more accessible and reduce plastic waste in our parks and school?” The students helped Cosumnes Community Services District park administrators install a bottle-filling station […]