Ten Strands Contact:
Marwa Abdelghani
Communications Manager
mabdelghani@tenstrands.org
Culturally-responsive climate change and environmental justice K–12 curricula to advance impactful action in communities
SAN FRANCISCO – Ten Strands is excited to announce the selection of seven diverse organizations that will spearhead the development of community-centered and culturally-responsive climate change and environmental justice K–12 curriculum units across California. Our partnership with the community- and student-centered organizations is made possible by the state’s investment of $6 million to create curricular resources that will help teachers promote their students’ understanding of climate change and environmental justice, leading to impactful action in their communities. The units will be free open education resources, standards-based, and they will integrate California’s Environmental Principles and Concepts. Read more about the landmark investment here.
Through Ten Strands’ Climate Change and Environmental Justice Program (CCEJP), in partnership with the San Mateo County Office of Education and California Department of Education, we will work with the writing teams to develop and refine a range of K–12 curricular resources. The selected organizations have extensive experience writing school curricula and providing professional learning to educators, and they demonstrate the following values that will advance the environmental literacy of all students:
- Community-centered work with diverse communities across California;
- A focus on environmental justice, social justice, and/or equity for the communities most impacted by climate change;
- Student-centered practices in the development of curriculum and resources; and
- Access to networks or communities of educators in California to write, pilot and/or field test curriculum.
The writing teams bring combined expertise in climate science, community-centered project-based learning, curriculum design, environmental education, environmental justice, open education resources, professional learning, and traditional ecological knowledge. They are:
- Grades K-2: Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation
- Grades 3-5: Community Resources for Science and Oakland Teachers Advancing Climate Action
- Grade 6: Center for Ecoliteracy
- Grade 7: Global Nomads Group
- Grade 8: Environmental Education Collaborative
- Grades 9-10: Mycelium Youth Network
- Grades 11-12: UCI EcoGovLab
In addition to the writing teams, Ten Strands has identified larger organizations that have broader experience in writing open education resources on climate change and environmental justice curriculum and professional learning. With oversight from Ten Strands, these organizations will provide support and capacity-building to the curriculum writing teams to ensure coherence and consistency within and across grade levels.
- BSCS Science Learning: Provide broad curriculum development support and design the curriculum framework, including unit and lesson design.
- California Subject Matter Project: Provide expertise related to the California state standards, Environmental Principles and Concepts, content, cross curricular design, and professional learning.
- Concord Consortium: Provide access and support related to online modeling and data tools such as SageModeler and CODAP.
- The Climate Collective: Provide expertise related to climate change curriculum frameworks and development.
Ten Strands looks forward to working with the writing teams and support organizations to collectively advance climate change education across California schools to equip students with the tools they need to be agents of change for our planet. Our work together will transform educational resources into innovative, engaging, and culturally-relevant place-based curricula. In the coming months, Ten Strands will feature stories written by each of the writing teams that will highlight their work and diverse perspectives around the importance of environmental literacy.
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About Ten Strands
Ten Strands is a California–based nonprofit established in 2012. Our mission is to build and strengthen the partnerships and strategies that will bring environmental literacy to all of California’s K–12 public school students. We operate with a small, diverse, and nimble staff and strategic partners throughout the state. Ten Strands utilizes the largest and most diverse institution in California—the public school system—to impact 58 county offices of education, more than 1,000 school districts, approximately 10,000 individual schools, over 300,000 teachers, and 5.8 million children. Learn more at www.tenstrands.org.
