Teachers across the state returned to their classrooms last fall prepared to integrate environmental literacy into their K–12 curriculum, helping students to develop global competence and agency after participating in the California Global Education Project’s (CGEP) professional learning program Teaching for Sustainable Communities: Empowering Eco-Literate Global Citizens. The program begins in the summer with five […]
This winter, I had the pleasure of participating in a panel discussion focused on environmental literacy at the annual California Curriculum and Instruction Steering Committee (CISC) Leadership Symposium. Our session featured the work of county offices of education that are supporting districts using environmental learning as the context for inclusive, relevant engagement with core subject […]
As a science teacher it is a challenge to offer approachable yet enriching curriculum for all students, especially because I strive to create rich curriculum for every student in every one of my classes. The middle school students I teach reflect the diversity of California, and include students with a wide range of experiences, abilities, […]
“Look, there’s water in my bag! Why does my bag have more water than yours? What happened to the leaves?” These were my student’s observations as he took off the rubber band that was wrapped around a clear Ziploc bag covering a small batch of leaves on a tree. This was a result of an […]
Paramount Unified School District (PUSD) is progressing toward the full implementation of California Next Generation Science Standards (CA NGSS) and the Environmental Principles & Concepts (EP&Cs) throughout grades K–12. This progress is the result of a strategic district-level plan for implementation that includes: multiple professional learning opportunities for all teachers and school leaders; the development […]
Touring the Port of Los Angeles, engineering transportation corridor models, investigating the environmental impact of the war in Vietnam, and designing a student webpage to highlight the effects of climate change and globalization on endangered species were a few of the ways that teachers recently explored classroom applications for California’s Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs) […]
I have always loved science and the outdoors. Prior to becoming a classroom teacher, I worked as an outdoor educator and had the pleasure of hiking through the redwoods with groups of fifth and sixth grade students. I majored in science as an undergraduate and consider myself to be a scientist. When I joined my […]
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, […]