Today’s kids are much more aware of the environment and the impact they have on it than their parents. The current generation of elementary and middle schoolers had never known life without Earth Day, curbside recycling programs or a range of other awareness efforts.

Yet there is always room to learn more. As a teacher, how can you incorporate sustainability into the classroom? Sustainability and kids go well together. Below are some examples of successes at teaching sustainability as well as resources you can turn to for your own students.

Definitions and Goals

What is sustainability education? US Partnership, a non-partisan organization whose mission is to integrate sustainable development into education, defines it: “Teaching the interconnection of environment, society and economy.”

According to the Partnership, there are 3 goals to sustainability education:

1. Understanding basic concept of sustainability

2. Understanding human connection to natural world

3. Having the knowledge necessary for improvements

Success Stories

US Partnership recently hosted a webinar with success stories about introducing sustainability into the curriculum.

Will Rogers Middle School, Fair Oaks, CA

This school started with a recycling program and evolved into a total energy-saving mindset. Recent construction was Energy Star rated.  In one project, students took and shared photos of positive sustainability actions. The school hosted a solar car race. Students volunteered at the local watershed to learn about the interconnectedness between people and nature, as well as the importance of water conservation.

Morris Brandon Elementary, Atlanta, GA

Morris Brandon’s Mission statement included an emphasis placed on international understanding and responsible citizenship. As part of that, the school community maintains an organic garden. The Parent Teacher Association donates to Heifer International if students meet reading goals.  Teacher Kelley Jordan-Monne uses the websites www.projectwet.org and www.projectwild.org for sustainability lesson plans.

Resources for Teachers

• The North American Association for Environmental Education offers links lesson plans broken down by grade level.

• Green Teacher is a magazine devoted to teaching sustainability. The best ideas are collected in the book Teaching Green: The Middle Years.

• The Concord Consortium offers software and online programs to introduce the concept through its Education for a Sustainable Future program.

• The EPA has a variety of teacher resources including links to local resources and environmental service projects, and calendars of training events.

• Greening Schools has suggestions for “greening your lesson plan” divided into subject areas.

• A2X Consulting.com provides accessible and easy to understand definitions about different alternative energies, as well as a variety of information about ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

Introducing sustainability into the classroom is manageable if you know what resources to use. As a teacher, you can engage the kids in lessons that teach them the subject matter and sustainability.

~Danielle Bullen

This “essentialist” curriculum created in 1982 by Mortimer Adler and The Paideia Group proposes a single, required, 12-year course in general, humanistic learning as a foundation for the future learning of all students.

Basic Elements

The Paideia plan is built on the understanding that education serves to prepare individuals for (1) earning a living, (2) citizenship, and (3) self-development. With that in mind, here is the plan’s proposed framework:

Theodore Sizer of the Paideia Group insists that Paideia is not a detailed curriculum for deliberate reasons. The Paideia Group believes that only the teachers and principals who can change education should design a specific curriculum blueprint. Instead, the Paideia plan provides a framework and process for “crafting the critical details of the program in ways appropriate to their own communities.”
Reading

Educational Leadership (March 1984): Dennis Gray, “Whatever Became of Paideia? (And How Do You Pronounce It?), p. 56-57. Daniel Tanner, “The American High School at the Crossroads,” p. 4-13.

The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.

Tech prep is most traditionally and frequently defined as a four-year program (during grades 11-14) that leads to an associate degree or two-year certificate in a specific career field. This curriculum includes a common core of required mathematics, science communications, and technologies that is integrated, applied, and sequenced.

Discussion

There is a strong consensus that American schools have generally ignored the average student: the middle 50% of teenagers who complete high school, but do not attend four-year colleges, universities, or graduate schools. These students are no longer prepared to enter today’s changed workforce, which demands workers who can think, problem solve, work in teams, and apply knowledge. The tech prep curriculum was designed as the instructional strategy for preparing such students to work in a labor market that requires more technical skills.

Some critics question whether a tech prep curriculum significantly differs from vocational education. And others want high schools to reorganize themselves, offering students only a college prep or a tech prep course of study.

Let’s examine how a tech prep curriculum affects the following elements of education:

Curriculum–High schools and community colleges coordinate the tech prep curriculum together, eliminating duplication and ensuring skills are acquired in the best possible sequence. Critics of tech prep programs maintain that neither the curriculum in the high school nor the community college has changed to reflect the issues and problems of today’s workplace. Predominantly, the focus is on teaching math, science, and communication for both application and contextual purposes.

Instruction–Tech prep instruction is still classroom-oriented. Most of the occupational skills are taught in the laboratory setting. There is a strong push to try integrating what happens in the academic classroom with activities in the occupational labs.

Assessment:–In the occupational labs, we see a greater use of assessing work samples and projects than in traditional classes. However, there is still a heavy reliance on traditional tests and grades. The drawback of this is that although tech prep prepares students for the job market, it may not prepare them for the lack of traditional assessment in the workplace–in other words, employers don’t rate employee performances with letter grades and test scores.

Reading

The Neglected Majority and Tech Prep/Associate Degree, Parnell, Dale.

The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.

Multiculturalism is based on the belief that varying cultural dynamics are the fourth force–along with the psychodynamic, behavioral, and humanistic forces–explaining human behavior. Since the ability to recognize our own and others’ cultural lenses is essential to all learning, it must be taught, along with communication and thinking skills, as prerequisites to learning.

Basic Elements

The National Council for Social Studies, in its Curriculum Guidelines for Multicultural Education, lists the key functions of multicultural education as:

1. Providing students with a sharp sense of self
2. Helping students understand the experience of ethnic and cultural groups in history
3. Helping students understand that conflict between ideals and reality exist in every human society
4. Helping students develop decision-making, social participation, and citizenship skills
5. Achieving full literacy in at least two languages

“Multicultural” is broadly understood to include experiences shaping perceptions common to age, gender, religion, socio-economic status, and exceptionality of any kind, as well as cultural, linguistic, and racial identities.

This controversial approach has stirred passionate critics, who contend that it aims to replace “Eurocentrism” with “othercentrisms.” Critics also allege that multiculturalism hinders the assimilation of various cultures into America’s greatest hallmark: the melting pot.

Please visit these Funderstanding posts for more specifics about multiculturalism;

• Multiculturalism at School;
• Multicultural Education: A Teacher’s Perspective.

Reading

Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives, Banks, J.A. and Banks, C.M. (Eds). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

National Council on Social Studies Task Force on Ethnic Studies Curriculum Guidelines (1992). “Curriculum Guidelines for Multicultural Education,” Social Education, Volume 5, 274-292.
The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.

This curriculum method revolves around developing “good character” in students by practicing and teaching moral values and decision making.

Basic Elements

Character education assumes that schools don’t just have the responsibility to help students get “smart,” they also have the responsibility to help them cultivate basic moral values to guide their behavior throughout life.

Today’s emphasis on character education is propelled by the decline in family influence, downward trends in youth character, and the emerging consensus of shared ethical values.

Character education teaches students to understand, commit to, and act on shared ethical values–in other words, “know the good, desire the good, and do the good.” Typical core values include respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and community participation.

Schools committed to character education tend to:

Emphasize the importance of adults modeling values in the classroom as well as in their everyday interactions

Help students clarify their values and build personal bonds and responsibilities to one another

Use the traditional curriculum as a vehicle for teaching values and examining moral questions

Encourage moral reflection through debate, journals, and discussion

Encourage values in action through community service and other community involvement strategies

Support teacher development and dialogue among educators on the moral dimension of their job

The influence of character education is evident in the outcomes of many school districts emphasizing qualities such as “participant in a democratic society,” “contributor to the community,” and “ethical global citizen.”

Reading

“Character Education,” Education Leadership, November, 1993.

The Journal of Character Education, Jefferson Center for Character Education, Pasadena, CA.

Reclaiming Our Schools: A Handbook on Teaching Character, Academics and Discipline, Wynne, Edward A. and Ryan, Kevin. New York: Merrill.
The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.

This philosophy about curriculum–in both language arts and a broader, more general program–is based on recent research of how children acquire oral and written language skills.

Basic Elements

Because knowledge doesn’t exist separately from the people who construct it, whole language practitioners don’t see curriculum as a prescribed course of study or a particular set of instructional materials. Instead, they see it as the cognitive experience each learner has. Whole language doesn’t just include the specific content being thought about, it also includes how a student “demonstrates” a particular task, as well as what he or she expects from a language learning situation.

The fundamental concern of someone who uses language is making sense. To a learner, reading and writing are crucial to forming an understanding of the world. A whole language curriculum treats the learner as a legitimate conversation partner and someone who seeks meaning. Therefore, whole language practitioners support their students’ efforts–even those that aren’t entirely accurate–rather than directing their thinking and language use.

We learn language cumulatively by using it. Each language encounter, whether oral or written, builds more knowledge about the world, the function of symbols, and communication strategies. Consequently, each language transaction helps us perform the next one, whether it be oral, written, or mental. A whole language curriculum immerses students in situations requiring open-ended, complex language use.

The teacher’s role in such a curriculum is one of “interpretive” teaching, or “kidwatching”–in other words, making sense of how students engage in language learning and offering experiences that support their experiments.

Language learning is a social activity; it requires negotiating meaning and taking in feedback from partners. Whole language practitioners work to provoke, elicit, and show interest in communication exchanges–both learner-learner and learner-teacher.

With language learning, there is always the risk of trying new strategies, and error is inherent in the process. Practitioners encourage this spirit by reading meaning into children’s speech or writing attempts, and by “hearing and seeing through” errors and spelling inventions, rather than correcting and prescribing exactness. With the support of their teachers, the children’s spoken and written experiments help them locate and learn the conventional language usage.

Reading

Whole Language: Theory in Use, Neuman, Judith M. Heineman: Portsmouth, NH (1985).
Whole Language: Theory in Use

The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.

In a core curriculum, a predetermined body of skills, knowledge, and abilities is taught to all students.

Discussion

The core curriculum movement assumes there is a uniform body of knowledge that all students should know. Presumably, this curriculum will produce educated and responsible graduates for the community. Unfortunately, there often isn’t much consensus on who is the community and who speaks for the community. In fact, there is a growing conflict about what topics a core curriculum should contain. Some advocates would limit the core to basic academic subjects like English, math, science, and government, while others would include general learner outcomes such as problem solving, critical thinking, teamwork, and community service.

Let’s examine how a core curriculum affects the following elements of education:

Curriculum–The curriculum is built on a mandated core, which is defined and designed outside the classroom. All students learn a common set of knowledge, skills, and abilities. Though academic content remains the primary focus of the core curriculum, some core teaching is moving toward application and problem solving.

Instruction–Instruction is based on a defined core content. Rather than focusing on discovery, teaching revolves around imparting a predetermined body of knowledge. Although the core curriculum method does not preclude using critical thinking, problem solving, and team learning, it prompts teaching toward the “correct” answer.

Assessment–The core content literally shapes the assessment process. The core curriculum method easily lends itself to traditional testing based on information recall, as well as the use of conventional letter grades. However, a core curriculum doesn’t preclude the use of authentic assessment and portfolios.
The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.

In outcome-based learning, all school programs and instructional efforts are designed to have produced specific, lasting results in students by the time they leave school.

Basic Elements

One of the leading examples of an outcome-based learning program is the Outcome-Driven Developmental Model (ODDM) of the school system in Johnson City, New York. The principles followed by outcome-based learning practitioners include:

1. Clarity of focus around significant, culminating exit outcomes, which are defined by each school
2. Expansion of available time and resources so that all students successfully reach the exit outcomes
3. Consistent, high expectations of 100% success
4. Explicit relationships between any learning experience and the ultimate outcomes to which that experience is essential

Under OBE, curriculum design includes these steps:

Discern future conditions

Derive exit outcomes

Develop performance indicators

Design learning experiences

Determine instructional strategies

Deliver instruction

Document results

Determine advancement

Reading
Successful Schooling for All: A Primer on Outcome-Based Education and Mastery Learning, Gray, I. Lee (Ed.). Network for Outcome-Based Schools, Johnson City Central Schools, 666 Reynolds Road, Johnson City, NY 13790. (1-9 copies $10.95 each)
The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.

• Outcome-Based Education (OBE)
• Core Curriculum
• Whole Language
• Character Education
• Multiculturalism
• Tech-Prep
• Paideia