EEI News: Fall Edition

    

Welcome Back!

We hope that you've had a fun and relaxing summer vacation! As you head back into the classroom, don't forget to use the EEI Curriculum to help engage your students in relevant, real-world science and history-social science lessons that foster environmental literacy.

If you're unsure which EEI Curriculum unit to teach, follow along with us on Facebook and Twitter as we highlight a new EEI Curriculum unit each week. It's a great way to learn more about our units and preview lesson plans and teaching components. Follow along and use hashtag #ExploreEEI to join in on the conversation!

Updates:

 

Teaching About Fire in California

Make sure you don't miss the latest installment of Current Context from our friends at the California History-Social Science Project, available now for free download.  This issue, Our Complicated Relationship with Fire, is the first in a series that includes a focus on the environment.  As Hurricane Harvey has demonstrated once again, human history is inextricably linked to the natural world. "Fire has its own influence and power over us, too, and our history, as well as the Earth's, will always be linked by fire." There is also an accompanying teaching blog which outlines suggested EEI Curriculum units that address the relationship between fire and human history.

Join EEI at the California Science Education Conference

Want to learn how to use EEI Curriculum resources to support environment-based 3D learning? Join us for our session at the CSTA's Science Education Conference in Sacramento on Friday, October 13 @ 2:30p.m. More details to come, including room number. Check back soon on our conference webpage.

Teams Wanted for Environmental Literacy Short Course

The Environmental Literacy Steering Committee is looking for teams of district personnel, administrators, and teachers to participate in a short course at the California Science Education Conference in Sacramento. The course, "Teaching CA NGSS Through Environmental Literacy" will take place on October 14 from 8:20 - 11:30 a.m. Participants will examine classroom examples and will learn how California’s Science Framework connects to the implementation of CA Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), California’s Environmental Principles and Concepts, and environmental literacy. More information here.

Apply for the 2018 Green Ribbon Schools

The California Department of Education is now accepting applications for the U.S. Department of Education's Green Ribbon Schools. This award honors schools and school districts for excellence in resource efficiency, health and wellness, and environmental and sustainability education. Interested applicants should take this brief survey and online application by December 6, 2017.

Environmental Literacy in the News:

Science education inspires PUSD teachers to use the environment as a classroom 

How Environment-Based Learning Encouraged me to Master Next Generation Science Standards

Creec Coordinators Connect Educators to Local Ecosystem

Stanford Analysis Reveals Wide Array of Benefits from Environmental Education

Sacramento High School Teacher Integrates Environmental Literacy into Classroom

Kyle McDaniel is an Earth Science teacher at Grant Union High School in Sacramento. He is integrating environmental literacy into his classroom instruction by using the Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI) curriculum as a foundation for his science classes. 

CalRecycle’s EEI curriculum teaches K-12 science and history-social science through an environmental lens. The EEI curriculum is a model for upcoming science and history-social science textbook adoptions, which are required to integrate environmental principles and concepts. 

McDaniel appreciates the flexibility of the curriculum. “If I’m looking for a two-week curriculum that is self-contained and student-driven, I look at the available units on the subject I’m teaching,” says McDaniel. EEI curriculum spans kindergarten through 12^th grade and includes 6 biology units, 6 earth science units, and 45 history-social science units that incorporate environmental literacy into topics like world history, economics, and American democracy.

McDaniel looks for ways to teach earth science concepts in light of current events. He is currently teaching an EEI curriculum unit on California’s water, titled Liquid Gold: California’s Water. “Water is an important topic in California right now. Students can learn about the political debate around emergency drought water restrictions staying in place. The California drought is so current and so important in their lives.”

McDaniel loves the flexibility of the EEI curriculum. “I print the student reader material and instruct students to take notes on the pages.” McDaniel encourages students to keep their student workbook and take it home with them at the end of the unit.  He allows students to use the reader booklets during tests, too, but he requires that students properly cite their sources. “I wanted a closer alignment between finding information, extracting it, and citing it. Students need to be able to learn how to cite their evidence.”

McDaniel uses the EEI curriculum to take students outside to study their campus environment. Students toured their campus and noted on a map the areas of their school property that had surfaces permeable to water. “I wanted students to analyze how water moves around our campus. After a rainstorm, where does the water flow? Where does pollution end up?” McDaniel also incorporates geometry to help students calculate the surface area of the campus. “There are a lot of topics you can cover with an EEI unit,” says McDaniel. In the coming weeks, students will be using water quality probes to gather water samples from different places in the community to analyze the pH, salinity, and turbidity of water.

McDaniel first heard about the Education and Environment Initiative at the California Education Seminar in Sacramento. “I attended a workshop and met another teacher using it. I learned about the different units and how to use it in my classroom. Since then I’ve taught biology and earth science using EEI,” recalls McDaniel.

If you’d like to learn more about the EEI curriculum please visit CaliforniaEEI.org. Teachers interested in using the curriculum can choose to attend an in-person training or watch a pre-recorded webinar.

This article was originally published in the CalRecycle blog. 

EEI News: Spring Edition

It's hard to believe that we are more than half-way through the school year and spring is just around the corner! This Sunday is Daylight Saving Time so as you move your clock forward (and struggle with losing that hour of extra sleep), grab a cup of coffee, and cozy up to this latest edition of the EEI news.

Lodi Students Learn about California Watershed with the EEI Curriculum

Three years ago, Kathy Grant, the City of Lodi Watershed Program Coordinator, enlisted the help of CalRecycle’s Office of Education and the Environment (OEE) to organize a free teacher professional development program to equip educators with resources to teach students about water. Read more.

EdSource Article Features Environmental Principles & Concepts

In case you missed it! A recent EdSource article entitled "California renews push to promote environmental literacy in schools" featured the Environmental Principles and Concepts and the EEI Curriculum. Read the article here.

Join us at the NSTA Conference in Los Angeles

Planning to attend the National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) conference in LA? We'll be presenting a session entitled, "Using the Environment as a Springboard to Real World 3D Learning" on March 30 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. For more information, please visit our conferences page.

2017 CSTA Conference: Call for Environmental Literacy Workshop Proposals

We are pleased to announce that the 2017 California Science Education Conference will include an environmental literacy strand. Interested educators who can provide teachers with resources that promote environmental literacy and specifically address implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards are encouraged to apply. Applications are due March 20. Learn more.

Parent Feedback Needed on Environment-Based Learning

The statewide Environmental Literacy Steering Committee is seeking parent feedback for a statewide initiative that will bring environment-based learning to all of California’s 6.2 million K–12 students. A facilitated listening session will take place remotely on March 15, 2017 from 7:00–8:30 pm. If you are interested in participating, please sign up here. Parents selected to participate in the session will receive detailed call-in instructions, as well as a $50 gift card as a thank you for their contribution.

Los Angeles Teacher Becomes 10,000th EEI Educator!

When elementary school teacher Hannah Estes sat down at her computer to order “Living Things in Changing Environments” she had no idea she would earn the distinction of becoming the 10,000th teacher to order an EEI Curriculum unit!

Estes, a third grade teacher from Williard F. Payne Elementary in Los Angeles, learned about the EEI by attending a summer teaching institute offered by her school district. 

When asked what convinced her to give the EEI Curriculum a try in her classroom, the veteran teacher of 24 years said she was impressed with the curriculum’s high-quality visuals and how it centers around California.

 “I have a large percentage of English learners in my classroom and they find the content comprehensible and engaging. I was also attracted to the focus on California-based environmental issues and the connections to ELA as well as social studies content standards,” said Estes.

Estes has since received her free copy of “Living Things in Changing Environments” and has used it with her students. She says the EEI Curriculum is fitting nicely into her lesson plans. “The students are very connected to the message that humans and living things cause change to the environment. They look forward to our science lesson every day.”

Take a moment to welcome Hannah into the EEI community by leaving a comment below!