Environmental Water Education- Middle and High School
Program Overview
To
provide clear, concise environmental water education by developing
educational videos and a virtual library of water information that is
communicated in an engaging and interactive means to reach middle to
high school students.
The program will promote environmental
literacy, personal responsibility and stewardship for our environment
and help to foster an understanding of our water crisis.
Program Goal
The
ultimate goal of environmental education is the development of an
environmentally literate citizenry that will be challenged to innovate
solutions to our water problems.
Environmentally literate
individuals understand environmental issues and how environmental
quality is impacted by human decisions. In addition, they use this
knowledge to make informed, well-reasoned choices and take action at a
local level.
Program Objectives
1. Create interactive
program by utilizing digital media and content rich lesson plans to
allow children to gain knowledge and skills to become environmentally
literate young citizens.
2. Develop a virtual library of water
based information that students can interact with to gain knowledge
that they can apply to their own communities. Videos will demonstrate
solution based learning models, real hands on experiences for students
and raise questions for classroom discussions.
3. Build lesson
plans, discussions and processes around each video topic that will
promote stewardship of the environment and challenge children to
problem solve potential solutions. Lesson plans will align with
content standards in science, math and social studies. Interactive
activity guides will be used promote highly level of engagement.
4.
Create challenges ( contests) at the school and community level among
young people to improve water quality, conservation strategies and
mitigate risk by taking action in their own communities to solicit
change. Teachers and students will develop strategies and processes
which will be submitted to share on its website
and virtual library and further education.
5. Promote awareness
of the natural water beauties that we are trying to preserve and
protect by providing unique water learning videos. Encourage children
to make their own videos of water destinations in their own communities
to share with others to post on the website.
6. Nurture skills
that enable students to take action in their own communities through
outreach projects that teachers and students can replicate in their own
water environments to gain hands on learning and problem solving
skills. Motivate students to take skills and apply them to their local
sources.
7. Develop surveys to determine children and teachers
motivations on conservation and preservation before and after video
classes to see if behavior and motivations were changed from extrinsic
to intrinsic.
Education Content and Focus
The guiding
principals and underpinnings of this program’s environmental education
are the belief in lifelong learning, interdisciplinary teaching
and active learning as well as a focus on examining environmental
problems and their possible solutions across varying scales (e.g.,
local to global, present to future).
Major components of
environmental literacy were identified: affect, ecological knowledge,
socio-political knowledge, knowledge of environmental issues, skills,
environmentally responsible behaviors, and determinants of
environmentally responsible behaviors.
Environmental literacy is
predicated on the belief that if we educate our citizens so they are
capable of making quality decisions, they will do so when the time
comes.
The video library and lesson activities will incorporate the following pedagogy:
Strand 1 – Questioning, Analysis and Interpretation Skills
Environmental
literacy depends on learners' ability to ask questions, speculate, and
hypothesize about the world around them, seek information, and develop
answers to their questions. Learners must inquire, mastering
fundamental skills needed to gather and organize information, interpret
and synthesize information, and develop and communicate explanations.
Strand 2 - Knowledge of Water Environmental Processes and Systems
An
important component of environmental literacy is understanding the
processes and systems that comprise our water environment, including
human systems and influences. That understanding is based on knowledge
gained from across traditional disciplines. The understandings in this
section are grouped in sub-categories:
- Overall water crisis and water scarcity;
- Drinking water, sources and potential risks;
- Water Quality;
- Concepts of virtual water and water footprint;
- The living environment and natural systems;
- Water conservation and preservation strategies;
- Understanding where water comes from including watersheds, rivers, lakes and aquifers;
- Humans impact on natural water systems;
- Environment and Society;
- Local action and implications for change in behavior.
Strand 3 - Skills for Understanding and Addressing Environmental Issues
Knowledge
is applied in the context of environmental water issues. These
environmental issues are real-life dramas where differing viewpoints
about environmental problems and their potential solutions are played
out. Environmental literacy includes the abilities to define, learn
about, evaluate, and act on environmental issues. Children will gain a
sense of empowerment over taking actions.
- Skills for analyzing and investigating environmental issues;
- Decision-making and citizenship skills;
- Challenges to innovate and model change in their homes, schools and communities.
Strand 4 - Personal and Civic Responsibility
Environmentally
literate citizens are willing and able to act on their own conclusions
about what should be done to ensure environmental quality. As learners
develop and apply concept-based learning and skills for inquiry,
analysis, and actions, they also understand that what they do
individually and in groups can make a difference.
Delivery
- Concept
based videos that are engaging to teens and provide interactive
components for uploading their own relevant subject matter videos.
Utilize the “You Tube” idea for education;
- Utilizing
real teens in many of these videos, we want to raise awareness and
educate them, while ensuring that the subject matter is delivered in a
fun, engaging and interactive landscape;
- Teens serving as the guides in these short video documentaries where they will tackle subject matter lessons;
- Concept of children teaching children to keep teens interest;
- Web based
learning modules and related videos that are accessible to middle and
high school educators and their student populations that relate to
specific learning goals and cover content areas and water subject
knowledge;
- Classroom
and community activity guides to accompany videos which incorporate
classroom learning standards and promote civic responsibility;
- Showcasing
amazing water destinations and unique water attractions in a geographic
video library that children will be motivated to preserve and protect;
- Demonstrating
how environmental education can be used to meet standards set by the
traditional disciplines and to give students opportunities to
synthesize knowledge and experience across disciplines and domains;
- Defining
the aims of environmental water education to support schools in
becoming more sustainable through implementing practices into their
programs and activities;
- Empowering student population to make positive decisions that impact their immediate surroundings.
Our programs aim to involve students in assessing their school or home
water uses. Classes can carry out a water check-up to get a basic
picture of the school or home water conservation or wastage and to help
them identify a list of possible water conservation actions.
The
check-up will assign their school or home a star rating. This gives a
basic picture of the school or home water use, conservation or wastage
and helps to identify a list of possible water conservation actions.
The next step is to take action! The school that achieves at least 2
water conservation actions from their School or Home Water Check up
will be eligible to enter their school or that student into a national
drawing for scholarships.
Environmental education often begins
close to home, encouraging learners to understand and forge connections
with their immediate surroundings. The environmental awareness,
knowledge, and skills needed for this localized learning provide a
basis for moving out into larger systems, broader issues, and a more
sophisticated comprehension of causes, connections, and consequences
Target Audience
The
program will be directed at children ages 11- 18 and primarily targets
middle to high school school students, teachers, administrators and
families.
The program will seek partnerships with state
environmental agencies, national parks and recreation departments and
other municipalities to be able to incorporate local water issues and
management solutions.
Children involved in lower economic
situations often do not have the same opportunities to learn about
environmental education, therefore this project will first target
Category 1 children and the at risk population of children in middle
and high schools.
Contact our Middle School to High School Education Team
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