by editor | Sep 7, 2025 | Conservation & Sustainability, Critical Thinking, Environmental Literacy, Experiential Learning, Learning Theory, Questioning strategies, Service learning, Sustainability
Empowering Elementary Students through Environmental Service-Learning
by Eileen Merritt, Tracy Harkins and Sara Rimm-Kaufman
“We use electricity when we don’t need to.”
“When we use electricity we use fossil fuels and fossil fuels pollute the air and fossil fuels are nonrenewable.”
“We use too many non-renewable resources to make energy.”
“One problem that we have with the way that we use energy is that we often taken it for granted, leaving lights on when it’s unnecessary, and plugging in chargers without using them.”
“We are literally putting pollution on the blanket of the earth!?”
The problems listed above were identified by fourth grade students in the midst of an environmental service-learning unit. These powerful words, and many similar ideas shared with us by other fourth grade children, show that children care a lot about our planet. They notice when we waste resources, pollute our air, water or land, or cause harm to other living things. Their concerns must be heard, to motivate others to confront the environmental crises that we are facing today. Greta Thunberg has recently demonstrated how powerful one young voice can be, mobilizing people around the world to take action on climate change.
How can educators help students develop skills to be change agents, offering creative and feasible solutions to problems they see around them? Service-learning is one powerful way to build students’ knowledge and skills as they learn about issues that matter to them. Recently, we worked with a group of urban public school teachers to support implementation of environmental service-learning projects in their classrooms. In environmental service-learning, students apply academic knowledge and skills as they work together to address environmental problems. High quality service-learning, according to the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC), provides opportunities for students to have a strong voice in planning, implementing and evaluating projects with guidance from adults and engages students in meaningful and personally relevant service activities that address content standards (NYLC, 2008). We designed Connect Science, a curriculum and professional development program, with these goals in mind (Harkins, Merritt, Rimm-Kaufman, Hunt & Bowers, 2019). As we have analyzed student data from this research study, we have been inspired by the strength of conviction that students conveyed when they spoke about the environment and the creative solutions they generated for problems they noticed. In this article, we describe key elements of lessons that fostered student agency (see Table 1). First, two vignettes below exemplify service-learning projects from two classrooms.
In another classroom, students launched a campaign to reduce the use of disposable plastic containers at their school. They made posters to educate others about single-use plastics, explaining how they were made from petroleum (see Figure 1). Students and teachers in their school were encouraged to take a pledge to use reusable water bottles, containers and utensils in their lunches. Sign-up sheets were placed near posters around the school. Several hundred people took the pledge.
What both groups have in common is that they participated in a science unit about energy and natural resources. In the first part of the unit, they discovered problems as they learned about different energy sources and how these energy sources produce electricity. They began to recognize that fossil fuels that are used for transportation, electricity production and plastic products, and that their use causes some problems. This awareness motivated them to take action. Later in the unit, each class honed in on a specific problem that they cared about and chose a solution. Below, we summarize steps taken throughout the unit that empowered students.
1 Choose an environmental topic and help students build knowledge
Students need time to develop a deep understanding of the content and issues before they choose a problem and solution. Many topics are a good fit for environmental service-learning. Just identify an environmental topic in your curriculum. Our unit centered around NGSS core idea ESS3A: How do humans depend on earth’s resources? (National Research Council, 2012). Students participated in a series of lessons designed to help them understand energy concepts and discover resource-related problems. These lessons can be found on our project website: connectscience.org/lessons. Fourth grade students are capable of understanding how the energy and products they use impact the planet (Merritt, Bowers & Rimm-Kaufman, 2019), so why not harness their energy for the greater good?
There are many other science concepts from NGSS that can be addressed through environmental service-learning. For example, LS4.D is about biodiversity and humans, and focuses on the central questions: What is biodiversity, how do humans affect it, and how does it affect humans? Environmental service-learning can be used to address College, Career and Civic Life (C3) standards from dimension 4, taking informed action such as D4.7 (grades 3-5): Explain different strategies and approaches students and others could take in working alone and together to address local, regional, and global problems, and predict some possible results of their actions (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013). Language arts and mathematics standards can also be taught and applied within a service-learning unit.
2 Generate a list of related problems that matter to students
Partway through the unit, each class started a list of problems to consider for further investigation. Collecting or listing problems that kids care about is an effective way to get a pulse on what matters to students. Fourth graders’ concerns fit into three broad categories:
• Pollution (air, water or land)
People need to stop littering. Before you even throw everything on the floor, think about it in your head… should I recycle, reuse? I can probably reuse this…
• Not causing harm to people, animals or the environment
Plastic bags suffocate animals.
• Wasting resources (e.g. electricity, natural resources or money)
If people waste energy, then their bill will get high and it will just be a waste of money.
Co-creating a visible list for students to see and think about legitimizes their concerns and may help them develop a sense of urgency to take action.
3 Collectively identify an important problem
The next step was for students to choose ONE problem for the upcoming service-learning project. Each teacher read the list of problems aloud, and students could cast three votes for the problems that they cared about the most. They could cast all 3 votes for one problem, or distribute their votes. Most teachers used this process to narrow in on one problem for their class to address. One teacher took it a step further by allowing small groups to work on different problems. Either way, allowing students to CHOOSE the problem they want to work on fueled their motivation for later work on solutions. Different classes honed in on problems such as wasting electricity, single-use plastics, foods being transported a long distance when they could be grown locally, and lack of recycling in their communities.
4 Explore possible solutions and teach decision-making skills
Students were introduced to three different ways that citizens can take action and create change. They can work directly on a problem, educate others in the community about the issue or work to influence decision-makers on policy to address the problem. They broadened their perspective on civic engagement as they brainstormed solution ideas in each of these categories. After deciding to work on the problem of lights left on when not in use, one class generated the following list of possibilities for further investigation (see Figure 2)
After considering ways to have an impact, students were ready to narrow in on a solution. Teachers introduced students to three criteria for a good solution. This critical step provides students with decision-making skills, and helps them take ownership of their solution. Our fourth graders considered the following guiding questions in a decision-making matrix:
- Is the solution going to have a positive impact on our problem?
- Is the solution feasible?
- Do you care a lot about this? (Is it important to the group?)
At times, this process prompted further research to help them really consider feasibility. Of course, teachers needed to weigh in too, since ultimately they were responsible for supporting students as they enact solutions. When discussing impact, it’s important to help students understand that they don’t have to SOLVE the problem—the goal is to make progress or have an impact, however small.
While many groups chose the same problem, each class designed their own unique solution. Most focused on educating others about the topic that mattered to them, using a variety of methods: videos, posters, announcements, presentations to other students or administrators, and an energy fair for other members of the school community. The process of educating others about an issue can help consolidate learning (Hattie & Donoghue, 2016). Some groups took direct action in ways such as improving the school recycling program or getting others to pledge to use less electronics or less plastic (as described above). These direct actions are very concrete to upper elementary school children since impacts are often more visible.
5 Support students as they enact solutions
Social and emotional skills were addressed throughout the unit. During project implementation, teachers supported students as they applied those skills. Students developed self-management skills by listing tasks, preparing timelines and choosing roles to get the job done. At the end of the unit, students reflected on the impact that they made, and what they could do to have a larger impact. One group of students noticed that every single student in their class switched from plastic to reusable water bottles. Another student felt that their class had convinced people not to waste electricity. Some groups recognized that their solution wasn’t perfect, and wished they could have done more. For elementary students, it’s important to emphasize that any positive change makes a difference. Critical thinking skills develop when students can compare solutions and figure out which ones work the best and why. The instructional strategies described in this article have been used by educators across grade levels and subjects for other service-learning projects, and can be adapted for different purposes (KIDS Consortium, 2011).
Student-designed solutions yield deeper learning
One challenge that teachers faced when implementing environmental service-learning was that it took time to work on projects after the core disciplinary lessons, and curriculum maps often try to fast forward learning. Deeper learning occurred when teachers carved out time for service-learning projects, allowing students to apply what they know to a problem that mattered to them. There are always tradeoffs between breadth and depth, but ultimately students will remember lessons learned through experiences where they worked on a challenging problem and tried their own solution. School leaders can work with teachers to support them in finding time for deeper learning experiences. The students that we worked with cared a lot about protecting organisms and ecosystems, conserving resources and reducing pollution. They had many wonderful ideas for solutions that involved direct action, education or policy advocacy. For example, one student suggested the following solution for overuse of resources, “Go out and teach kids about animals losing homes and people polluting the world.” The voices of children around the country can be amplified through civic engagement initiatives such as environmental service-learning. Citizens of all ages are needed to actively engage in work toward solutions for climate change. Why not help them begin in elementary years?
References
Harkins, T., Merritt, E., Rimm-Kaufman, S.E., Hunt, A. & Bowers, N. (2019). Connect Science. Unpublished Manual. Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia, Arizona State University & Harkins Consulting, LLC.
Hattie, J. A. & Donoghue, G. M. (2016). Learning strategies: A synthesis and conceptual model. Science of Learning, 1, 1-13.
KIDS Consortium. (2011). KIDS as planners: A guide to strengthening students, schools and communities through service-learning. Waldoboro, ME: KIDS Consortium.
Merritt, E., Bowers, N. & Rimm-Kaufman, S. (2019). Making connections: Elementary students’ ideas about electricity and energy resources. Renewable Energy, 138, 1078-1086.
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). (2013). The college, career, and civic life (C3) framework for social studies state standards: Guidance for enhancing the rigor of K-12 civics, economics, geography, and history. Silver Spring, Md.: NCSS. Accessible online at www.socialstudies.org/C3.
National Research Council. (2012). A framework for K-12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts and core ideas. Committee on a Conceptual Framework for New K-12 Science Education Standards. Board on Science Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
National Youth Leadership Council. (2008). K-12 service-learning standards for quality practice. St. Paul, MN: NYLC.
Acknowledgements:
The research described in this article was funded by a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education (R305A150272). The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the funding agency. We are grateful to the educators, students and colleagues who shared their ideas throughout the project.
Eileen Merritt is a research scientist in the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation at Virginia Tech and former Assistant Professor in Teacher Preparation at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University. She developed her passion for environmental education along the banks of the Rivanna River with her students at Stone-Robinson Elementary. She can be reached at egmerritt@vt.edu.
Tracy Harkins, of Harkins Consulting LLC, works nationally guiding educational change. Tracy provides service-learning professional development and resources to educators to engage and motivate student learners. https://www.harkinsconsultingllc.com/
Sara E. Rimm-Kaufman is a Professor of Education in Educational Psychology – Applied Developmental Science at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. She conducts research on social and emotional learning in elementary and middle school classrooms to provide roadmaps for administrators and teachers making decisions for children.
by editor | Sep 7, 2025 | Critical Thinking, Environmental Literacy, Experiential Learning, Learning Theory, Sustainability
Environment, Literacy, and the Common Core
by Nancy Skerritt and Margaret Tudor, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT: This article describes how Common Core ELA standards provide an important opportunity to build background knowledge on environmental topics in preparation for a deeper study of those topics through science performance tasks guided by the Next Generation Science Standards Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI’s).
GRADE LEVEL: K-8
The Common Core ELA standards demand a level of rigor that will challenge many students. Unlike previous curriculum reforms that were content specific, the Common Core expectations involve the integration of skills across content areas including social studies, science and language arts. Students must apply reading, writing, research, and speaking and listening to content provided through articles, speeches and videos. The new performance tasks that are a key component of Smarter Balanced assessment system require research skills, note-taking abilities, and the difficult challenge of synthesizing ideas into well-written essays or speeches that explain or advocate.
In order to engage students in these rigorous expectations, teachers must find rich content for the students to explore. Environmental issues provide relevant topics and complex problems that invite analysis and research. Students can practice and apply the ELA expectations using topics related to our environment. Resources supporting environmental issues are readily available on line in the form of articles, videos, and speeches. In addition, students can gather relevant data through outdoor learning experiences, a unique benefit to this content area. Teachers can structure rich and relevant investigations that mirror performance tasks on the new assessments, using the environment as a context for learning.
Designing a Performance Task
Let’s visit a grade three elementary classroom where the children have been studying the life cycle of the salmon including how to preserve and protect water quality and quantity so that salmon can continue to survive. After visiting a local fish hatchery, the students illustrate the life stages of salmon, monitor their own water consumption, and create a rule that they can enact at school to preserve and protect water. In addition, they visit a local creek to view the salmon first hand, appreciating their beauty and endurance. How might the Common Core ELA standards support the learning in this unit? What might students research, what issue might they weigh in on, and what product might they create—an essay or a speech?
The new performance assessments are designed to measure proficiency in reading, writing, research and speaking and listening. The students are given a scenario that is grounded in a real world context. Then they acquire knowledge of the topic or issue by reading pre- selected articles and watching chosen videos. The students are expected to take notes on the information provided, keeping in mind the task that they are given in the scenario.
Here’s how this might play out in our elementary classroom. The students are provided with this scenario:
You have been asked to explain why salmon need clean water to survive. You will read an article and watch a video that provides you with information about the needs of salmon for their survival. You will take notes on the articles and the video, writing an informational essay explaining why salmon need clean water to survive.
Students read the article provided, preferably on the computer since all of the new assessments will be delivered using technology. Students will work in an entirely online environment so must learn how to navigate websites, read material on a computer screen, and compose their essays using a keyboard. For our hypothetical Salmon task, reading and viewing material might include the following:
Article #1: Short piece explaining the salmon’s need for clean water. Video #1: Showing pollution in our waters and its effects on salmon.
Scoring Performance Tasks: Research Skills and Writing Rubrics
All performance tasks include research questions that require the students to draw information from the multiple sources in preparation for writing an essay or speech. These questions are measuring specific research skills.
The research skills include the following:
- The ability to locate information
- The ability to select the best information including distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information and facts from opinions.
- The ability to provide sufficient evidence to support opinions expressed
Rubrics are provided for each of the three skills and are used for scoring student responses.
Here are some example research questions that link to our salmon task:
According to the video, what are two important steps we can take to preserve and protect our salmon? Use details from the video to support your answer. (Locating Information)
Which source, the video or the article, best helps you understand the needs of salmon? Use details from both sources to support your answer. (Selecting the best information)
Based on the reading and the video, what do you think is the one most important thing we could do to protect our salmon? Use details from both sources to support your answer. (Using sufficient evidence)
Students write their responses to the research questions using the notes that they have taken while reading the article or viewing the video. They submit their answers for scoring and on a second day, proceed to part two of the assessment.
Part two involves writing an essay or outlining and delivering a speech. The Common Core ELA requires that students be skilled in their ability to write in three different modes: informative/explanatory, opinion/argumentative, and narrative.
Students must also be able to outline and deliver a speech on a given topic. In our elementary grades salmon task example, students might be given the following prompt:
You have been asked to write an informational essay where you share what salmon need to survive. Use information from both the article and the video to support your ideas.
To demonstrate the CC ELA writing standards, students must use information from the various sources, clearly summarizing their information with text-based evidence.
Background knowledge is not a factor when scoring these essays. Students must cite text-based evidence to support their ideas, not prior knowledge from other sources. Essays are scored using a five trait rubric. Close reading of text is paramount in the ELA CC standards.
Scenario-Based Problems
Performance tasks require students to engage with a scenario-based problem, research information presented in various media, extract key ideas from the information, answer research questions, and compose an essay or speech that presents their original opinions and ideas supported by text based evidence. Task developers follow a specific template when creating performance assessments. The template includes identifying a plausible scenario, locating appropriate source material, designing research questions and structuring an essay or speech that synthesizes information from the research.
Selecting the content for these tasks is critical for the content must be relevant and problem based. Students practice and apply career and college ready skills including critical thinking and analysis. Topics connected to the environment provide real-world scenarios that can capture the interests of our students.
Here are some examples of Environment focused Performance Tasks that the Pacific Education Institute has developed for K-12 teachers to assign to their students:
Healthy Waters: How do water treatment plants work and why are they important?
SOS: Saving Our Sound: What can we do to improve the health of the Puget Sound?
Stormwater Engineering: How do engineers solve problems linked to storm water runoff?
Earth Day: What is the history behind the environmental movement and how has this movement influenced legislation today?
Ocean Acidification: What can we do to ensure the survival of our shellfish?
Field Experiences and Performance Tasks
Field experiences, an important component of environmental education, can be part of a performance assessments, either embedded in the assessment itself or as a follow up activity. Students can enhance their knowledge acquired through text-based research with knowledge gained in a systematic way through direct experience. Scenarios may be developed that incorporate outdoor learning experiences where students reinforce their understanding of the topic provided through direct observation and data gathering. In our salmon example, students could be prompted to take pictures on their field experiences to the fish hatchery and to the local stream, providing visual images of the salmon to support their text-based evidence. These photos can serve as primary source material when students compose their essays or outline their speeches.
Much has been written and created regarding sustainability issues. Teachers can select a topic appropriate to their grade level curriculum and locality, compose a scenario that is directly relevant to the student, and identify source material for student engagement. They can also incorporate outdoor learning experiences that enhance understanding, promote enthusiasm for the environment, and add to their knowledge base. By designing performance tasks using the environment as the context for learning, students work with relevant information, learn about the challenges we face, and form opinions at a young age that will guide their future thinking and civic involvement.
Democracies, for their survival, demand an informed electorate. Environmental issues may be the most critical issues our children will face. We can accomplish two important goals by linking performance assessments to sustainability education. One goal is to teach and practice the ELA skills that the students will need to be career and college ready. The second and equally important goal is the ability to form reasoned judgments about environmental issues. By connecting the Common Core ELA standards to the environment, students benefit on two fronts: Acquiring both environmental literacy and literacy in English Language Arts.
Our children face crucial decisions regarding a sustainable future. Their knowledge base, critical thinking skills, and ability to effectively communicate are keys to informed decision-making. We must educate our children to effectively read, write, research, speak and listen. They need to think critically and creatively in order to solve the complex problems we face.
Let’s make content choices for our curriculum that are meaningful today and into the future. Nothing is more relevant, engaging, and crucial than issues related to preserving and protecting our environment.
Nancy Skerritt is an educational consultant after 22 years as a classroom teacher in the Tahoma School District in Washington.
Margaret Tudor is the founder and director of Pacific Education Institute.
by editor | Sep 5, 2025 | Climate Change & Energy, Conservation & Sustainability, Critical Thinking, Data Collection, Environmental Literacy
Integrating Watershed Science in High School Classrooms
The Confluence Project Approach
High school students in northern Idaho learn about watersheds and the impacts of climate change through an intensive field science program that aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards.
by Audrey Squires, Jyoti Jennewein, Mary Engels,
Dr. Brant Miller and Dr. Karla Eitel
“It’s not just because I personally love snow and skiing and snowshoeing and all that. It’s not just because I love to teach science outdoors in the field. It’s not even just because I value connecting my students with real scientists every chance I get. It’s honestly not any one of these particular things alone that has made the Snow Science field trip the absolute favorite part of my Environmental Science curriculum over the last four years. Instead, it’s the simple notion that for this generation of teenagers in the Inland Northwest, the impacts of climate change on the hydrology of snow within our watershed might be the most valuable social, economic, and ecological topic to cover in the entire school year. Snow is the backbone of our way of life in North Idaho, and the sense of awareness and empowerment my students develop as a result of this Confluence Project three-lesson unit is absolutely critical for their growth and progress as young adults heading into the 21st century.”
– The Confluence Project Teacher,
Advanced Placement Environmental Science
Clean water matters, immensely, to all of us. We desperately need education that promotes deep understanding of how water is important to students. Fortunately, water as a theme is easily incorporated into numerous scientific disciplines. From the basics of the water cycle in foundational science courses to the complexities of cellular processes in advanced biology; and from energy forecasting with anticipated snow melt in economics to the nuances of water as a solute in chemistry, water is foundational to a variety of subjects and can be incorporated into the learning objectives with a little creativity and willingness to step outside the box.
Over the past three years in high schools across Northern Idaho we have been working to develop a water based curriculum that has the flexibility to be used in many types of classroom, and that provides students with firsthand experience with water and water related issues in their local watershed. The Confluence Project (TCP) connects high school students to their local watersheds through three field investigations that take place throughout an academic year. These field investigations are designed to integrate place-based educational experiences with science and engineering practices, and focus on three themes: (1) water quality, (2) water quantity, and (3) water use in local landscapes. During these field investigations, students actively collect water, snowpack, and soil data and learn to analyze and interpret these data to the ‘big picture’ of resource quality and availability in their communities.
Before each field investigation, students are exposed to the pertinent disciplinary core ideas in class (National Research Council [NRC], 2011; NGSS Lead States, 2013), explore issues present at field sites, read relevant scientific articles, and learn field data collection techniques. Students then collect data in the field with support from resource professionals. After each field investigation, students analyze their data and use the results to discuss how to solve ecological issues they may have encountered. Adults guide students through this process at the beginning, with the goal that students will develop the necessary skillset to conduct independent, community-based, water-centric research projects by the end of the academic year (Figure 1). Students are ultimately challenged to creatively communicate their research projects, including both the scientific results and their proposed solutions to environmental issues encountered in their watershed, at a regional youth research conference (e.g. Youth Water Summit).
Originally created to serve as a sustainable method to continue outreach efforts from a National Science Foundation Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) grant (Rittenburg et al., 2015), the development of TCP coincided with the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (NGSS Lead States, 2013). With a strong emphasis on science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and coherent progressions (Reiser, 2013), the TCP model closely aligns with these new standards. Given that much of the curriculum developed for the older National Science Education Standards is content-focused (NRC, 1996), TCP fits the need to create curriculum that includes opportunities for students to explain how and why phenomena occur and to develop the critical thinking skills associated with scientific investigations.
Pedagogical Framework
Sobel (1996) wrote that “authentic environmental commitment emerges out of first hand experiences with real place on a small, manageable scale” (p. 39). In TCP, authentic learning often emerges as students engage in first-hand exploration. Using the local watershed as a lens for field investigations enables students to connect with their landscapes and develop new depths of understanding of the world around them. By connecting students’ lived experiences and local landscapes with scientific information we are able to generate a unique learning setting, which in turn sparks continued interest in exploring the familiar from a new perspective. As one student from the 2015-16 program wrote:
This localized learning approach is often referred to as place-based education (PBE), which engages students in learning that utilizes the context of the local environment (Sobel, 1996; Smith, 2002). PBE seeks to connect students to local knowledge, wisdom, and traditions while providing an authentic context to engage students in meaningful learning within their everyday lives.
TCP also uses a project-based learning (PBL) approach (Bell, 2010) to help students frame the field investigations and the subsequent analysis and interpretation of collected data as foundations for their own research projects. These practices emphasize student construction of meaningful and usable scientific concepts and, perhaps more importantly, relating these concepts to their own lived experience. For example, one student wrote the following reflection after a class water quantity field investigation:
These types of reflections demonstrate an internalization of curriculum unit topics, which in turn motivates students to continue learning.
Importantly, PBE and PBL are used as frameworks to align lessons with the NGSS. The pedagogical features of PBL match well with the eight science and engineering practices at the core of the NGSS framework, which include: (1) asking questions and defining problems; (2) developing and using models; (3) planning and carrying out investigations; (4) analyzing and interpreting data; (5) using mathematics and computational thinking; (6) constructing explanations and designing solutions; (7) engaging in argument from evidence; and (8) obtaining, evaluating and communicating information (Bybee, 2011). In TCP, these pedagogical approaches provide a meaningful context for students to engage in developing understandings of disciplinary core ideas, while the curriculum creates new, effective ways to enact the NGSS.
Empirical evaluation of student learning in the program (Squires et al., under review) indicates that after participation in TCP, students expressed greater concern for local ecological issues, recognized the efficacy of science as a tool to address environmental issues in their communities, and were more engaged in science when PBE and PBL pedagogies were used.
Project Implementation
“Yesterday my entomology class went to a local creek to study the bugs and life around it. It was really cool to fish a lot of bugs out of the water. We got lots of benthic macroinvertebrates such as a mayfly (dragonfly), damselflies, all in different instars (sic) [stages of growth] …. We tested the pH of the water, the transparency of the water, and the dissolved oxygen in it…This was really a fun project, it was great getting all of the bugs I’ve been learning about and it was really cool to use my knowledge about them… I suggest that anyone should go and do this, you could learn a lot about your region’s water quality.”
–TCP Entomology Student
TCP curriculum aligns with several Performance Expectations and Disciplinary Core Ideas from the NGSS (Table 1), and can also easily adjust to fit within multiple courses. TCP curriculum has been incorporated into less flexible, standards-driven courses like Biology and Chemistry, as well as more flexible courses like Environmental Science, Entomology, and Earth Science. While each class participates in the same three units (water quality, water quantity, and water use), teachers tailor these units to the learning objectives of their courses.
For example, environmental science teachers have been able to tie the water quantity unit to global climate change, land and resource use, and local economics. Students analyzed collected snowpack data to determine how much water would be available in their watershed for growing crops and sustaining lake and river-based tourism economies. They also compared their data to historical figures to understand how climate change has impacted water availability in their watershed over the past several decades.
By contrast, TCP biology teachers have successfully incorporated TCP units as part of their yearlong curriculum aligned with rigorous biology standards. For example, as part of the water use unit one teacher discussed sustainable water use in an agriculture setting by focusing on concepts like plant growth and cellular function. Other teachers have presented photosynthesis, primary productivity, and fisheries biology during the water quality unit, and speciation, biodiversity, and habitat as core topics during the water quantity unit.
Even in very specialized science classes there is room to engage with this curriculum. For example, one entomology teacher was able to highlight the role of macroinvertebrates as indicators of stream health when teaching the water quality unit. He taught students insect characteristics, discussed growth and metamorphism, and then showed students how to tie flies in order to solidify that knowledge in a unique, hands-on way. The class then visited a stream near their school to identify macroinvertebrates and learn their importance in evaluating water quality. Last but not least, TCP curriculum was designed for the potential of cross-course collaboration, which gives students the opportunity to apply and link concepts and skills learned in science class to their other courses while developing critical thinking skills. Several program teachers have collaborated with colleagues in their schools to integrate content across disciplines and open students’ eyes to interdisciplinary study.
Connecting with local professionals
The most valuable thing that we learned on our field trip to [the restoration site] was learning about the processes that were taken to restore the creek, and why they did it… We think that this field trip has shaped our understanding of these careers by actually experiencing the job and their daily tasks that can do good to the environment (sic). Following the field trip, we can say that we have a better understanding of just how time consuming and difficult the process of restoration in an area such as [the restoration site] can be. –TCP student water quality field investigation post trip reflection
Teachers often struggle to plan activities beyond the day-to-day classroom lessons, which is one reason why local professionals and leaders are an essential facet of TCP. Agency scientists, Tribal land managers, and graduate students provide scientific support to teachers and students during field investigations, in-class pre- and post-lessons, and final research projects. This gives students an opportunity to collaborate with and learn from specialists and practicing scientists in their communities, allowing the students to gain experience carrying out science and engineering practices alongside experts. In addition, students learn about career opportunities and restoration efforts in their local watersheds from TCP partners.
Examples of past TCP partners include universities (extension, graduate students, and professors); Tribes (environmental agencies and Elders); state agencies (environmental quality and fish and game); federal agencies (Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Avalanche Center); and local organizations (environmental nonprofits, homeowner’s associations, and ski resorts).
Since these collaborations are critical to the success of TCP program we have developed a Reaching Out to Potential Partners checklist to help teachers contact and recruit community partners. The checklist helps teachers develop a coherent narrative to use with busy professionals which highlights the mutual benefits of collaboration.
Keeping costs to a minimum
Admittedly, implementation requires some capital investment to cover essential program costs such as busing, substitute teachers, and field equipment. However, these costs can be minimized with some creative organization. Multiple TCP schools have been able to eliminate busing costs by using streams near or on school property. Supportive administrators can creatively minimize substitute teacher costs (in one case the principal agreed to cover the class instead). Field equipment is certainly necessary to collect data (see Resources), but the equipment required may potentially be borrowed from agencies or university partners. A classroom supply budget or a small grant from the booster club or other local organization can also help cover such costs and build supplies over several academic years. While regional youth research conferences, such as the Youth Water Summit are excellent ways to motivate students, it is possible to get the research benefits without the associated costs. We suggest inviting partners and other local experts to attend research project presentations at school. This way students can still benefit from external feedback as well as gain research and presentation skills.
Conclusion
TCP has provided a valuable framework for school-wide exploration of local water-related issues. TCP provides hands-on, place-based and problem-based learning while addressing key Next Generation Science Standards and preparing students for the kind of inter-disciplinary problem solving that will be increasingly necessary to address the complex challenges being our students will face as they become the workforce and citizens of the future.
Resources
The full TCP curriculum including lessons, standard alignment, field trip planning, and other recommendations can be found at: http://bit.ly/2cNdNIm
Interested in learning more from the TCP’s leadership team? Contact us at theconfluenceproject@uidaho.edu
Acknowledgements
A program like this requires dedicated and creative teacher and program partners. Without the enthusiastic commitment of our past and present teachers and partners TCP would never have been actualized. We’d like to thank Rusti Kreider, Jamie Esler, Cindy Rust, Kat Hall, Laura Laumatia, Jim Ekins, and Marie Pengilly for their aid in program design and implementation, as well as for continued programmatic effort and support. Furthermore, thank you to Matt Pollard, Jen Pollard, and Robert Wolcott; along with graduate students Paris Edwards, Courtney Cooper, Meghan Foard, Karen Trebitz, Erik Walsh, and Sarah Olsen for your dedication to TCP implementation. In addition, we would like to acknowledge funding from the NSF GK-12 program grant #0841199 and an EPA Environmental Education grant #01J05401.
Audrey Squires, Jyoti Jennewein and Mary Engels are past program managers of TCP. Squires is currently the Restoration Projects Manager for Middle Fork Willamette Watershed Council while Jennewein and Engels are PhD students at the University of Idaho (UI). Dr. Brant Miller, UI science education faculty, was the Principal Investigator of the EPA grant that funded TCP in 2015-16. Dr. Karla Eitel is a faculty member and Director of Education at the McCall Outdoor Science School, a part of the UI College of Natural Resources.
References
Bell, S. (2010). Project-based learning for the 21st century: Skills for the future. The Clearing House, 83(2), 39-43.
Bybee, R. W. (2011). Scientific and engineering practices in K–12 classrooms: Understanding a framework for K–12 science education. The Science Teacher, 78 (9), 34–40.
NGSS Lead States. (2013). Next Generation Science Standards: For states, by states. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
National Research Council. (1996). National Science Education Standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
National Research Council. (2011). A framework for K-12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), 2013. Disciplinary Core Ideas in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Final Release. http://nstahosted.org/pdfs/ngss/20130509/matrixofdisciplinarycoreideasinngss-may2013.pdf Accessed 22 April 2016.
Reiser, B. J. (2013). What professional development strategies are needed for successful implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards? Paper presented at the Invitational Research Symposium on Science Assessment. Washington, DC.
Rittenburg, R.A., Miller, B.G., Rust, C., Kreider, R., Esler, J., Squires, A.L., Boylan, R.D. (2015). The community connection: Engaging students and community partners in project-based science. The Science Teacher, 82(1), 47-52.
Smith, G. A. (2002). Place-based education: Learning to be where we are. The Phi Delta Kappan, 83 (8), 84–594.
Sobel, D. (1996). Beyond ecophobia: Reclaiming the heart in nature education (No. 1). Orion Society.
Squires, A., Jennewein, J., Miller, B. G., Engels, M., Eitel, K. B. (under review). The Confluence Approach: Enacting Next Generation Science Standards to create scientifically literate citizens.
by editor | Sep 2, 2025 | Critical Thinking, Learning Theory, STEM, Teaching Science, Technology
by Kathryn Davis
According to the United Nations, each year enough plastic is thrown away to circle the earth four times, and these plastics can take over 1000 years to degrade! Sobering facts such as these and images illustrating the devastating effect of plastic waste on wildlife can leave many feeling paralyzed and hopeless.
While there are startling examples of the negative impact humans have had on the earth, there are also stories of innovation and incredible problem solving. I shared with my students the story of the engineer in India who created edible utensils, replacing plastic forks and knives with cutlery that is both delicious and eco-friendly, and the graduate student designing biodegradable clamshell containers from actual clamshells. I want my students to be inspired by these stories, and to feel hopeful that through human innovation and design, we can begin to tackle problems and make changes that can alter our current environmental trajectory.
This is why I’m so excited about the Engineering Design Performance Standards from the NGSS. These standards are the perfect way for students to learn how to design solutions to real problems we face as a society. Often in science classes we bring awareness to issues such as climate change and pollution, but we may fail to arm students with the tools they’ll need to design solutions to these problems. Engineering provides these tools and is also a way to engage even the most reluctant students. This year, I’m working with a group of high school students who have been unsuccessful in science in the past, and I was looking for a new way to help them connect with their learning.
Why Are We Learning This?
When I was introduced to Science and Innovation — The Boeing Company and Teaching Channel collaboration — through my work with the Tch NextGen Science Squad, I couldn’t wait to test drive the engineering-focused units with my own students. The ten units are geared toward middle school, the “sweet spot” for curriculum development. This curriculum can be easily adapted to fit both elementary and high school needs as well, by making modifications that will serve your students where they are academically.
I chose the Polymers for the Planet unit because it had a direct connection to what my students were already learning about photosynthesis, yet provided a real world application. In this unit, students use biopolymers (starches) to develop and test a bioplastic. Yes, we’ve all learned that plants make food, but what else can we do with those glucose molecules? What useful products can be developed from the starches created by plants? And how can this help solve a major environmental problem?
This unit allows me to answer that ever-present question in the classroom: Why are we learning this? How does this apply to my life?
I reached out to Jessica Levine, one of the authors of the curriculum and the teacher highlighted in the unit’s accompanying Polymers video, for tips and suggestions. She brought to my attention a great number of resources highlighting the environmental impact of plastics that allowed me to provide my students with some much-needed perspective on the state of our environment. It was so helpful to be able to reach out to her via Teaching Channel, and later to chat on the phone, exchanging ideas for how to best teach this unit.
Considerations For My Students
With any curriculum, teachers will always consider the unique needs of their students. Here are a few things I had to consider about my high school sophomores:
• The majority of my class is considered “at-risk,” in addition to being comprised of a high percentage of special education students and English language learners
• Collecting and analyzing data is challenging and they lack experience
• Using mathematical operations to analyze data will be difficult
• My students have reading skills that are at or below the eighth grade level
Conclusion: My students need a lot of scaffolding!
In order to scaffold, I provided tools to help my students “read to learn,” including an anticipation guide and Frayer model to guide them as they read about bioplastics. These strategies helped my students focus on what they already knew about the topic before reading, and then directed their attention to specific details while reading for background information. Instead of the provided notebook materials from the downloadable Polymers for the Planet unit plan, students continued to work in their classroom interactive notebook, where we recorded vocabulary, formulas, and data throughout the project.
We used the engineering design process diagram to keep us focused throughout the project. Each day we revisited this image and talked about where we were in the process, and where we were going next.
The CER Framework
Arguing from evidence using the CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) format is another new aspect of the NGSS Science and Engineering practices. To help my students, I provided graphic organizers to record their evidence, and used sentence frames to guide their reasoning to support a claim for their redesign. The opportunity for students to use evidence to drive their redesign was powerful — this process helped to solidify for them the importance of using data to drive decisions. After their prototypes were tested, they were eager to find out which formulas yielded the best results, and used this information to make new iterations to their design.
Surprising Outcomes
Here’s what we’ve discovered so far:
• When testing tensile strength of the bioplastics, the testing setup failed due to the large amount of weight that the plastics were able to withstand. This led to students engineering and redesigning the test itself! When the provided protocol failed them, they came up with creative solutions and collaborated in ways that I haven’t previously observed. When one group observed another struggling with the same issues, they collaborated to build new solutions and test ideas.
• Of course, not all of the bioplastics were easy to test for various reasons. But because students had a sense of ownership and wanted to test the product they designed, the level of problem solving I observed was far beyond that in previous lab activities. The students were motivated to test and gather data for their samples, and figured out how to make this possible, with very little help from me.
• I saw opportunities for individual students to shine who didn’t usually do so in class. One particular student became a creative problem solver and designed multiple ways to test tensile strength. He also helped other groups, showing an interest in class that I hadn’t previously seen.
We’re now at the stage of putting it all together. Students are creating presentations, and in an effort to motivate them to do their best, I’ve invited other adults (teachers, administrators, instructional assistants) to serve as an authentic audience to view the students’ presentations about their engineering design process. Wish them luck!
Kathryn Davis is a science teacher at Hood River Valley High School in Hood River, Oregon. She has been teaching science for 13 years. Kathryn is a Stanford graduate, Teach For America Bay Area alumni, and Amgen Biotechnology Experience teacher. She is currently working as a Professional Growth Coach for her school district and is excited to be a part of Teaching Channel’s Tch Next Gen Science Squad. Connect with her on Twitter: @biokathryn.
by editor | Sep 1, 2025 | At-risk Youth, Critical Thinking, Experiential Learning, K-12 Activities, Schoolyard Classroom
by Abigail Harding and Corwyn Ellison
“We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience.”
-—John Dewey
When we walk silently in the forest we allow ourselves to deepen our connection and strengthen our appreciation for the natural world. Suddenly, we hear animals unfamiliar to us, and observe natural phenomena we never stopped to notice. Exposure to the natural world and reflection is beneficial to physical and mental well-being. The psychological power of a reflective solo walk is astounding—so much so that conscious reflective thought has been shown to change the very structure of our brains.1 Experience-based learning is more powerful when coupled with reflection. Reflection is defined as an intentional effort to observe, synthesize, abstract and articulate the key learnings gathered from an experience.2 When implemented intentionally, solo walks provide a context in which both experiential education and mindfulness converge for the benefit of student learning.
A solo walk is a relatively simple concept: an individual walks alone on a trail or perhaps through the neighborhood to connect, reflect or reason through an event, emotions, or anything else that comes up during that time. It is not novel, but can be revolutionary for the individual participating in it. Using solo walks to introduce observation and reflections skills to students is not only effective in learning, but also important in connecting with themselves, the community, and the environment. In this article we will provide a framework for conducting solo walks with students in natural settings.
What is a solo walk?
A solo walk is an independent, thought-provoking walk through a relatively isolated area. A key goal of a solo walk is to practice observational skills and promote critical thinking, and introspective thought in students. This is accomplished through both the solo walk itself, and reflective journaling and debriefing after. During the walk students are guided both in their direction on the trail and mindful awareness by cards spaced ten to twenty feet apart on the ground. The cards may include a topical quote, a prompt for journaling or action, a direction, or perhaps a question to ponder. These cards can be customized and adjusted to suit the needs of the students and to meet learning goals. Common categories for cards include introduction/closing, thought-provoking questions/quotes, observation/sensory prompts, directional signs, and anything in between. For example, a card may say, “Stop here until you hear two bird songs” or “Where was this boulder 100 years ago? 1,000 years ago?”
How do you do a solo walk?
A non-complex trail or route should be chosen ahead of time. To avoid confusion, a card indicating direction of travel should be placed at all junctions the students encounter during their walk. A typical trail length is approximately ¼ mile. Two instructors or adults are necessary for the solo walk. The process and implementation should be discussed ahead of time. Students begin by gathering at the head of the route. Instructor A will introduce the solo walk as a reflective activity and play a game with the students as they wait to begin their solo walk. Be clear to students about expectations, the benefits of doing a solo walk, and why it is important for them to walk slowly and silently throughout. Emphasize that if they see someone in front of them, they should slow down, perhaps spend more time at the current card, and give the person ahead time to walk out of sight.
After roll-out, Instructor B leaves to set out the cards on the trail. Approximately five to ten minutes later, instructor A begins sending one student at a time down the trail for the solo walk. Each student is sent down the trail in two-minute intervals. The order in which they are sent can be determined ahead of time by the instructors or the decision can be student-directed.
At the end of the solo walk, Instructor A will be waiting in an area in which students may silently sit and journal reflectively about their experience. This location should be large enough for the entire group and should be comfortable for students. After all students have returned and journaled, Instructor B will walk the trail, pick up the cards, and rejoin the group. At this point a debrief will occur. Since students will be arriving to the end location at different times, it is important to have an activity ready for them to complete while they wait. This could be journaling, drawing or using watercolors to illustrate something they noticed during the walk, sitting quietly and observing, or any other quiet independent activity.
The debrief
Debrief is one of the most important components of a solo walk, particularly when it is focused on reflecting, synthesizing, and sharing their experience. Responding to one to two pre-written questions in a journal while students wait for the rest of the group is a constructive activity that prepares them for sharing later. To accommodate different learning styles, offer students a choice of responding in a way that feels valuable to them i.e. writing, sketching, or a combination. Once all students have completed the walk and journaling, give them an opportunity to share in pairs and/or as a group. The act of sharing their experiences can be very powerful, but also recognize that not all students will want to share to a large group and, in those cases, sharing with one other person is sufficient.
Some examples of debrief questions can include:
What surprised you about this experience?
What was your favorite card? What cards would you include?
What advice would you give other students for their solo walk experience?
What are two things you learned and can use in daily life?
Use a mix of questioning strategies to draw out student reflection, and be clear about discussion norms to ensure emotional safety during a group debrief. Using the solo walk cards again for debrief is an effective way to provoke group discussion. Solo walk cards can be placed in a pile on the ground, students can then pick their favorite card and share with the group why this card was chosen. Similarly, cards with a variety of emotions written on them may be used to promote a deeper discussion about feelings.
Table 1. The solo walk implementation guide
Goal To practice reflection, critical thinking, introspective thought, and scientific observation skills.
Objective Students will be able to:
· Journal in a reflective manner
· Complete a solo walk in an isolated area
· Participate in group discussion in a meaningful way
Audience Age group: any age
Number of individuals: 10-15
Duration How long is the lesson? 60 minutes
How long will it take to follow up the field experience? 10-20 minutes for debrief
Location An appropriate trail route and length based on the group’s abilities and needs. Check location ahead of time to identify potential risks. Alternative options include: school hallways, or any green space that provides opportunity for solitude.
Management and safety Students are supervised at beginning and end of trail. Trail is appropriate in level of difficulty and complexity. Junctions are marked with clear directional signs. Emotional safety is addressed by partner walking or pairing a child with an adult.
Equipment · Prompt cards (25-50)
· Activity for before and after solo walk
· Writing utensils
· Student journals
The debrief activities are an excellent opportunity for both teachers and students to assess student experience, knowledge and insight resulting from a solo walk. This information can be used to guide future learning activities and goal setting.
Teaching applications
Solo walks as a tool
For teachers, a solo walk is a versatile tool that can be planned to meet a variety of learning objectives. How you frame the activity, when you conduct it, what cards you choose, the order in which they appear on the trail, and the debrief strategy are all opportunities to guide students towards a specific goal or outcome. For example, a solo walk can be used:
In the beginning of a week to introduce students to and help them connect with a new setting
To ground a group of individuals with mindful awareness and space for reflection
At the end of a week so students can reflect on all that they have accomplished and how they might transfer these skills to their daily lives
Before and/or after a team building activity
Solo Science
In science education settings, students are often bombarded with new techniques and terminology. Solo walks provide the solitude necessary for students to ponder, dissect, and make sense of complex concepts in a tangible way. Because solo walks are inherently independent, students can use scientific tools without any external influence, and think critically of the world around them without fear of failure. Instructors may choose an investigative topic to center the solo walk around or design a mini independent investigation to be conducted during the solo walk. For example, an investigative topic may be plant and animal adaptations. The pictures below are examples of how we have woven scientific practice into the solo walk experience.
Connecting to classroom and beyond
Solo walks offer an incredible opportunity for students to develop awareness and practice active reflection that is an essential and valuable tool in lifelong learning. It can be a transformative experience and its adaptability make it a valuable tool for teachers. Give your students ownership over their experience by having them create their own solo walk cards. Cards can be written in any language, made of recycled material, cut into shapes, etc. Get creative and make it work for you and your students!
Advice from the field
Here are some tips gathered from a survey of 39 outdoor educational professionals with experience facilitating solo walks:
• Keep objectives broad, learners will get different things from the experience. The learning goal can be as simple as having time alone in the woods and it will still be powerful.
• Utilize a variety of cards and consider how the cards you use will support a larger theme or create a desired experience or outcome. Use short, relatable quotes from a diverse group of people with different backgrounds and cultures.
• Check the trail ahead of time and bring a few extra cards and markers to take advantage of teachable moments. Let the trail speak to you. If it is windy, use rocks to weigh the cards down and if you are teaching in a place like the Pacific Northwest, make sure your cards will survive the rain.
For some students, walking alone in the woods can create anxiety or bring out behavioral challenges. Work with students on ways to help them feel safe and explain that it can be a challenge by choice. You can help by sharing your own experience with solo walks, pairing students together or with an adult, being intentional with the line order, giving directions silently, etc.
Have fun and get creative!
References
Kolb, David A. (2014). Experiential learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Case Western Reserve University. Prentice Hall PTR, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Giada Di Stefano, Francesca Gino, Gary Pisano & Bradley Staats. March 2014. Learning by Thinking: How Reflection Improves Performance. Harvard Business School Working Knowledge. Retrieved from https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/learning-by-thinking-how-reflection-improves-performance.
Wilson, Donna & Conyers, Marcus. (2013). Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: connecting mind, brain, and education research to classroom practice. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Zelazo, P. (2015). Executive function: Reflection, iterative reprocessing, complexity, and the developing brain. Developmental Review. Volume 38, 55-68.
Abigail M. Harding and Corwyn A. Ellison are environmental educators and graduate students at IslandWood and the University of Washington.
by editor | Sep 1, 2025 | Critical Thinking, Environmental Literacy
Tangible Connections
The Value of Community Agreements
by Alyssa Caplan and Summer Swallow
ABSTRACT
Student-generated community agreements serve to create a positive learning community in residential outdoor environmental programs. This activity is essential and creates opportunities to reveal connections between people and ecosystems by weaving together Native Education, diversity, team building, and hands-on learning. Visualizing connections make community agreements both tangible and meaningful for students. In fostering these connections through collaboration, students are introduced to stewardship through four lenses (Embracing Adventure, Helping the Environment, Exploring Here and There, and Living and Learning in Community). Students reflect on time spent building their community and experiences of stewardship by creating a web out of yarn.
The world is full of connections, and as educators we strive to facilitate appreciations and awareness among students by helping them to see the benefits of diversity, and how, through our differences, communities become stronger. As instructors at IslandWood, an outdoor school in the Pacific Northwest located across the Puget Sound from Seattle, we provide an immersive residential outdoor educational experience for fourth through sixth grade students. We have four days to create memorable experiences for our students, and this hinges upon quickly creating a community of trust and support, especially given that many students who come to us have spent little to no time in a forest setting.
The Four Pillars of Stewardship
At IslandWood, our goal is to create positive and impactful experiences where children are engaged with their natural environment while also connecting with IslandWood’s four pillars of stewardship: Embracing Adventure, Helping the Environment, Exploring Here and There, and Living and Learning in Community. While at IslandWood we encourage students to “Embrace Adventure” by trying new things in the garden, climbing the forest canopy tower (a 118- foot tall retired fire lookout station which allows students to see the various layers of the forest canopy), participate in a night hike, work as a team to ‑complete challenges and more. Students “Help the Environment” by reducing food waste, learning about compost, becoming a lifelong member of the ‘Dirty Pocket Club’ (picking up trash) and learning the principles of “leave no trace”. We help students to “Explore Here and There” by making connections between IslandWood and their home communities such as helping them identify fauna and flora they may see at home. Our last pillar of stewardship is “Living and Learning in Community”. Students are constantly engaged in this pillar with community agreements, trail roles, repeated opportunities to turn and talk about a prompt, meet people outside their normal friend groups, and meet children from other schools in the dining hall and during group games. Throughout the week we honor moments in which we see students exemplifying these pillars and ask them to reflect upon moments in which they saw others doing the same. This scaffolding encourages students to take responsibility for their impact upon the community and realize their individual influence.
In order to create a positive community atmosphere and set our students up for success, our team collectively creates a Community Agreement, which elicits knowledge from the students about what makes a caring and healthy community. Using a scaffolded approach, we begin by asking our students to reflect on community agreements they may have already encountered at their schools, in their classrooms, or with sport’s teams. Most, if not all, of those elements are applicable here at our IslandWood campus, as this is a “School in the Woods” not a sleepaway camp. There are many ways to make a community agreement, some of which are thematically illustrated in the form of a tree or tea, others can simply be a list of ideals. Specifically, we would like to focus on the construction and implementation of the Community Web, our twist on a communtiy agreement. Regardless of the theme, the Community Agreement is a living document and it can be added to and adjusted as different situations arise within the team.
Creating a Community Web
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”
—Chief Sealth (Chief Seattle)*
Field groups read this quote out loud to initiate a conversation on the concept of community. Additionally, it is used for brainstorming who Chief Sealth was and his impact on creating connections between native and non-native people (for more information on teaching children about tribal sovereignty, see resources below). Many of our students, being from the Puget Sound region of Washington, know a little about Chief Sealth’s impact. When asked to recall information we often hear responses such as “he was a famous Native American chief who talked with settlers.” Recognition of the historical importance of Chief Sealth and how he contributed to building bridges between people is an example of how one can strive to increase connections and strengthen positive interactions within diverse communities. This also pays homage to Chief Sealth and his people, whose ancestral land we now occupy, helping students to forge meaningful connections between their neighborhoods and IslandWood.
Once we’ve discussed the power of interconnections and prior experiences with community agreements, we then unveil the template for our team agreement on a large piece of butcher paper. In the center is the foundation of our web with the title, “[Team Name] Community Agreement” surrounded by a strand for each of our students, chaperones and instructors (Figure 1). Before we begin filling it out, we discuss characteristics of each visible aspect. Each team member chooses a strand to which they add their name and a strength that they will contribute to the team this week, it is important that they then share that strength out loud to the team. Generally these strengths are characteristics such as humor, artistic, problem-solver, helpful and kind. Occasionally, students respond with traits such as ‘crazy’, without context this could be misinterpreted, for this student it meant having lots of energy and therefore carried a positive connotation. By verbalizing traits, not only are we checking for understand but also learning how students view themselves and how they are comfortable contributing towards the team. Once each team member has added their name and positive attribute, we then brainstorm what sort of behaviors we want to see within our team. The goal with this is to establish team behavior norms to ensure we have a safe and fun week of learning and exploring. Behaviors brainstormed here generally include: be respectful, listen to each other, have fun, to be safe and neighborly (Figure 2). We explain that as team members exemplify these behaviors, they will get to draw a line that connects themselves to that behavior, thus increasing connections between team members and showcasing personal growth. In acknowledging the daily progress of our students, we are tapping into the reward pathway of the brain (Zadina, 2014, p. 102).
At the end of each day we revisit and review the community agreement, add our behavior lines and a loop around the outside which symbolizes team building and connections becoming stronger between the team members (Figure 3). These additions enable the students to literally see the connections being created within our team, being able to visualize these connections adds meaning to the activity and utilizes the visual oriented regions of the brain (Zadina, 2014). This can be used as a formative assessment to see how connections between students, and behaviors of an individual, have changed over time.
Creating these tangible bonds allows us to take the web a step further and make an analogy in which we discuss how our community is similar to those within a natural ecosystem. Different organisms rely on one another for support and if one were to be removed from the web, the whole system would change. This then leads to conversations about interdependent relationships occurring in nature, as well as discussions about how diversity make a system stronger. This can begin with a conversation on diversity within natural ecosystems – the more connections within a system, the greater the resilience in the face of change; “higher-diversity communities generally are more productive and are better able to withstand and recover from environmental stresses, such as droughts. More diverse communities are also more stable year to year in their productivity” (Reece, Wasserman, Urry, Minorsky, Cain & Jackson, 2014, p. 1217). This same principle coincides with diversity within human populations – the stronger and more diverse the connections, the stronger the community, “students benefit from exposure to cultural as well as intellectual heterogeneity, and they learn from one another” (Haberman, 1991, p. 294). This allows for a transfer of learning to the classroom or home community, and can lead to discussions about how students can increase their connections and build bridges between communities. For example, teachers could create opportunities for service learning projects in which students are directly interacting with their larger ecological and personal communities such as habitat restoration projects. As Haberman puts it in his article, Pedagogy of Poverty versus Good Teaching, “we need graduates who have learned to take action in their own behalf and in behalf of others” (1991, p. 293). With such a project, students would utilize elements of collaboration, apply practical skills and continue their engagement with the four pillars of stewardship.
Tying It All Together
We end the week in a circle around our community agreement, for a final review, we reflect upon the connections we built this week and the ways in which we have engaged in stewardship. During a quiet minute of reflection, we prompt the students to think about how they have honored the agreement, and how their teammates have done the same. Students use the four pillars as a framework for sharing a time they themselves exemplified a pillar and then honor a moment they saw a teammate doing the same. Once everyone has had time to collect their thoughts we pull out a ball of yarn and explain that they will be creating their own stewardship web. One student begins sharing how they accomplished a pillar and then, while still holding the end of the yarn, passes the ball to any teammate and shares with the group a moment they saw that member demonstrate a pillar. Whoever receives the yarn does the same, first for themselves, then for a teammate. This continues until the last person to receive the yarn honors the first person who spoke. Once someone has received the yarn, they may not receive it again. The yarn is then tied off, the web having been completed (see photo above).
We ask the students to hold the yarn loosely in their hands, then together take a collective step backwards and ask if they could feel the yarn being pulled through their hand. At this point we revisit the words of Chief Sealth and explain to our students that everything they did this week impacted everyone in the team. That all of our actions are truly connected, no actions truly occur in isolation. We tell the kids how proud we are of their hard work and dedication during our week together, asking them to remember this team and community as they prepare to leave IslandWood. We then invite them to break off a piece of the yarn to carry with them, as an ever present reminder that they, and their actions, matter.
Our ultimate goal towards creating a positive learning experience for these students ideally is then transferred to their regular school and home life. The strength of connections is fundamental to becoming an active world citizen. Highlighting the contributions of all team members serves to illustrate the value of diversity and inclusion. Regardless of their young age, the power of their actions creates a ripple in the vast and ever-changing web of life.
Author Notes: More information on teaching children about Tribal Sovereignty can be found through the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s (OSPI) office of Native American Education’s curriculum: Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State (indian-ed.org)
Summer Swallow, an avid bryophyte enthusiast, and Alyssa Kaplan, a passionate social justice advocate, enjoy spending their time teaching 4th – 6th graders at IslandWood, an residential outdoor school, on Bainbridge Island, Washington while working on their Master degrees at the University of Washington.
In another classroom, students launched a campaign to reduce the use of disposable plastic containers at their school. They made posters to educate others about single-use plastics, explaining how they were made from petroleum (see Figure 1). Students and teachers in their school were encouraged to take a pledge to use reusable water bottles, containers and utensils in their lunches. Sign-up sheets were placed near posters around the school. Several hundred people took the pledge.
After considering ways to have an impact, students were ready to narrow in on a solution. Teachers introduced students to three criteria for a good solution. This critical step provides students with decision-making skills, and helps them take ownership of their solution. Our fourth graders considered the following guiding questions in a decision-making matrix:
Eileen Merritt is a research scientist in the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation at Virginia Tech and former Assistant Professor in Teacher Preparation at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University. She developed her passion for environmental education along the banks of the Rivanna River with her students at Stone-Robinson Elementary. She can be reached at egmerritt@vt.edu.
