Environmental Education for Teachers - Educ 5236

General Course Information

Syllabus
Course Agenda

Lesson Plan Format
Tom Beery's Homepage
Bruce Munson's Homepage

January 20

Supporting Resources:

• A GreenPrint for Minnesota

January 27

Everyone Reads:

• History of E.E. in Minnesota - be able to explain what legal requirement there is for teaching e.e. in Minnesota
• California Guide to Environmental Literacy
• Commoner's Laws of Ecology

Jigsaw Readings:

• Group 1 reads: Orr's Ecological Literacy
• Group 2 reads: Schneider's Defining & Teaching Environmental Literacy
• Group 3 reads: Moseley's Teaching for Environmental Literacy
• Group 4 reads: Orr's Is Environmental Education an Oxymoron?

Supporting Resources

• Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy
• 1998 NEETF/Roper Survey "Main Street America's View of the Environment"
• Report Assessing Environmental Education in the U.S.
• Minnesota Environmental Education Scope and Sequence

February 3

Don't forget to prep for the Commoner's Law activity: ideas for a bumper sticker and a poem related to your assigned Commoner's Law.

Jigsaw Readings:

• Questions for discussion with both readings:
  • Why the Environment as the base for education rather than something else? Why not some other discipline, like social studies or science?
  • What is the value of an Environment Based Education?
  
• Group 1 Read: "Using Environment Based Education to Advance Learning Skills and Character Development"
  
• Group 2 Read: "Environment Based Education: Creating High Performance Schools and Students"

February 10

Everyone Reads:

• Section 1 (Understanding Young Children) in Natural Wonders

February 17

Everyone Reads:

• Storytelling as Experiential Education
  Questions for discussion:
  • Why is storytelling an effective teaching method? Give examples

• Borrowing Native American Rituals

• Beyond Ecophobia p. 19- 37

February 20-21 (Weekend at Laurentian)

Jigsaw Readings:

• Group A Reads: Northern Lights & Once is Enough

• Group B Reads: Wilderness Music & A Season to Endure

• Group C Reads: Birds.... & Build a Fire

• Group D Reads: Timber wolves & White Silence

March 23

Everyone Reads:

• Role of the Nature Center

April 6

Everyone Reads:

• Classroom Warfare

April 13

Please read the following background information on writing grants before class on April 13. The information has been designed for the National Science Foundation (NSF), but think about the general applications of NSF's advice as you read it.

Step 1: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04016/nsf04016_5.htm
Step 2: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04016/nsf04016_6.htm
Step 3: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04016/nsf04016_7.htm

Supporting Materials:

• National Science Foundation's Guide to Proposal Writing

April 20

Everyone Reads:

• Introduction to Minnesota Environmental Education Scope and Sequence
• Stowe Elementary School's Service Learning Handbook

May 4

Everyone Reads:

• Evaluating E.E.