The+Outdoor+Living+and+Learning+Lab+Review+(Gannon+Castner)

This curriculum module is organized by the Greenvile Technical College in South Carolina, and spondered by the Sustainability Education & Economic Development Center (SEED Center) The SEED Center is the first national coordinated strategy to support community colleges in building the green economy ([|SEED website)] they are an organization that has hundreds of community colleges taking membership and joining together in order to promote an online community of workshops and webinars all aimed to promote sustainability and environemtal education. This organization knows that the majority of the skilled workforce utilized in the United States are from community colleges and it works to accelerate green jobs training programs and sustainability education. In order to prepare community colleges with the role of educating the future workforce with the skill sets needed to fuel industry and community demand while understanding environtal asepcts and sustainability, they provide over 400 resources, toolkids, and practices. The schools in membership have access to these modules and can go online and discuss each module with other partnering schools, teachers, students, and school presidents. This particular module is located in Greenvile Technical College in South Carolina, and utilized an Oudoor Learning Laboratory to apply concepts learned in traditional class-room environments in an outdoor environment. They learn about effective strategies for restoring the fragile freshwater watershed. Students that are taking environmental science and ecology classes will take soil and water sample measurements, utilize equpitment, record data and analyze reutls in real-life applications in order to determine the effcst of recent recycling and clean up efforts along a popular trail. ([|Sustainable Curriulum]) This curriculum is very appropriately designed to produce the intended learning outcomes because it encourages students to think outside the classroom and apply theories they learn there to real-world scenarios. By taking the classroom outside and forcing students to take samples and analyze their results, they can clearly see how the short and long term affects of recycling affect the watershed their school is juxtaposed to. Yes, this curriculum does teach literacies that the EcoEd Research Group advocates because it looks at community colleges and promotes information there. Private institutions have the privilege of money, resources, and power in order to teach their students about environmental issues and very rarely do community colleges obtain the support or resources necessary to teach their students at the same level as a private institution. Curriculum models such as these instituted into schools across the US allows for a greater spread of environemtnal knowledge and power to make sustainable change. SEED and Greenville Technical College could promote ways that students can make actual change outside of recycling near the watershed. While allowing students to take their own measurements and analyze data, it would also help to have the Outdoor Living and Learning Laboratory offer more sustainability improvement tips.
 * What organization developed the curriculum module you are evaluating?
 * What is the mission of the organization?
 * What is the educational mission and philosophy of the organization?
 * What does the curriculum module aim to teach? In other words: what are the learning outcomes supposed to be?
 * Do you think the curriculum is appropriately designed to produce the intended learning outcomes?
 * Does this curriculum teach the kind of literacies the EcoEd Research Group advocates?
 * What could be layered into this curriculum so that it address more of the learning outcomes that the EcoEd Group advocates