Curriculum+Reviews_white

=**Children’s Forest**=

The Children’s Forest of Central Oregon is dedicated to creating an environment that supports learning, exploration and healthy living through a closer connection with nature. The CFCO “e nvision a world in which every child is inspired by nature to become a healthy individual and create a sustainable future.” This curriculum is the most interactive, and engaging curriculum that has been analyzed thus far. Goals of the CFCO are very similar to the goals of the EcoEdu. They focus on a healthy living style while incorporating the need to be aware of your spatial impact, and the affect that one has on the environment. The agency develops programs that focus on future paths of individuals, while also focusing on current educational standards that are held by the state or Oregon. The only problem with this curriculum is that due to its high focus on on-hands learning, it may be increasingly difficult for students in higher populated areas or cities to find such locations to explore the nature aspect.

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 * SimCityEDU: Pollution Challenge! **

SimCity EDU is an interactive PC game that shows the effects of city management and pollution prevention by Glass Lab. Glass Lab’s mission is to “empower youth to claim their path to the 21st century success through high-impact digital games.”, and they are partnered with Pearson Education, and the Educational Testing Service. The game is designed to subtlety test the students abilities to problem solve multiple step problems, understand complex systems, and data interpretation. Glass Lab Games is a game designing company that is creating educational material that is appealing to modern day youth. They use video game simulations and creative environments to deliver educational material. Students have shown to be attentive, and interested in the material they are learning when presented in such a way. SimCity EDU: Pollution Challenge accomplishes many of the objectives that the EcoEd Research Group intends to convey. Although the game currently encompasses much of with EcoEd wants to convey, there are some points that could be added to expand the knowledge obtained. Currently the students currently get levels of pollution, and knowing that it should be relativity low, they design their community. Not conveyed through this game is the affects that pollution has on the health of your citizens. It would be interesting to incorporate information on hospital patients, their illness, or the increase trend in asthma patients caused by air pollution. This game is truly an all-encompassing game that shows students the benefits of working together to build a successful town that is ecofriendly.

http://www.gamesforchange.org/play/simcityedu-pollution-challenge/ Source: http://www.glasslabgames.org/


 * Center for Effective Government: **

The Center for Effective Government (CEG) published a curriculum that teaches the dangers of unregulated chemical companies, and their close proximity to neighborhoods. CEG’s mission is about “protecting core-governing processes from undue influence by special interests, through analysis, advocacy, and strategic partnerships inside and outside of Washington.” The goal of this curriculum is to engage students as active citizens, and make them think creatively on a solution to the problems faced by fence line communities. The curriculum uses digital mapping tools to create real life vulnerability zones showing dangerous and unsuspecting populations can be. This curriculum does an excellent job at informing and preparing students to combat the problems that these close proximately factories cause to not only their communities, but also communities throughout the country. Activities such as writing op-eds or letters to elected officials involve the children in the process of producing change. This interaction develops their individual identity and drive to create change themselves. Researching such topics also creates a more informed public, as children are likely to return home, and tell their parents of what they learned in school. The downfall of this curriculum is the reliance on technology. If a school is limited on the amount of technology they have they are less likely to implement this curriculum due to the reliance on technology. The CEG has very similar literacy goals to the EcoEd Research Group. The group starts with more of a shock and awe affect, and this could possibly be reduced in order to prevent too much paralyzing fear.

http://www.foreffectivegov.org/


 * Learning About Acid Rain: EPA **

EPA’s mission is to “protect human health and the environment in the United States by developing and enforcing regulations and studying environmental conditions. In addition, EPA is committed to informing the public about environmental topics and its efforts to solve them.” EPA has provided a curriculum, located at the link below, which informs 6th-8th graders on acid rain, and the effects on the population and the environment. The curriculum is set up with a series of alternating events. Student learn material, and then do some sort of experiment. After reviewing the material and conducting some of the experiments, the hope is that the students will have a better understanding of acid rain and the problems it causes, while also having acquired an interest for the subject. The curriculum is designed to help students better understand cause and effect and citizen action, which will further lead to greater development in an understanding of acid rain, and its causes. EPA’s curriculum has mixed in experiments offering students the ability of hands on learning, which improves a student’s interest in the subject. The only downfall to this approach is the worldly application, as many schools that should be teaching students the dangers of acid rain or air pollution may not have the funds to promote such interactive learning; therefore, experiments are decrease in quantity, or removed altogether. Supplemented with optional interactive videos would solve this, as it is likely there will be at least one DVD player in the school. EPA’s literary goals are very similar to those of the EcoEd Research. A way to improve their curriculum would be to include more examples of events that occurred in the past, and how the government and citizens could have prevented the incident from occurring. This would give the children the ability to feel more applicable to the situation. Source: http://www3.epa.gov/acidrain/education/teachersguide.pdf Develop programs that foster leadership skills in youth, promote a sense of connection and stewardship for public lands, and provide potential environmental/natural resource career paths