Kids+for+Saving+Earth

__Curriculum Review of Kids for Saving Earth: __ Kelley Fischbach, February 25, 2014


 * What organization developed the curriculum module you are evaluating?

 This module has been developed by Kids for Saving Earth, a non-profit organization developed in memory of Clinton Hill, a young environmental activist who lost his life to cancer at age 11.


 *  What is the mission of the organization?

 The mission of Kids for Saving Earth is “to educate, inspire, and empower children to protect the Earth’s environment” ( [] )


 *  What is the educational mission and philosophy of the organization?

The educational mission of Kids for Saving Earth is to “provide educational materials, posters, and a highly acclaimed web site featuring environmental education curriculum and activities” ([])


 *  What does the curriculum module aim to teach? In other words: what are the learning outcomes supposed to be?

 The many modules on this site aim to teach students to feel empowered and inspired by preserving the Earth and its environment.


 *  Do you think the curriculum is appropriated designed to produce the intended learning outcomes?

 Absolutely. Although the learning outcome is incredibly broad and sweeping, they are definitely addressed throughout the wide variety of curriculum made available through this site.


 *  Does this curriculum teach the kind of literacies the EcoEd Research Group advocates?

 For the most part, yes. See below for explanations in green.

 Overall, this curriculum addressed most of the EcoEd learning outcomes. See below for exceptions in red.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> What could be layered into this curriculum so that it addresses more of the learning outcomes that the EcoEd Group advocates?

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">EcoEd Literacy Goals: __
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understanding of their own health and well-being as shaped by an array of both proximate and far-off causes. Diet and cigarette smoke need to be considered, for example, as well as the health effects of trans-boundary air pollution and climate change.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is directly mentioned in a few of the pieces of curriculum provided – as they delve into asthma and how health problems can result due to air pollution. [] **
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understanding of how their own actions have an array of proximate and far off effects. In choosing when and what to drive, one has an effect on air quality for example. In choosing consumer products (made of vinyl, for instance), one becomes involved in an occupational health hazard.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This site goes above and beyond in addressing that actions have very widespread effects and that each individual does have a say in improving the climate. **
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understanding of different scientific disciplines and medical specializations, aware that they rely on diverse methods, produce many types of knowledge, and are ever evolving. Science needs to be understood as a crucial but far from straightforward social resource.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Addressed briefly, but better mentioned through a page devoted to other “green” resources. [] **
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understanding of government at various scales, from the local to transnational, made up of diverse agencies and types of experts, which rely on diverse decision-making processes.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Not addressed adequately, perhaps because this site is aimed at a younger demographic. **
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understanding of the history of disaster and decision-making failures, the vulnerability of some populations and regions, and varied approaches to risk management, reduction and communication.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Not addressed. **
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understanding of potential for change, and of alternative ways of doing things and organizing society (though familiarity with historical and cross-cultural examples, for instance).
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Very much addressed in almost every aspect of this curriculum. The site even provides numerous templates for children to make “green pledges” and take action in their local and even national government. [] **
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Capacity to conceptualize complex causation, without being paralyzed.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">One module that addresses this literacy quite well is their toxic waste worksheet, that goes in depth to talk about various causes. [] **
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Capacity to use empirical understanding of complex causation to identify specific points of intervention.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Not addressed adequately. **
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Capacity to recognize the multitude of factors influencing what they are told about environmental problems (such as asthma), including vested interests, disciplinary bias and blindness, and the sheer limits of knowledge.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Not addressed. **
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Capacity to recognize and productively deal with diverse perspectives, avoiding the paralysis often produced by insistence on “balance” and “consensus,” leveraging heterogeneous collectivity and epistemological pluralism.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Implied throughout various modules, but not explicitly mentioned in the curriculum. **
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Having creative info-seeking practices, animated analytic capabilities, and a capacity to narrate complex chains of events.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, this is addressed in almost all of the pieces of curriculum presented on this website. **
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Understanding of the challenges and value of deliberation and cooperative action.
 * <span style="color: #00b050; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is one of the strongpoints of this curriculum. There is a large emphasis on cooperative action all throughout this site, empowering children to feel that they have a voice. [] **