Journal+Entries 

January 30, 2014 In class today, beginning work on teaching the 3rd graders systems, I was finding it very difficult to see how we could find a way to get these kids to understand the 5 box diagram and also to keep them engaged in the activity. As the group started to talk things out all I saw were things getting increasingly more complicated. We were going to use tools such as this bike powering a light bulb, but what was that going to mean to kids? What are we trying to convey to them in using this example? Obviously, we want them to have an understanding of how systems work but what was this light bulb and bike going to specifically bring to the table and how would we present it? Not an easy question and not easy to see. As the group kept talking it out and we reached the lesson that we wanted the kids to take away from this light bulb demonstration (that when you turn on the light bulb the power has to come from somewhere), I saw a way to use the 5 box diagram and hopefully get the kids to see what we want. Starting simply with a human riding the bike as a system, then to the human riding a bike powering a light bulb system, and then finally just the light bulb was a simple way to make the progression. Thinking about this realization afterwards I can see its connection to backwards design. It was not easy to see a way for the 5 box diagram and the bike with the light bulb to fit together until we had solidly identified what it was we wanted the kids to learn from this demonstration. Starting with the desired results and working backwards. Moving forward this is something important to keep in mind.

February 2, 2014 The more I reflect and think about the systems curriculum, the more I question whether or not we will be able to successfully portray the aquaponic system to the kids. The part I think will be the most difficult is the 5 box diagram. Aquaponic systems involve many sciences that are above the kids abilities, which we do not have to explain to them. The system can be simplified down and put in terms that they will understand but once it is simplified down how will they be able to fill in the diagram? Bringing it down to a level that they will understand cuts out lots of the things I would personally put on the diagram knowing more about the science behind how the system works. Can these things that strengthen the system and weaken the system be simplified down to their level of understanding as well? I am skeptical. Taking a step backwards, how far does the intricacies of the system need to be brought down for them to (on some level) understand what is happening? This is the ultimate question because it tells us on what level the diagram needs to be put on as well. I was not working on the aquaponic systems diagram or curriculum so I do not have an idea of what sort of progress has been made on this but regardless it is still a challenge.

Another thought, what is the main learning outcome of this exercise? Are we trying to show them how different organisms in nature work together? Are we trying to show them how nature works in a natural cycle where waste is put back into the system and used? Or are we trying to accomplish both of these lessons? Thinking of the challenges and breakthroughs from planning the 1st day of curriculum, it is important to keep in mind the intended goal. Keeping the goal at hand in mind will help in forming and shaping the curriculum.

February 3, 2014 Today walking to class with one of my friends who is a sustainability major we began to have a discussion about classes and certain assignments this semester. She mentioned that in one of her classes she was asked to answer why people should care about sustainability problems. To both of this question seemed absurd and out of place. To us it is painfully obvious why it is important to care about these issues, but there are people who do not think the same thing we do. There are people who do not see this issues as important and that is why she must answer this question in class so that one day she might change someones mind. Wouldn't it be easier if peoples minds did not have to be changed? If everyone understood the importance of sustainability. This is where education, EcoEd, and similar programs come in. One major goal should be to not just educate kids about what the issues are but also that sustainability is important. They need to see that they are some of the most important issues of the near future. They need to understand that the things in nature that they love are in danger. This is the first step to caring and programs like EcoEd can start the change.

February 4, 2014 Today was a slightly frustrating day in terms of curriculum planning. When we ended last week, I felt that we were all on the same page, had a clear direction, and had a solid start. When planning today it was almost like we reverted back to square one. It took most of the time to get back on track and thinking the same way as last Thursday. Once it was made clear again not just that we were focusing on energy, but why we were and the intended lesson to come from the bike demonstration, things started to get going again. Unfortunately, getting to that point took most of the class time. This was slightly frustrating for me because we used most of the class time Thursday to come to get to that understanding and we did it all over again.

On another note, the station curriculum that we have begun to set up, in my opinion, will work better than the base curriculum we had started on Thursday. With the stations we will be able to cover so many more systems, topics, and learning outcomes. The kids will leave with an understanding of more of the literacy goals and or more systems. It will also be good for the kids to be moving around the room, learning about several different things, and working with lots of people. It is definitely important to keep in mind what are ultimate goals are while planning these stations. Each station may have a different intended learning outcome, such as the bike and energy, but each station should still contribute to our main goals.

February 6, 2014 Actually trying to go through and perform our lesson plan today, I really realized how hard it is. Granted we did not have as much time as I would have liked to have before practicing it but still there were lots of missed opportunities and missed connections. One thing we really struggled with was how to actually set up the climate diagram. We contemplated doing the diagram without human interaction and then adding us in to show how things that humans do can upset the balance but then what would go in the diagram other than what parts of the system there are? If we went into technical detail, we could surely fill out the diagram but not to a level where they would be able to understand what we are talking about. So that brought us to doing an introduction to what the climate system is, what it means, and then posing to them the diagram. Still we struggled with how to prompt the kids to think of things like pollution. How could we get them to think about? And even then what is a good way to explain why pollution is a bad thing without complicating things to much.

The feedback from the class was very helpful in trying to make all of these connections and flow into things. Ending with ways that humans can "reverse global warming" was a great idea that none of us even thought to touch on. It was also good to see that we really needed to stress balance as we go through the lesson and filling out the diagram so that the kids really see what we are trying to convey to them. Another thing that we struggled with was how to make the connection that climate change is severe and serious. The class had some helpful tips on that as well. In all it was great to get feedback and see different views on our ideas since some of these things were hard for us to see looking from the inside.

February 10, 2014 Today, we spent a lot of time working on the climate system curriculum for Wednesday. After practicing the curriculum in the last class it was very apparent that there was a lot of work to be done. We rearranged the curriculum in an attempt to make it flow better and to better show the message of balance. I think the rearrangement worked well and did a much better job of showing and conveying what we wanted. We incorporated as many different tips and pieces of feedback as we could.

I think the greatest challenge with this curriculum was the amount of information that needed to be conveyed in this small amount of time. The curriculum needed to cover the basics of the climate system when it working the way that it is supposed to, the climate system as it is today, what is wrong with the climate system today and why, a demonstration about pollution and why its bad, the system diagram, and finally some ways the pollution can be reduced. This is not a simple task, not to mention that the complexity of the current problems with the climate system are not easy to simplify while still accurately conveying them and their severity. Trying to simplify the science behind it all, incorporate all of these things, and reach learning goals was quite difficult. Another large difficulty was filling out the systems diagram. When you begin filling out the diagram you might think that most of the answers are a little to far of a reach for third graders to grasp without having previously learning about the climate system but along with this difficulty there is another. To fill all of the boxes of the diagram you have to think of the climate system working normally and abnormally. As you change boxes you have to change how you are thinking the climate system. This could be a difficult thing for these kids to do. That is one reason we rearranged our curriculum to the put the model at the end. This way pretty much all of the answers are talked about before they are asked to fill in the diagram and it wont be as much of a leap. One other challenge was trying to take into account the suggestion that at the end we include ways to scrub co2 out of the atmosphere or ways "reverse" global warming.Ultimately we decided not to include these types of things because we think they are too complicated. Also, we are slightly concerned about it taking more than the allotted time.

February 12, 2014 Today we went to the elementary school for the first time. I think overall the curriculum we planned on the climate system went well but there were a few bumps. One of the problems we had was in the planning stages. We had no idea how long our curriculum going to take and it took longer than expected. Not to mention that we only had 10 minutes instead on 15. A few other things I noticed were as the kids went around the station they may have been getting less focused and interested, Our third group was very unresponsive and did not seem to be paying as much attention. This made it difficult for them to make the connections that we wanted them to make at the end. Another thing was the demonstration with the groups went well but I think the connection between the demo and what it represents could have been better. It seemed that once we pulled out the matches all the kids lots focus on what was happening and what the bottle and matches were supposed to represent. This became more apparent when we were asking follow up questions and the answer one kids came up with was that we should not use matches because it is bad for the environment. I think that the demonstration and curriculum would work better with a little bit larger groups all siting at their desks raising their hands because there was also an issue of people not listening to what we were saying in one moment when it was something very important. I think this may have had to do with all the commotion and noise in the room.

When working with the first graders I was amazed with the span of different development in the room. Talking with Alexandra after the visit we compared how filling out the step up to solutions diagram went with each group. In my group it was very hard for the kids to even come up with a source of pollution. It was increasingly difficult for them to think of causes of the causes and solution to the problem. Every time I would ask them a question they would answer it in term of landfills and garbage. They were not able to make the jump to air pollution. In contrast, Alexandra's group was able to pull all of the information from the exercise very well and when prompted were able to come up with many different answers. One thing I noticed about the air pollution exercise was that with the length of the set up and time it took to actually do the demonstration, a lot of kids in my group were getting lost. It took a some time for the lesson to be setup while the kids were in the groups and ready to go so during this time they were getting of track. Also during the exercise they began focusing on the smell of the powder and the smell of the cool aid once the powder was added rather than what these things meant. It may have just been my group but they had a very hard time focusing.

February 15, 2014 One of the major things on everyone's radar right now is the World Olympics in Sochi. These games may be about the athletes and pride for your country but climate change has also made its way to the forefront. I have seen several articles and even silly quizzes talking about how the weather at these winter Olympics is oddly warm making it hard for some winter events to take place. This does not just speak for Sochi and its unpredictable climate but the future cities that the Olympics could be held in. How can we pick places to hold these games with no way of knowing the future climate on the globe? Climate change is affecting us now and in unexpected ways. Who would have thought that climate change would pose problems for the Olympics? This example is not the most serious or life threatening but it effects everyone around the globe. It is a universal example that many people around the globe could identify with and I am sure that it could identify with kids. These sort of examples that are happening now and they can grasp are great ways to get them to understand the problems of not only climate change but other sustainability issues.

February 21, 2014 Today, I was reading an article about a new idea to deal with the changing climate. In simple terms the idea is a technology that would send particles into the upper atmosphere and these particles would act as mirrors to reflect sunlight and heat back out into space. At first, this seems like a pretty good idea or at least one that deserves consideration. The article mentions that the current approach of reducing carbon dioxide emissions is just to slow and that this technology would be a faster solution. It all sounds well and great but what if something goes wrong? What if something not even thought of happens? What would be the solution then? One cannot obviously foresee all unintended consequences of a new technology but one should not believe there might not be any. There should also be a backup plan. I think this is something important that could be taught to kids. That things do not always work the way that we think they will and that we should think about what to do if something goes wrong. Another lesson that could be paired with this and could be beneficial is that new technology is not always a good thing. It needs to be thought about thoroughly before its application. The age that we live in is very technological and the generation that these kids are in are very technological. I think teaching them this would be a good way to help counteract their reliance on technology.

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February 27, 2014 Today was the first day of the research program and I was working with the group of upper middle school students. Coming into this research program I sort of expected that the kids would understand how use a search engine, look for things on the internet, and navigate web pages with a sort of ease. After today I am thinking that I may have overestimated just a little bit. Obviously they had all heard of Google and probably used it before in their life but it was interesting for me to see how the student I was working one on one with used the search engine. He could get there and type something out that may or may not have given him the information he was looking for but he did not have much of a basis of what was a good place to look for information based off of the hits. Even after choosing a website to look at it seemed that he did not have enough focus of patience to thoroughly scan what the website had to offer. I also noticed how he seemed to base the credibility of a website solely off of its graphics and how nice it was rather than the source itself. I can see how the base for being a good researcher or having good researching skills are there and how this program will be able to expand this base. I am interested to see how as the program goes along his skills at searching with a search engine improve (specific questions, rephrasing searches), ability to identify credibility of sources, and ability to extract useful information improve over the program.

February 28, 2014 Another class that I am taking this semester is Environment and Law. Obviously we talk a lot about the law, its interactions with the environment, and legislation that has to do with the environment. Recently we have been talking about how the federal government is able to make regulations and laws like the clean air act. I feel as though a lot of kids or people might not really understand that the fact that the federal government has the power to do this is not explicitly given to them and most environmental laws before the clean air act were dealt with on a state or local level. I think this is a beneficial lesson to teach at a young age along with all of the environmental problems that we have today. It would help them get more of an understanding obstacles in solutions to problems on the government level. The lesson would not have to be to in depth but just a quick overview of what powers are given to the federal government, how they were able to pass these laws, and that states and local governments are able to pass their own regulations regarding the environment. This would fit well with the whole picture of sustainability.

March 5, 2014 Working with the third graders at the elementary school today, I think that we really got through to them with global warming and clean energies. The umbrella demonstration and explanation worked well to get the idea stuck in their heads. Going around through the different groups in the stations we really tried to get through to them why coal and oil are bad energies and that they contribute to global warming. A few groups had a hard time making the leap from coal burning to global warming but eventually they all seemed to follow how coal and oil connected to global warming. One group really surprised us following that line of thought really easily and one boy in the group commented on how local, county, and state governments should work together with people to stop these things from happening. This connection was more than we could have hoped for but it really made me feel as though we were getting what we wanted across to them and some of them were already thinking about solutions. The photos that we showed the groups were also quite a shock and helped get them to realize the severity of coal and oil use. Overall I think that the climate system and global warming has gotten through to the kids and the only thing left to do is follow up on the worksheet that we gave them for homework. Also, I think it would be beneficial to go over or recap this connection again as well as try to extend this connection to the light switch. I think if they could run through the connection starting a the light switch and moving all the way through to global warming it would help connect together most of the systems and stations that we have been doing.

In the first grade class I find it really difficult to gauge what the kids are taking away from the lesson and also to keep them focused on what we are supposed to be doing. Specifically today, it was challenging to get my group to write a creative story that was different than Michael Bird Boy. My group ended up with a story that was almost completely the same as Michael Bird Boy but the factory was different. I even would point to and talk about different options from the step up to solutions model but they still struggled to bridge the connection to their own story. It was also difficult to have the kids write any words. Half of my group could spell and write fairly well and the other half was struggling more so one half of the group would be farther ahead asking questions about the next part while the other kids would need me to help them spell words. If I helped the few kids spell and write their words the other group would get distracted and off topic while waiting for them to catch up and if I tried to do both at once and keep the one side moving with the other side still writing the kids still writing would get frustrated with being left behind. It was difficult to keep them all on the same page.

March 6, 2014 In the research groups today it was interesting to hear/see what sort of information the kids honed in on and found important about their county. Some people found information regarding protest and want for regulation important and others found certain instances of pollution and how they were dealt with. I also found it interesting how far some of them were able to take the stakeholder definition. One girl used an article from her county where a fertilizer company polluted topsoil in a community nearby their plant. The solution was the buying out of the people's land and removal of the topsoil. When asked what stakeholders were involved in this situation she was only able to identify the company and the organization that brought the lawsuit against the company. She did not make the connection to the people who we forced to leave their homes. To start the session and after taking a break the group played some ice breaker games which I thought was a great idea to help make them feel more comfortable in this new environment. It seemed that it did not quite work as well as it should have. The kids were not really responding or answering questions throughout the entire time. I think this might be due to feeling uncomfortable not with each other but with the large number of us there. I think it would be beneficial to do some more of these ice breakers but do them including all of us so they begin to feel more comfortable with everyone involved in the program. I think along side of this some sort of short ice breaker or exercise that would introduce the student to their mentor. This way they would feel more comfortable reaching out to us if they have questions.

March 19, 2014 Today was the second to last day at Tamarac and I was very impressed with both the first and the third graders. In the third grade class, all the kids did so well connecting everything together. I am excited to see the whole systems story and what it will look like. In the first grade classroom I was very impressed with the story that my group had written by the end of the time. It was really helpful to have the third graders during todays stage of the writing. The first graders struggled a little bit adding detail to the story and branching out from the plot of Michael Bird-Boy. The third graders were able to add another dimension to the story that the group liked and was able to work with. By the end of the time we actually had all of the sentences for the story written and it was actually pretty elaborate. With the help of the third grader, my group was able to take the story from just a farm with dying plants to a food shortage due to pollution. I think the finished project will be a great story.

March 20, 2014 Today was another week with the secondary research program. We have just started to work with mentee's and I am interested to see how that goes. We got to do a little work with them today and part of that involved e-mailing a country worker in the county that they had to set up an interview time. While doing this my mentee had a very good point, what if they do not email back? If after this email and another, the official/worker does not email back, do we have a back up plan? This should be something that we think about going forward. Next session would be a good time to see if everyone has gotten a reply and if not to send another email. If not many of them at that point have received a reply from the person then we should definitely be prepared with a backup plan. Today we did another ice breaker and again I think it was good. At the end of the ice breaker, they asked some of us what animal we would want to be and this plays into how I think that we should do one or tow ice breakers with them if we are going to do more. They do not know each other but they also do not know us. The more we move forward this may not be as beneficial though because we are starting to build relationships with our mentees. Another thing, is the challenge of wifi when we are the first room. There is not much that we can do about that but it is something that should be kept in mind when planning.

March 25, 2014 In my personal opinion, the discussion in class today was the best discussion that we have had thus far. When I read the readings before class I was left confused and did not have much to take away from it. The discussion really brought forward the main points in the reading and made them more clear. I had a moment towards the end of the discussion where everything seemed to come together and resonate very well with me. Everything we had been talking about thus far and other concepts and discussions I have had in other classes connected and really sunk in. I personally made lots of important connections as to the origin of some of the literacy goals that we work towards and why they are important. Then taking the connection further to ways that we have incorporated these into our curriculum already or examples from experience thus far made it come full circle. Contributions from other students into the conversation were also very helpful and got me thinking a lot. Especially the point that we work within this gray area of content that is not absolute but we still want them to be able to understand the content and not confuse them to much, yet we still want to challenge them and not make it to simple. Finding this balance and reinforcing that things are not simple or perfect and there will always be more problems to work through. The discussion regarding adding intrinsic value to the environment and nature was a conversation that connected really well with concepts and content from other classes I have already taken. It all reaffirmed the connections I had already made but also made more connections to things we have been talking about this year. Specifically how the context or framed for intrinsic value of the environment need to be instilled in the youth of the world. This being added to their base or personal lens will make them think in a more sustainable way.

During the discussion about the different levels of education and if we had seen levels thus far I was not able to recall a situation where this had happened but the more that I think about it there was an instance. I believe that I wrote about it in another entry the day that it happened. It was when we were working at Tamarac with the third graders and teaching them about cities. We were with one group and had gone through the diagram, did a little discussion about what makes a city good and what makes a city bad, and showed them the pictures of oil spills and tar sands. After all of this one of the students asked us why county, state, and federal governments do not work together to make sure that these things do not happen anymore and why they do not work to make cities better. This was a completely unexpected question and I never really thought that they would be able to understand it on that sort of level.

March 27, 2014 Finding out today that my mentee was extremely confused about what was happening with the research program and what exactly she was doing was not that much of a surprise to me. When I would talk to her about things during the time periods or she would be given more work today for the week, she seemed to be slightly confused and overwhelmed. I think that she does know more about it then she gives herself credit for though. I have gone through the memos that she has done and although she has not completed them all, she was doing well with what she was doing. I tried to push her in a direction of thinking of ways to answer some of the questions that she did not answer and places she might be able to find information etc. I think she just can not see the big picture at this point or really knows 100% what to do her overall research on. As things move forward I think she will be able to see the bigger picture of what she is doing. I have been sending her emails about what is happening, answering questions she emailed me, and giving her feedback on things she has posted to the wiki. Going forward I will email her more frequently checking up on her to see if she has questions and what not.

I feel like there is another issue that as a class we are having to deal with though. There is some sort of disconnect between what the graduate students are doing and what we are doing. It makes it more difficult for me to be able to help my mentee as well as contribute to the curriculum of the research program. I have felt bad about this because last week my mentee had a lot of questions about her upcoming interview and I was unsure how to answer them. I did not really know anything about the interview and what was being expected of them. I looked for information on google docs that had been shared with me about the interviews etc but there really was not much about it so I really did not know what to tell her. I think this will only get more confusing and frustrating as we go along unless this disconnect is fixed.

April 3, 2014 Today we finished up our session at Tamarac with the 1st graders. I think that it went really well. We got to hear all of the stories and it was interesting to see all of the different directions that the stories went. I did have an interesting exchange with one student. Near the end when the teacher asked the students to share with others in the room what they learned and what they liked I saw one girl standing alone so I went to talk to her. I asked her if she had a group and if she wanted to join one, she responded no to both questions. I asked her next what she learned, she again responded with a no so I got more specific and asked if she learned about air pollution. She again said no. After this I asked what her story was about, which she would not respond to, and if she had fun writing her story which she responded no to. This is when the teacher called all of the students back together and sharing time was over. I am not sure what was going on with the little girl, whether she was in a bad mood or really felt like she did not learn anything. I guess we will never know. Despite this interaction, I think that the program with the first graders as a whole went very well. The students in my group seemed very proud of the story they had written and it was great to see them share it with the rest of the class.

April 15, 2014 Today we went through questions that we are going to answer or touch upon in the event during earth week. When going through these questions I realized that they were in a way a recall of what we have learned all throughout the semester. The first question was what changes do we think need to be made to the education system. This was recalling on everything we had read/watched about the public education system that we have set up and what we were able to retain from it to form our own opinions on the public education system. Most of the other questions were a reflection on what we were able to learn hands on working in the classrooms at Tamarac and the research groups. It was really helpful to go through the questions and think about exactly what we learned. Even though I we had previously talked about a lot of the things that we touched upon today or I had thought about them, talking about them really solidified it.

April 17, 2014 Today was a little frustrating for me. By the end of the session I got the feeling that my mentee does not really want to be a in the program. She has previously told me that her mom signed her up for the program even though she did not really want to do it and the farther we get into the paper and the presentation, the more I get the feeling she does not want to be involved. I feel as though this disinterest is translating to her not trying to understand the information as well as her not working to her full potential on her assignment and papers. Most of the work I did with her today was like pulling teeth. I worked with her a lot on the rationale and methods section of her paper today. Majority of the time was spent trying to explain why diagnosing a county is important and why she researched the things she did. I would pose questions such as "why did you look at all of these things about Niagara County and what can you learn from it?" which she would answer with "because you told us too". This went on for awhile and it seemed like we were getting no where. It got to the point where I would try to explain things and by the end she would tell me she spaced out, did not hear anything, or it just went in one ear and out the other. By the end of the session I was unsure whether or not she understood what to put in the rationale in methods section, why she was researching all these things, and what she can pull from all of the information she has learned. Ultimately, I think she is just trying to get to the end of this program whether she learns something or not. In the back of my mind I have been feeling sort of like this since near the beginning but today it was more evident. Maybe I am not giving her enough credit and she is just struggling a lot but I am unsure of how her final paper and presentation are going to end up.

April 22, 2014 The talk today during class time that we went to for Earth Week on Inter-generational ethics, environment, and public education I think went very well. There were a lot of different thoughts and voices being heard which was nice. I think the most interesting part of the talk was having the younger students there to be asked questions and throw their own perspectives in. We benefited from hearing from them and I think they also benefited from being included in the discussion. We showed them that their opinions mattered to us and they to have a voice, as they should. There was one thing that was said at the end of the talk by one of the kids that I found very interesting. They had been asked to think about what school would be like if they did not receive grades. I was thinking about this question in a sense that school should not always be about grades but that getting good grades and doing well on tests has become one of the focuses. I was also sort of focusing on the fact that kids getting bad grades for whatever reason may discourage them and they might think that they are not smart. The way that some of the questions were being asked to the children I think others in the room were thinking the same way. As an response to one of the questions asked, one of the kids had said that if they did not have a grade they would not know if they needed to level up. This made me think about grades from another perspective. Not only does it hinder those who might be bad a testing and make them think that they are not smart but it can also lower the bar for smart students. If a kid gets a good grade on a test and they see it as satisfactory, how likely are they to return to the subject matter of that test in an attempt to learn more? Will they go back to find the answers to the questions that they got wrong? It probably depends on the students but this is another perspective on how the focus of education on grades or tests can have negative effects.