Kevin+Hwang+-+Curriculum+Reviews+-+Fenceline+Communities

Toxic trial: taking responsibility for environmental problems. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/lessons_plans/toxictrial/

** W **** hat organization developed the curriculum module you are evaluating? ** This curriculum was developed by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), an American public broadcaster and television program distributer. The particular curriculum was published under the NewsHour brand, which is a news program broadcasted by television.

** What is the mission of the organization? **  The mission of PBS is to serve “ the American public with programming and services of the highest quality, using media to educate, inspire, entertain and express the diversity of perspectives.” source: http://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/mission-statement/ ** What is the educational mission and philosophy of the organization? **  The educational mission of PBS is to offer all American children educational media to help them prepare for success in school. In addition, PBS offers arts and cultural programming to help keep the arts alive today. Its philosophy is that  media can be used to “educate, inspire, entertain and express the diversity of perspectives,” and that doing so will empower individuals and strengthen “the social, democratic, and cultural health of the U.S.” source: http://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/mission-statement/

** What does the curriculum module aim to teach? In other words: what are the learning outcomes supposed to be? **  The curriculum has middle and high school students simulate a mock trial to determine who is responsible for the creation of the problem of toxic waste. The defendants include the consumers who purchase tech products, the EPA, two tech companies responsible for creating toxic waste damage, and waste disposal management companies that have received fines for not disposing of toxic waste properly. The goal of this activity is to teach students that “everyone is responsible to some degree for the problem of toxic waste and everyone can be part of the solution.” The students determine guilt and responsibility by assigning each defendant a percentage of both. ** Do you think the curriculum is appropriately designed to produce the intended learning outcomes? **  The curriculum is well-designed to produce the intended learning outcomes. By going through the mock trial and trying to assign responsibility through percentages, students learn that everyone, including the consumers who purchase products whose byproducts include toxic waste, the EPA, and the companies who produced the toxic waste, can be held somewhat liable. Furthermore, by seeing how everyone is responsible for causing the toxic waste, they learn that everyone is responsible for helping to clean the toxic waste. ** Does this curriculum teach the kind of literacies the EcoEd Research Group advocates? **  The curriculum teaches many of the kinds of literacies that are advocated. They learn how their own actions, especially the use of products produced with toxic waste byproducts can have negative effects. They learn about the role of the EPA, learn how they can help prevent pollution, learn how various groups can cause the creation of a superfund zone, and how they need to work together to fix it. Finally, they learn about the decision making that led to the specific superfund zone that they are studying. ** What could be layered into this curriculum so that it addresses more of the learning outcomes that the EcoEd Group advocates? **  The curriculum could also address the student’s ability to analyze data by incorporating having them analyze the superfund zone’s water conditions to see the effects of the toxic waste.