Kelley's+Journal+Notes

1) What educational outcomes are called for by sustainability problems and challenges? 2) What habits of mind, language and practice need to be undercut for sustainability problems to be recognized and addressed? 3) What experiences and learning are likely to provoke the (cultural) transformations called for by sustainability challenges?
 * __ Prompts: __**

Wondering how we can bridge the gap between STS and engineering courses... I had the misfortune of overhearing a group of my own Environmental Engineering classmates talk about sustainability classes and heard the following things: "They are a bunch of philosophical socialists...", "They just talk about things, but never solve any problems...", "Those classes are such a waste of time...". This group didn't even know there was a sustainability major - just the minor, which they said would be a total waste (ouch...). Not sure how we can change this opinion. It doesn't even make any sense to me, although I realize that I am fairly biased. I wouldn't have nearly as complete an understanding of my engineering coursework and importance without this set of courses that I have taken with the STS department. Ugh, I have no answers to this, but am very frustrated by it.......
 * March 20, 2014**

I was reading a local newspaper today when I came across this article on the front page: I was so disheartened that the entire article focused on the change being due to Common Core "expectations." Not the fact that they thought students would learn more, enjoy school more, etc... But because of the "standards" that these KINDERGARTNERS are expected to have mastered by the end of the school year. If there is one time in a child's life when we cannot afford to stifle their creativity, this is it. Kindergarten was when I first began to think of myself as a "big kid" going to school and being so proud of myself... With all of these expectations and requirements, I'm certain that even more students will become disenchanted by "learning" and hate school.
 * March 7, 2014**

The EWB film screening today was great, overall. I spent most of it being incredibly jealous that I was sitting on the sidelines instead of participating in any of these great programs. I am actually working on designing a passive solar brine collector system with my capstone group that is imagined to be a good fit for the community in Sandubidi, Panama (where RPI's Engineers Without Borders are). As such, I am very familiar with the program being run there. Unfortunately, I don't think their short film was designed to educate anyone on what the project actually is... If I hadn't already known so much about the project, I would have no idea what the purpose of their work was (besides testing the groundwater for arsenic and trying to, in some vague way, bringing water security to the community). Their way of running the screening also seemed to be very inefficient. It was clear that they intended this screening to educate people about their program and to perhaps gain members; however, they never explained what EWB is or does until the very end, when Kim asked. I was also not a fan of the jumping from video to video, with no dialogue about how the different chapters of EWB work together and what they aim to do (the importance of showing these seemingly randomly-chosen videos). The program is really great, but it is VERY under-represented. This may be the bitterness of a missed opportunity speaking, but I feel that the recruiting and awareness of EWB at RPI is severely lacking.
 * March 2, 2014**

The first meeting of the Upper Elementary School Research Program went incredibly well! We have a group of very intelligent and excitable students who seem to be ready to take on just about any challenge we give them, which is excellent. A few things we need to work on, however... I noticed a few of us telling students they were "wrong," simply when they were not giving the exact response that he/she was expecting. I think we all really need to work on this, so we don't discourage anyone from making guesses. One specific incident was when someone asked the students what an element was and one student from the back said, "water and fire." He was actually correct, we just weren't clear enough about what kind of response we were looking for. Instead, he was just told that he was wrong, and everyone moved on. I think the complexity of issues (and especially environmental issues) is very important and we should encourage varieties of answers as much as possible. One other issue was the lack of time at the end of our session to explain the memo and reconvene. I think it would have been helpful to be able to wrap up the session with a little bit of reflection on what the students spent the last two hours doing and preparing them for their homework and the next week. Otherwise, I am really happy with how the meeting went, and can't wait to continue working with them on their county assessments!
 * February 27, 2014 **

I am currently completely overwhelmed with the job search and interview process. I have open 18 different tabs of companies to apply to and have been thinking a lot about how much pressure is put on RPI's near-graduates to find a career before graduation. Even my advisor, who is one of the kindest people I know, made the comment that if a job comes along, take it, because it looks bad to be unemployed out of college. At the same time, I feel very ill-prepared for the types of careers available to me as an Environmental Engineer. I have always wanted to work somewhere where I could feel that I was doing my part to preserve the environment, but didn't know the best way to get there. I just so happened to luck out and find the perfect fit for me, but I feel that many students applying for college who may have felt the same way I did about their goals may not know the best path to the career they truly want. I think students, at least at the high school level, should have a "Sustainable Careers Day" where they can hear from experts in a variety of fields about what they do on a day-to-day basis and what they majored in for college. That would probably increase awareness of a lot of fields that young environmentalists may never have known about.
 * February 20, 2014 **

After now seeing the film "A Class Divided" twice, I can't help but to wonder if there is some way we can teach sustainability or environmentalism in such an effective and life-changing way as did Jane Elliot with her students. This has been at the back of my mind for a year now, and I am no closer to an answer. However, I do strongly feel that all of the efforts we do with the EcoEd program work toward this goal, even just in regard to changing how students feel about the environment and learning in general. Maybe this does not need to be one memorable "experiment", but instead a series of small excursions or modules that slowly begin to change how our students view sustainability issues. With our trips to Tamarac, for instance, we have spread the visits out over a few months. The students will then be a bit more familiar with environmental problems and their place in solving them. So theoretically, it would be nice to have one module with the complete "wow factor", but I believe we can accomplish the same goals through the method of repetition.
 * February 17, 2014 **

I have a new appreciation for teachers. In preparation for what would have been my first meeting with the Tamarac Environmental Engineering Research Group (cancelled due to snow), I spent //hours// last night testing out what I thought would have been a very simple experiment. It's one thing to follow a curriculum, but completely another to make your own and adjust it to the age level and skill sets of the students. Of course with a project like this, I needed to modify my own curriculum - but in general, we need a better source for attaining environmental curriculum. The teacher that I interviewed last semester spoke about how difficult it is to find the time to create an environmental lesson plan (regardless of how interested the teacher may be), unless the information is already available. From her experience, teachers use Pinterest a lot for such ideas, as well as a resource called "Teachers Pay Teachers," in which teachers create curriculum materials and then make it available to others for a small fee (or sometimes, for free). Even when we do our curriculum reviews, the materials are so sporadically-placed throughout the internet, with no easy way to access them. With a better database, I think that it will be much easier for teachers to adapt their lessons to the environmental modules provided for them.
 * February 14, 2014 **

Overall, I think today's visit to Tamarac went incredibly well, especially considering that it was our first visit of the semester. The "systems" session with the 3rd graders went particularly well, and the students loved travelling to the different centers. The group I traveled with went to the ecosystems (?) station first, and the timing seemed very off. I myself honestly had no idea what the students were supposed to get out of that center, although it seems like that was a timing issue. The other groups went very smoothly... The bike-to-light guys were very interactive with the students and were a lot of fun to watch. And Scott's aquaponics center was definitely a highlight for all of the students. I would say the only area for improvement is timing... We have a very good group of students that seem to love to learn!
 * February 12, 2014 **

Obviously, we also had some timing issues with the first graders... Although, all things considered, this may have even worked to our advantage, with the students now gaining more time to learn about the model and how to use it. The students were VERY giggly and easily distracted, so I think we may need to follow Mr. Share's and Mrs. Bailey's methods a bit more in trying to get everyone back on track. Overall, this went very well!

I had the opportunity to sit in on a keynote speech the other day for the Black Family Technology Day held at EMPAC. The keynote speech was based around empowering youth (particularly minorities) to be interested in STEM careers. The speaker, [|Christopher Emdin], travels around the country with eclectic education techniques to inspire youth. His speech today included a discussion on the importance of the arts in education. He even referred to STEM as "STEAM," with an emphasis on Art to tie together Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. I LOVE this terminology and wish that more people would see art and expressive thought as the "gateway" to sustainability issues. That is why I think what we do in the elementary classrooms is so important. Our schools need a break from the traditional "memorize then recite" practices that leave students disenchanted by STEM fields, and learning in general.
 * February 7, 2014 **

While going through this week's readings, I was yet again reminded how difficult it is to raise awareness of and interest in environmental issues, solely based on the way they are "framed". And, although depressing, I have to admit that I tend to align my beliefs on framing sustainability issues in a similar way as do Matt Ridley and Bobbi Low in "Can Selfishness Save The Environment?" I believe that most people still lack the desire and will to change their daily routines when they cannot perceive any immediate effects. That is, UNLESS it will at the same time save them money, time, or effort. In that sense, the easiest way to find solutions that are viable for sustainability issues is to "sell" it to the public as being good for the environment AS WELL AS being cheaper, easier, faster, or some combination of these. Unfortunately, I feel that this is currently the best way to frame sustainability issues... That is, until environmental conditions get noticeably worse by the public. THEN, when people feel that their lives and routines are at risk, they will come together to enact change. Kind of a "Things will get worse before they can get better" thing, which I have very mixed feelings about....
 * February 3, 2014 **

Ever since I took the generic engineer's Professional Development III course, I have been considering communication (or lack thereof) to be the largest and most significant challenge of sustainability education and thought. Throughout a vast array of activities that we went through in that class, we learned just how complicated it is to convey your point in both an accurate and a compelling way. In particular, I remember going through a number of slides with ambiguous "I-see-one-thing-and-you-see-another" pictures on them and seeing how different people think. How can we possibly teach K-12 students (or even adults) how to think about sustainability problems in a way that everyone can understand?
 * January 30, 2014 **

So I have been mulling that over... Today, in my Capstone course, we spent an entire class period reviewing presentation skills. Simple enough for a near-graduate from RPI, but I got to thinking how many presentations/lectures I have attended that I have had little to no interest in. 9 times out of 10, this was unrelated to the subject matter, but instead due to the way the material was taught and to a poor presentation style. Going back to my main point, communication is EVERYTHING. We can teach students/adults sustainability material all day long, but unless we first learn how to present and teach this subject matter. I think EcoEd is on a really good track with this... Now we need to work on how to create a system in which those we teach will be inspired enough to go forward and propagate the message.