eco-ed+work+group

=ecoed working group=

portfolios guidelines for research report and presentation

dates for workshops

ecoed literacy goals

projects
__what's on your plate?__

__sustainability and photography__ This project area includes (at least) two types of projects. On type involves fairly technical work with a camera, somehow integrating sustainability through the objects photographed. Another type involves easy digital camera work to focus attention on sustainability issues -- like the microecology of a backyard.

__environmental puzzles__ These exercises help kids narrate complex causation -- resulting in indoor air quality, for example. We are working on a set of puzzles in which kids figure out the components of indoor air, and outdoor air, for example. We also have an exercise in which kids figure out the causes and consequences of climate change, and of the BP oil spill. Workshops in which kids work on environmental puzzles would end with a news show in which they present the narratives they've learned to tell. The news show could also include interviews in which empathy101 exercises are acted out.

__empathy101__ These exercises help kids imagine lives other than their own, including the lives of those affected by environmental destruction, but also the lives and challenges of scientists, journalists and others who work on sustainability issues. We have one exercise in which kids are asked to imagine how they would feel, and what they would do, if the steam near their house, as well as their house's water supply, were polluted by a nearby company. We want to develop other exercises in which kids imagine the work and challenges of a scientists working to take care of air, oceans, etc.

__myths, legends and lessons__ In these exercises, kids are asked to write and illustrate stories that encourage environmental sustainability, building on the example of sustainability stories from around the world, and also on what they have learned about particular sustainability problems. We are now working on a exercise focused on greed, need and environmental sustainability, for example, in which kids will hear an African story about how wastefulness made the sky far away, and learn about ecological footprints, consumerism and the garbage crisis. The stories kids put together will be presented as slide shows at the end of the workshop.

__creative writing relays__ In these exercises, kids are given a story starter -- setting, characters, particular problems that need to emerge and be addressed in the story -- and they work in relay to write chapters. EcoEd Writing Relay Chapter 1

__environmental debates__ In these workshops, kids spend time learning the background and dimensions of a controversial issue -- like reliance on coal energy -- then participate in a debate in which they are assigned sides and roles.

reading relays