Curriculum+Innovations!

New Module! – Expansion on the SSRP program SSRP was an excellent program but some things we could do to make it even better is to have a theme every class. Starting with basic things like Water and Air and expanding out to Population and other different “not so obvious” pollution/environmental problems. To accomplish this, the mentors would need to assemble on the Tuesday class and make a plan and short powerpoint for Friday. The module should only take about 25 minutes, leaving plenty of time for research, and at the end of class, the student researchers would present what they found, similar to the exercise where we had them line up. This would allow more structure for the class as well as keep people on task – a problem even I had trouble with. For an example structure, I will lay it out below: Leaders: Mentors / Kim Fortun Objectives: - Learn how Air is polluted and how much is needed to live healthily - Learn the color system the U.S. employs - Quantify what the units are (e.g. what is 350 parts per million, what does air look like at that level?, etc.) - Learn where your country stands in terms of air compared to others - Environmental advocacy / organizations / governments stance Outline of events: 3:00 – 3:10 - Welcome 3:11 – 3:35 - Module on Air Quality / pollution 3:36 – 4:30 - Research 4:31 – 5:00 - Presentations on what they find Main Questions: Why do we focus on 350 ppm? Greenhouse gases? How are countries fighting emissions? How do companies feel about emissions standards?

New Module 2! – PBL initiative with how to make a school more environmentally friendly Project based learning, or PBL, is a key method of educating students. It focuses on group projects, where students are tasked with solving real world problems and utilizes essential problem solving and communication skills. In this module, students are tasked with changing one aspect of their school to make it more environmentally friendly. Mentors are charged with making sure solutions aren't simple like "more recycling" and are more challenging. Projects should be roughly a week long. The timeline can be modified for more extensive projects. It is focused on younger students to make them think in terms of sustainability.

Example Problem: The school is cold. Where is all the heat?

Day 1: Pick a problem

The school is cold. What are we going to do about it? Why is it cold? How is the school constructed? How big is the school? Decide what data is important to gather. (Critical thinking).

Day 2: Gather data

What tools are in place to keep the school warm? Are the windows open / doors open in a lot of rooms? What is the school made of? Is it colder in the morning or afternoon? Talk to staff to get a better picture. How much heat is wasted? (Research)

Day 3: Gather data / research

Continuation of Day 2. (Research)

Day 4: Problem solve

What can we do to make sure the school isn't cold? Do we add blankets in every room? Do we turn off the air conditioning? Do we close the windows and make sure doors aren't propped open? (Problem solving)

Day 5: Simple mock up / Presentation

Talk about what you learned by presenting to the class. Why did we do this project? What is important to take into account when you're figuring out problems? Who did you talk to? Why? What did we learn? (This will teach more communication and delivery skills)