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----------
> From: TJP Market Development 
> To: 'tjamitch@snet.net'
> Subject: Environmental Education
> Date: Monday, December 30, 1996 3:59 PM
> 
> Dear Mr. Mitchell,
> 
 
> I came across your school's environmental earth science page on the web and 
> wanted to learn more about its structure and implementation.  The program 
> looks very impressive.
> 
> I'm nearing completion of a master's in environmental science at Johns 
> Hopkins, and hope to parlay my varied work experiences into a position as
> an environmental educator.   Out of interest, I have begun to design a 
> similar, four-year environmental education curriculum for grades 9-12 that 
> would provide students with a more hands-on, practical understanding of the 
> earth sciences and their relation to economics, business/trade, government 
> and geography.  It is my dream to be able to teach in such a program and 
> help students discover an appreciation for science that I have found 
> through my studies of the environment.
> 
> Would it be possible to obtain more information about how Lewis Mills began 
> its program and the steps you (and others) had to go through to get a 
> program into operation?  If possible, I'd be delighted to speak with you 
> via phone to learn more about how your program works, the backgrounds 
> required of the instructors, etc.  Thank you for your time, and I look 
> forward to hearing from you soon.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> David Ropa
> dropa@tjpdc.com

Mr. Ropa:
I'd be happy to share info with you - I can be reached after school
(2:30-4:30pm) at 860-673-0423, or we can email.

I have some comments relating to specific things you asked - 

structure of the course -

We decided to take a traditional earth science course and strengthen those
parts that relate most directly to management of our planet.  I define mgt
as a cycle of 3 steps - inventory, planning,  implementation.  Inventory is
primarily a learning process- what do we need to know in order to plan
well?

In order to strengthen parts of an earth science course within the
constraint of 180 50-min (at that time) periods , we had to weaken other
parts. Less emphasis is placed on rock and mineral identfication for
example.  This year we have gone to shorter periods, so we have to focus
even tighter on our core information, but we also have the new pleasure of
double a period lab every 6 days. What we chose to do is to redesign the
labs to use the expanded time, not to make up for lost class time.

As you saw from the course description on our home page, the course has 5
sections based on Earth divisions-  Space, Atmosphere, Oceans, Internal,
Land, and a section on Foundations of science.  It would also make sense to
do Internal earth processes first, but we want to do weather during the
winter when the weather is more interesting.  Land is last because the
weathering/erosion processes that wear down the landscape must be
introduced in the other sections first, and the weather for fieldwork is
better outside at the end of the school year. 

implementation-

I'll probably put a course topic outline on the web site soon, but
basically Foundations is .5 marking period, space .5, Atmosphere about .75,
oceans .5, Internal .75, and Land is 1.0 marking period. (4 marking periods
in all). Every 6 day cycle we have 5 classes and 1 double period lab. The
classes may be lecture based, video, group exercises based on a handout,
reading/research independently, or most often combinations of styles. The
text is used primarily for homework, because it is an earth science text,
not an environmental earth science text, so we use it to reinforce that
day's class presentation. There are 2 tests per marking period, notebooks
and homework are collected or checked in class. 

You mentioned you were seeking a "position as an envronmental educator" -
in CT, that field is not a certified teaching area - I'm certified in Earth
Science, Biology, and General Science for example. Environmental education
generalists that I know have mostly found work around here as nature center
professional educators, some in state government, museums,  private
corporations and maybe private schools.  There is growing interest in
magnet schools that may accept a general certification.  The "environmental
educator" field seems to gain and lose in acceptance depending on the
economy and public perception of  the quality of public schools: when times
are tight, or schools seem weak, the public wants emphasis on "hard
science", not perceived "soft" environmental stuff.  

From another angle, environmental science can also be viewed as the
application of the "hard" sciences, and so should be the highest level
science course offered, with earth science, bio, chem, physics as
prerequisites!  The point I'm trying to make is that preconceptions of what
environmental science is will haunt you as you move into the educational
field - those "varied work experiences" may be more impressive to someone
than your masters degree in env sci.  

>out of interest, I have begun to design a 
> similar, four-year environmental education curriculum for grades 9-12 that 
> would provide students with a more hands-on, practical understanding of the 
> earth sciences and their relation to economics, business/trade, government 
> and geography.  

I wish I had the time to design something out of interest - the web site is
out of interest, and I've used my vacation time to do it!  A word of
caution - I am not aware of any school that would allow their students'
transcripts to say environmental science for 4 years instead of bio, chem, 
physics, and AP everything.
I've always wanted to design an environmental biology course along the
lines of making good environmental decisions based on biological/ecological
knowledge. 

Lewis Mills has a Global Studies course that also includes the physical
environment of the regions they study. 

>how Lewis Mills began its program and the steps you (and others) had to go through to get a 
> program into operation?  

We are still beginning this program - the course is only 4 years old, and
something has been different every year!
 
Step 1: What are the overall goals? List at least 3, no more than 7, should
probably have something to do  with the goals of the school system.

Step 2: Lay out overall course to meet these goals - assign equal time to
equally important sections.

Step 3.  List what the student should know in order to reach those goals -
this is like rewriting a textbook - have one person write, then anyone else
can comment later - if you try to do it in a committee it will take an hour
to write 3, and you need hundreds - steal  all of these "learning
objectives" as you can from somewhere else, such as my web site (credit at
the end is ok)  -  one advantage is that now all these hundreds of
statements can be easily word processed into handouts, tests, lesson plans
etc.

Step 4 - Take 180 days, subtract 3 days for each test of the year for
review and analysis, 16 days for exams,  reviews and analysis, 15 days lost
to assemblies, fire drills, bomb threats, fights, holiday insanity, etc. 
Draw lines to mark what the student needs to learn in EACH daily lesson -
now start combining simplifing, eliminating so that a high school student
can handle it - remember these are not Johns Hopkins graduate students!

Step 5 - Write a lesson plan for each day that gets the student to know the
things you've identified. This includes "performance objectives" - what
should the student be able to DO that shows they know this stuff?  I use a
database program for my lessons so I can sort lessons by a variety of
factors. Lessons had better have a small ratio of lecture to active
processes or you will be lynched.  Get lessons from other teachers as much
as possible.  Last year was the first year teaching for the other Earth
Science teacher at my school, and his schedule allowed him to sit in on one
of my classes each day - he stole everything he could (with my assistance),
then modified it for his own style and experience for his classes the next
day.

Step 6 - Do all the above steps AT THE SAME TIME on your own time because
you are teaching this course at the same time as you are planning it.     

>how your program works. 

Thats an interesting question, and hard to quantify - state test scores do
not break out earth science related questions, but we do pretty well on the
science tests. Student grades show a normal variety, our students get into
good colleges.  Students show a strong interest in the environment at my
school, even after they have me as a teacher (that always amazes me). Many
students pursue science and environmental related majors,  the student
evaluations are mostly positive, Their comments during the year  and later
often show application of classroom concepts. 

The problem with any evaluation method is that we are dealing with people,
and people cannot be objectively measured. The term "curriculum laboratory"
is an oxymoron. I wish there was a SAT2 (advanced placement) test for Earth
Science, but even that would only be applicable to the top students, not
the majority that we hope to help to make good environmental decisions. 
How do we measure if our students are making good decisions?  Amount of
recyclables? Types of cars they drive? Carpooling? Organic gardening?  The
fact that the taxpayers approved an expensive rebuilding of our science
labs?

>backgrounds required of the instructors,

teacher certification requirements in CT are pretty complicated, and I've
lost track of all the changes - approved teaching school transcript, tests,
masters degree or equivalent, continous retraining are all included - maybe
I'll put my resume on the web site - parents may be interested.

I hope this rather rambling email provides some info you can use - feel
free to call or wrte back, and I hope to get more course info on the web
site soon.

Would you mind if I put your email on my comments page?

Tony Mitchell
Lewis Mills HS  

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