There are four Working groups in the Environmental Literacy Research Group: Carbon group, Water group, Biodiversity and Evolution group, and Connecting Human Actions with Environmental Systems group. Each gourp works in one strand of Environmental Literacy.
Aim of Project and Groups:
In formal science education, environmental topics are often covered in a disconnected way. For instance, students learn about water in separate life, earth, and physical science units. We believe that for students to be environmentally literate, they need to understand how interconnected systems support life on our planet. The purpose of this project is to design effective curricular and teacher support materials for teaching about life, earth, and physical sciences in a connected way.
What are MSU folks doing?
We are forming working groups with K-12 teachers and MSU researchers to explore students' understandings of science concepts basic to environmental literacy. Working group topics include water systems, carbon systems, biodiversity, and human actions.
What would K-12 teachers do?
Teacher participation could mean as little as giving a pretest and posttest to students. We’ll supply answer keys highlighting big ideas and common misconceptions. These keys can help you assess your own students’ environmental science understanding.
Other opportunities include…
Attending a fall and spring working group meeting (substitutes provided)
- Sharing materials you use with other working group members
- Working with the group to develop environmental science learning progressions
Teacher support includes substitutes for attendance of meetings, travel costs, and minigrants for supplies and materials!
Every year, we hold summer workshop at KBS (Kellogg Biological Station), Kalamazoo County. People with various education experience come to share their interests, concerns, approaches, and expectations. Please download 2008 KBS Workshop Handout and Presentation materials as following files.
2008 KBS Conference
Anderson, C. W. (2008, June). Learning Progressions for Environmental Science Literacy. (Handout) (Slides)
How can teachers join?
To join or learn more about this project, please contact envlit@msu.edu
- Personal Services Contract, for teachers earning more than $599
Link - Invoice form (download)
- Environmental Literacy consent forms (download) (for teachers who are administering tests only; includes student assent but not parental consent)
- ROLE consent forms (download) (for teachers engaging in more intensive data collection including classroom observations, student interviews, or artifacts of student work; includes parental consent)
