JW+Week+4

Senior Project Update //March 3, 2015// **The Project:** Finally got to begin my case study. After collecting curriculum data from Eco Ed with Kim Fortun, I realized I needed to go back and polish my initial framework for this case study. I am going to focus primarily on bridging the causality gap and filling the holes in current education. From my first data collection I came to realize the span of ecological education. It is deeper than facts and figures focused on the environment. Ecological education is about systems thinking, and to get kids to understand those systems, causality needs to be addressed.

The following are a few examples of my initial data. While working with the fourth grade afterschool program, we began with a simple exercise that set the stage water consumption and disposal. The students were asked where the water goes when it leaves the school. They eventually linked it to the pipes, then the (on site) wastewater treatment plant, then the local water systems. Next, using maps they made the connections between their schools location, the surrounding area, their personal adventures, and the surrounding ecology.

It was interesting to see the holes in their current thought processes, but it was also relatable. It is safe to assume that their education thus far has been from a mechanistic/ definitive approach instead of a holistic one. While I need more data to back up this assumption, the three students that I have worked with all seem to be on that same mechanistic page. The current approach to EcoEd is to connect those relationships between systems and processes to establish an environmental literacy at an elementary school level.

I also learned quite a few things from the teaching perspective. This school, Tamarac is not the average school when it comes to sustainability. They are surrounded by diverse ecosystems, they have solar panels, and their own wastewater treatment plant. As far as sustainability goes, they are ahead of the game form the outside looking in. Because this school is the home of my first case study, I will also include an overview of their facilities and environmental footprint as it compares to local elementary schools.

QUESTION: Should I bring ‘ecology’ into this? Or will that take me too far off track from sustainability education?

-Jeremy Washington