On the Svalbard archipelago, halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, lies the Global Seed Vault. Buried on a remote island this fail-safe seed storage represents the world's largest collection of crop seeds. The seed storage protects against loss of a crop variety due to weather, war, or other ecological disasters. As we transition from summer into fall, plants are busy spreading their investment in the future: seeds. This month's teacher tips for Elementary and Middle School take a close look at seed dispersal.
As the 2016 presidential election approaches, find the candidates' positions on the issues most important to your students and use the lens of sustainability to create alternatives.
The Scarsdale Teacher Institute provided opportunities for teams of teachers to join our professional development courses this summer, CELF Summer Institute in Education for Sustainability and Citizen Science and Social Justice in your Community. In both courses, teachers identified driving questions and worked through curriculum makeovers. Here are two projects that are being implemented this fall:
Evaluating Student Drop Off:Unit/Project Summary: For 5th Grade science / math.
Students at
Edgemont: Seely Place School will be collecting data on the number and type of vehicles that drop students off in the morning at their school along with the amount of open seats in cars. The students will also research the amount (or approximate amount based on vehicle type) of pollution that the cars are emitting. The students will then graph this data and propose improvements for the school's morning drop off.
Health of the Brook: Unit/Project Summary: For 9th or 12th grade students.
In this unit, students will study the water quality of the Scarsdale High School (SHS) brook that flows through the floodplain where SHS was built. Students will collect and interpret data using probes and macroinvertebrate organisms; ID the macroinvertebrates found; organize the data; topographic map interpretation; and organize results and prepare a presentation to the Town Engineer on the quality of the water based on the abiotic and biotic parameters collected.
To learn more about these or other initiatives, please contact Alan Cass.
CELF @ The Masters School
We look forward to working with Masters School educators this week in an introductory workshop designed to create opportunities for the school to develop common EfS understandings and to implement them within and outside of their classrooms. Workshop participants will practice the habits of systems thinking that empower students to better understand the systems at play in their school and broader communities.
CELF Receives IBM Strategic Planning Grant
Thanks to IBM, we rolled up our sleeves last week and worked through a Strategic Planning Process. The grant provides consulting services to identify CELF's unique strengths in professional development to maximize our impact on teaching and learning. Thank you IBM!
CELF Thought Leadership
Executive Director, Katie Ginsberg, will bring her leadership insight to students in Montclair State University Graduate School's Master of Public Health Program next month. She will present strategic and marketing insights that are essential to supporting innovative nonprofits and will share the entrepreneurial spirit which fuels CELF's success.
CELF's mission is to make Education for Sustainability (EfS) an integral part of every school's curricula and culture - from kindergarten through high school - to prepare current and future students to be active and responsible citizens of a sustainable world.
