Excited by the student projects!

These are great Angela, thanks for sharing! We have a Green Club that runs our bottle recycling program on campus and uses the deposit money to fund field trips to learn about how waste and emissions impact our local community.  We also have a Farm Club that revamped an unused courtyard to create and maintain a greenspace with raised beds for flowers and vegetables. It is a favorite hangout for students when the weather permits. 

I've been a loyal Flashfood user for a long time. It's an app that grocery stores can use to post overstocked produce items at discounted prices. The app tracks your savings in money and carbon emissions. However, I've found this to be very regional, so students might examine ways to expand similar offerings to new markets. 

Thanks for writing back and offering some great suggestions! Our Students for Environmental Action already does bottle and paper recycling in the school, and some of the students might join SEA to carry on their individual proposals. One of my students is starting a tree planting club and will connect with our local Trail and Forest Committee.  I'm trying to connect inteested students with local community leaders if they want to continue on with any of their projects.  

Flashfood sounds similar to the app "To Good to Go" also combats food waste from restaurants or bakeries for end of the day discount purchases.  That is a really good idea for future projects. The team of students looking at food waste is looking at composting at the HS, and then maybe collaborating with a local farm to pick it up. Another group from my colleagues class had proposed a green space that would raise local produce for the school to use.  

Hi, Angela and Ann, 

I just discovered the OER Project this evening while brainstorming and looking for resources for my 6th grade STEAM class.  I get so excited when I read about programs and projects like the ones you are doing with your students.  I admire your work and energy in creating these experiences for your students.  I have been trying to wrap my head around how to do something similar but haven't gotten there yet.  Thank you both for sharing your experiences they have given me ideas of ways I might be able to take the first steps toward a project with my students.

I integrate Digital Storytelling, Creation Stations, and Engineering Design so most challenges I provide for the students would take one to two weeks to complete. (I see 7 different classes on a Day 1/Day 2 Schedule (so I teach 7 bells every day but the groups switch every other day).  The classes are 40-minute periods for 14 weeks and then a new rotation of students every other day for the next 14 weeks.)  I will have to look more closely at the Climate Project to determine how to keep the project's integrity in less time. 

Angela, I would love to show my students your webpage and challenge them to create their own as a group.  I also use Canva to help them create custom posters and will likely have them create logos, infographics, and apps for environmental awareness.  

Thanks again for sharing your experiences.  

Jen

Angela Lee Congrats on getting students going on projects that they can buy into!  For some reason i had less time to use the curriculum this year; I only had one week!  However, this Board Resolution is the result of a young man who was inspired last year, worked with an environmental group in California this year and "went to town" on his own. He is going to be the 24-25 student liaison to a district sustainable initiatives working group.  Inspiration for us all!!

Angela Lee , Jennifer Mann , Janet Mann , and Anne Koschmider ,

I have loved reading each of your posts! Thanks for sharing student work, Angela. Truly inspirational.

Have any/all of you had a chance to look at the new Climate Project?

I've used the Climate Extension project each year since it came out. I dabbled with the new curriculum this year, but I didn't have it early enough before the end of the school year to do it any justice. From what I understand, the other Climate Projects are going away and this new curriculum will take its place. It is all-inclusive, so people will have the opportunity to use as much or as little of it according to the time frame in which you will work. 

I need to be able to use it within a short time frame, but my challenge will be to use the whole framework, not just a piece of the curriculum. I'm going to follow each of you, if I'm not doing so already. That way we can keep track of each other's new developments as we share them. 

Donnetta Elsasser As the new course is written, I will not have enough time to use the complete curriculum.  I might have more time than I did this year, but I really like what we did this year!  The students are taught about climate change in Unit 9 of the AP world curriculum as well as their grade 10 Chemistry class.  They are well schooled on the cause and outcomes so I focused on one week of Unit 3: Adaption and Innovation.  It resonated will with them, so I will definitely repeat next year.

Hi Donnetta,

Thanks for your feedback! 

I combined some of the material from Climate Extension and had to pick and choose from the new Climate Project materials. I embarked on this after the AP exams, and had 3 weeks (but state exams took almost one week from. my class.)

So, I used the framing from Climate Extension to start because that made sense for me. From there, I choose from Unit 1: Introduction to Climate Change, Unit 2: The Impacts of Climate Change (Climate Impact Brainstorm),  Unit 3: Adaptation and Innovation (Climate Solutions Brainstorm, How Can We Take on Climate Change, and Exploring Climate Solutions) and then finally for Unit 5 we focused on Climate Action: Civic Action and that's when students started working on their final project.   I looked at all the units and lessons and just used what made sense for me, and the time I had.  

That's beautiful, Angela Lee !

I like how you stayed true to the whole course but in an abridged way.

Thank you so much for sharing!