E3 Washington Showcase News Articles (Newest to Oldest)
New STEM Curriculum Launches; Promotes 'Trash-Talk' in Schools
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- New Resources for a New School Year!
- Spokane Area Welcomes Dugout Canoe Project
- PBLU A Dynamic New Teacher Development Tool!
- Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities
- Washington’s Businesses, Agencies, Educators and Students Honored at E3 Washington’s 3E’s Summer Evening at the McKinstry Innovation Center
- Three School Districts Hold Second Gathering to Implement Washington’s Environmental and Sustainability Literacy Plan
- Now Open! Arroyo Whale Exhibit at the Highline Community College
- Camp Snowball 2012
- Imagine Tomorrow 5th Annual Competition
New STEM Curriculum Launches; Promotes 'Trash-Talk' in Schools 
Submitted by: Mark Schreiber, Owner & Educator, Design Case Fort Collins, CO August 29th, 2012 - DesignCase.co announced the debut of their 'green' Design Case Curriculum, a new STEM curriculum kit for 6-12 Education. These creativity kits teach problem-solving, engineering and design-thinking concepts to help students create new products from used materials, a process referred to as 'upcycling'. Design Case begins shipping to 6-12 schools and Universities in September. "When a kid gets a flat bike tire, let's teach them how to turn it into wallet instead of throwing it away," says Mark Schreiber, educator and creator of Design Case, "We want to teach students to create funding streams, not waste streams." The Design Case Curriculum does just that, by getting students to ask the question, "What can this become?" Designcase.co helps students gain the needed 21st Century learning skills to succeed in our ever-changing world. "It's more than repurposing," said Design Case contributor and teacher, Dan Joiner. "It's about getting kids to think and design with limited materials. It's about making something better, and then selling it. That's what upcycling is all about." During this creative process students get a heavy dose of what 21st Century standards call "The 4 C's": Critical thinking and problem solving, Creativity and innovation, Communication, & Collaboration. To help get students "out of their desks and into the trash, by design" visit www.designcase.co
Three new teaching and learning resources have been brought to E3 Washington’s attention in the past week and we are sharing them with you just in time to kick off the new school year. Each of the projects described below is an example of the rich array of project-based, interdisciplinary, hands and minds on, real-world environmental and sustainability learning resources available to prepare preK-20 students for 21st century life and work. We encourage all providers to share the exciting and innovative work you are doing by submitting stories online and joining the E3 Washington network and posting your resources in the searchable directory. Our network is a dynamic tool used by many to search for information, programs, and to make connections in the E3 Washington community. And now…the resources… New STEM Curriculum Launches; Promotes 'Trash-Talk' in Schools Submitted by Mark Schreiber, Design Case "When a kid gets a flat bike tire, let's teach them how to turn it into wallet instead of throwing it away," says Mark Schreiber, educator and creator of Design Case, "We want to teach students to create funding streams, not waste streams." The Design Case Curriculum does just that, by getting students to ask the question, "What can this become?" During this creative process students get a heavy dose of what 21st Century standards call "The 4 C's": Critical thinking and problem solving, Creativity and innovation, Communication, & Collaboration. “It's more than repurposing," said Design Case contributor and teacher, Dan Joiner. "It's about getting kids to think and design with limited materials. It's about making something better, and then selling it. That's what upcycling is all about." To help get students "out of their desks and into the trash, by design" visit www.designcase.co Discovering Drought! By Project Wet Submitted by The Project Wet Team Fielding questions about the worst U.S. drought in 50 years? Wondering how to incorporate current events in your classroom lessons? Looking for a springboard to talk about water conservation and other actions kids can take? If you answered "yes" to any of the above, you will want to download this FREE lesson plan. Specifically designed for grades three through six, the Project WET Discovering Drought Lesson Plan contains ideas that can be adapted for other levels as well. With detailed instructions and suggestions for extensions, evaluations and more, this free resource will allow you to talk and teach confidently about the complex issue of drought. Click here to download your FREE lesson plan. Click here to purchase the Discovering Drought children's activity booklet. Inside, Outside Nature Blog for Teachers Submitted by Sandy Philpott, Dawn Publications With the beginning of the school year long-time teacher Carol Malnor is again writing her weekly blog, “Inside Outside Nature.” It’s especially designed for busy classroom teachers and educators – offering TWO quick and easy nature activities, an indoor activity and an outdoor activity. PLUS, there is a simple weekly “Mystery Contest” for your students. When your class enters a correct answer, you are automatically entered into a drawing for an entire classroom set of FREE books from Dawn Publications. It’s easy! It’s fun for your class! And Carol’s activities are a wonderful resource for you. Go to: www.insideoutsidenature.com
Story Submitted by: Adam Wicks-Arshack, Program Director & Wilderness Guide Voyages of Rediscovery is a river-based environmental education non-profit program based on the Columbia River. We have been running educational canoe trips for the past five years from the Canadian border all the way down to Astoria and the Pacific Ocean. During this time, over 1500 youth have paddled in our canoes! We are currently up in Northern Ontario building Birch Bark Canoes with Native youth on Lake Temagami. It has been an incredible experience thus far. The youth have helped in every facet of the process from harvesting the birch bark to building the canoe. On Sunday, the day of the community's Pow Pow, the young people who helped build this 18ft canoe will launch their canoe on its maiden voyage around the island. The tribe here just hired 5 high school students to work for/with us for the next month. They will build 2 canoes as well, one with our help and suggestions and the second completely on their own, we will simply be observers! Check out our blog for more info and updates. We will return to Washington State on August 20th and will immediately begin another canoe building project, this time with the young people of Kettle Falls, WA. We will be set up at the Kettle Falls Historical Center and will build 2 big canoes, one 25-30ft. dugout and one split cedar ribbed canoe (David Thompson style). The canoes will stay with the community and we hope to set up some sort of sustainable paddling program for the town. Our plan is to facilitate the building of many dugout canoes with and for the young people living along and near the Columbia River. When young people are involved in building their own canoe, it creates a sense of ownership of the work they have completed. When these same young people paddle the canoe they built on the Columbia River, it fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility to the Columbia River, their Backyard River. Using canoes as a medium for education, we would like to help foster a new generation of Columbia River stewards. Our educational philosophy revolves around teaching our students the importance of inquiry. By experiencing, first hand, the greater world around them our students are given the opportunity to make observations of, connect with, and ask questions of this "greater world" they are experiencing for themselves.
We would like to acknowledge Erika Baker and the Pacific Education Institute's role in compiling this project. THANK YOU! Diminishing school district budgets and increasing demands on teachers can make it seem difficult to take students to a place where they can study and interact with the natural environment. However, just outside the classroom door, whether in a city surrounded by high-rise buildings or in a rural community at the base of a mountain range, students can see or find evidence of living creatures. All of these organisms, from the tiniest ant to the largest elk, need healthy habitat: food, water, shelter, space, and the proper arrangement of these components. In the Schoolyard Habitat Project students become engaged learners as they research, design and implement a plan to enhance their school campus by creating insect habitats, providing nesting sites for birds, planting native plants or even removing weeds and invasive plants from the school grounds. Habitat enhancement efforts do not need to be elaborate in design with expensive price tags in order to provide meaningful, tangible results for the students. This project emphasizes simple, low or no-cost student-led actions to make a difference in their community, their school.
Story Submitted by: Anna Robinson, GRuB Grants & Marketing Coordinator Each year, students walk onto the GRuB Farm with a bit of uncertainty, a lot of curiosity, and a glimmer of hope in their eyes. Hope that they will find something different here. These are youth who come with backpacks full of potential challenges, many of whom have been written off by their families or teachers. We see them as powerful future leaders with the ability to harness their innate strengths by engaging in powerful community and personal change work, thereby opening up opportunities to take on responsibility for their own choices, actions, and future life direction. Through our GRuB School Pilot Program and larger GRuB in the Schools Initiative, disengaged and/or low-income students earn credits while learning about and contributing to their local food systems. Our holistic, hands-on curriculum focuses on the themes of Farming Self (personal development), Farming Land (sustainable land stewardship), and Farming Community (civic engagement & community service). All activities are based on four tenets found in our country’s best youth programs: Responsibility – Does the program create opportunities for youth to take on real-world responsibility? Relevance – Is it relevant to the lives of our youth participants? Is it relevant to our community? Relationships – Are strong, trusting relationships built between youth and with their adult mentors? Rigor – Is the work rigorous? Will it stretch youths’ capacity for commitment and hard work? We envision multiple GRuB-like sites in Thurston County and beyond providing youth with meaningful and relevant leadership & learning experiences on important issues in their community year-round. While students, who have typically struggled in traditional classrooms, invest in the betterment of their community, they earn credits, graduate, and move on towards their own dreams and goals. “I have personally watched students transform from disgruntled and angry to engaged and happy. Although it can be a roller coaster, I see GRuB’s work as a catalyst for providing hope with many students who had previously lost hope. Their presence clearly has made a difference in the culture of our school.” – Matt Grant, Olympia High School Principal From 2001-2011, only 39% of youth who entered GRuB’s youth programs were on track to graduate. Today, 90% have either graduated from high school, are on-track to graduate, and/or have earned their GED and 66% have gone on to college. As a non-profit organization, we are actively seeking partners to help make this work possible. These include community donations, foundation partnerships, and school district contracts, as well as the pursuit of funding through the State to support these types of programs (House Bill 1418 as well as potential new legislation). For more information on how you can get involved or if you are interested in a copy of our curriculum, please visit our website and/or contact us at 360-753-5522 or grubschool@goodgrub.org Web Link: http://goodgrub.org/
A start-of summer event celebrating excellence in environmental and sustainability education was held last night at McKinstry’s Innovation Center in south Seattle. The event was collaboration between nonprofit E3 Washington, USEPA and McKinstry. In addition to the 2011 E3 Washington “Green Apple” Awards given to business, agency, educator and student leaders, Redmond High School teacher Mike Town was awarded the USEPA’s Presidential Award for Environmental Education Innovation and an Honorary Mention Award was presented to teacher Susan Milan of the Whidbey School District. E3 Washington’s Honorary Co-Chairs include Governor Chris Gregoire, Bill Ruckelshaus and Billy Frank Junior. “Recognizing environmental and sustainability education is the vision we had when E3 Washington was formed,” said Gov. Chris Gregoire. “These award winners are an inspiration to me and to the citizens of the state and are the type of innovators we need to inspire current and future generations. Thanks to McKinstry and E3 Washington for sponsoring the celebration and congratulations to the award winners.” Heidi de Laubenfels, McKinstry’s Director of Communications and External Relations, welcomed invitees and commented that, “McKinstry is pleased to be hosting so many enterprising individuals and organizations that promote a vision and concrete goals toward building a sustainable future. It’s noteworthy that these efforts integrate all sectors and benefit all residents of Washington State.” Award recipients at the June 20 celebration included the following individuals and organizations:
Effenus Henderson, president of E3 Washington, noted that the “the achievements of awardees constitute real successes and broadly represent the diversity of our citizen, education, business, and non-profit sectors. We envision a future where everyone in Washington is more aware of and inspired by the important successes in sustainability education achieved by our teachers, agency partners, business associates, and nonprofit colleagues like those that we honored here tonight.” This event would not have been possible without the generous contributions of our sponsors and we extend a special thank you for your continued support:
Since 1990, E3 Washington, formerly the Environmental Education Association of Washington (EEAW) has been the professional home for diverse environmental and sustainability educators and their supporters. E3 Washington works broadly with education, tribal, business, governmental and community-based partners to enhance and support learning for sustainability. If you would like to see more photo's from the Awards celebration, please view the link provided below. Web Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66492228@N07/sets/72157630232840424/
The Cle Elum, Seattle and Tahoma School Districts are all working to infuse sustainability and systems thinking into their curriculum by implementing one or two strategies in the Washington Environmental and Sustainability Literacy Plan. The plan was approved by Superintendent of Instruction Randy Dorn in the summer of 2011. Each of the three school districts has an Leadership Community of Practice implementation team made up of students, teachers, school administrators and community members. E3 Washington is coordinating the program which has been made possible through funding from Boeing and the USEPA.
Submitted by Kaddee Lawrence, Executive Director Marine Science and Technology (MaST) Center The Arroyo Whale exhibit at the Marine Science and Technology (MaST) Center for Highline Community College is complete and fully open to the public. The whale and the baleen, is one of VERY FEW in the country that has the baleen intact and in anatomically correct position. A bit of history about our whale: He (3-6 year juvenile male) stranded and died in April 2012 on Arroyo Beach in Seattle, Washington. Highline Community College's Marine Science and Technology (MaST) Center was asked by NOAA and Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife to help move the animal off the public beach. In return for helping move the animal to a safe place for the necropsy to be performed, we were given the rights to the whale for educational purposes. Through the spring and summer of 2010, the MaST Center, WSDFW, and Cascadia Research Collective performed the necropsy to assess the cause of death, and then flensed the whale to start the long process of cleaning the bones for re-articulation and display. Building the skeleton took from May 2011 until the end of February 2012. During the re-assembly, we partnered with Foss Waterway Seaport in Tacoma and they provided us with the space to build a 37 foot gray whale! The whale was officially unveiled to the public on March 3rd 2012 and has been a popular draw for visitors ever since. The entire project took 23 months, we had 100+ volunteers working on it and they collectively donated over 2000 hours of their time to make this happen. The whale skeleton is a permanent display in the MaST Center; however our exhibits that go along with the skeleton will only be up through the summer. We are working to archive all of the exhibit information and the myriad other items that we have from this project into an interactive web exhibit. Thank you, Photographer Matt Brashears, for the use of the photo's provided.
School's out for summer! But camp is just getting ready to start. Don't miss this special hands-on (and fun) opportunity to learn practical skills that you can use in the classroom, the school, the district, or the community: --systems thinking --education for sustainability --learner-centered learning pedagogy --creating schools and districts that innovate and learn
The movement to help students create a healthy future is snowballing in Tucson this summer, July 9-13. Come join us! Web Link: http://campsnowball.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/participant-brochure-2012-042312.pdf
Nearly 450 students from across the Pacific Northwest took up the challenge May 18-20 to imagine a more sustainable, fuel-efficient tomorrow. Their ideas ranged from using neodymium magnets to enhance nuclear fusion reactors to using compostable diapers made from common kitchen supplies. Washington State University’s fifth annual Imagine Tomorrow problem-solving competition attracted 112 student groups from 46 high schools in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana to present their ideas for transitioning to alternative energy sources. The students competed for more than $100,000 in prize money in four categories: behavior, biofuels, design and technology. Winning projects came from Todd Beamer High School from Federal Way, Camas High School, Ellensburg High School, Interlake High School from Bellevue, Lake Roosevelt High School from Coulee Dam, Bellingham High School, LaCenter High School, Archbishop High School from Everett, Ballard High School from Seattle, Stanwood High School, Union High School from Camas, and others. Once again, imagination, innovation, creativity and enthusiasm were abundant in projects that ran the gamut from top-drawer, sophisticated research to ideas that were ingenuously simple. The WSU Pullman campus was buzzing with energy and excitement as students explained their ideas to more than 120 judges from a variety of industries and universities. The top sponsors, which also sent judges included Boeing, Bank of America, Weyerhaeuser and the Northwest Alliance for Renewable Resources (NARA). Rob Bernard, Microsoft’s chief environmental strategist, was the keynote speaker at the evening awards ceremony. "These things they are working on are not just theoretical,” he said Saturday afternoon, "these are real problems that others are working on as well.” For more information, see the Imagine Tomorrow website at http://imagine.wsu.edu/. The 2013 competition will take place in Pullman May 17-19.
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