Newsletter March

 Interactions Newsletter 

 The Ontario Journal of Environmental Education

The mission of OSEE is to support and inspire educators teaching environmental education in Ontario

Volume 27, Number 2                            www.osee.ca                                 March 2015  line

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Acts of Citizenship – Dr. Astrid Steele

Recently in my Social Studies Teaching Methods class I asked the teacher candidates to share their ideas of what it means to be a citizen…and what they thought citizenship education should be about. Their thoughtful responses covered a range of perspectives, from the formal to the informal to the personal. 

They described ‘good’ citizens and ‘bad’ citizens. Some of them listed rights and responsibilities, like voting and paying taxes, while others described the process of applying for Canadian citizenship, pointing out that immigrants often knew more about their adopted country than those of us who were born here.

I was particularly interested in the responses that recognized that citizenship might pertain to membership in certain groups – not necessarily countries. We are members of communities, perhaps spatially as in our neighborhoods, or ideologically as in church communities, in each case connected by something shared. And of course, like it or not, we are global citizens since we share a life on this planet.

Of all the lessons about citizenship that we might prepare for our classes, I suggest that those learning opportunities that focus on global citizenship are vital components of environmental education. Global citizenship requires a broad view – the broadest perhaps, as it encompasses the entire planet and takes into account Earth’s living inhabitants, as well as it takes stock of its non-living resources. The global citizen assumes the rights and responsibilities of a shared Earth community.

What might global citizenship look like? I’ve found the work of Westheimer and Kahne (2004) quite useful in exploring that question. They proposed a continuum to describe citizenship, ranging from the most basic acts, to those that are deeply thoughtful and demand personal risk-taking.

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The Personally Responsible citizen acts responsibly in his/her community, displaying virtues such as honesty, integrity and volunteerism. For example, they pay their taxes, take out the garbage and might volunteer at the local food bank. The Participatory citizen does all of those things as well as actively participates in the civic affairs and the social life of the community at municipal, provincial, and national levels. These are the folks who not only volunteer at food drives, but actually organize them – they not only vote, but run for office. Lastly, the Justice Orientated citizen adds critical inquiry /problem solving to their repertoire of thinking and actions. They focus on responding to social problems, for example by not only volunteering for and organizing the food drive, but also questioning the policies that create class differences. They would question the roots of poverty in a society and work to eradicate it.

If we apply Westheimer and Kahne’s ideas to global citizenship with a focus on environmental education, then maybe it would look like this…

As environmental educators, we would help our students to understand their most basic rights and responsibilities as citizens of planet Earth. Their personal responsibility towards all people, all living things and all of the resources would demand that they become fully informed about how life has thrived on the planet for millennia. What constitutes a healthy planet – what makes it tick? And as well, they would be required to investigate the issues and problems that threaten a healthy planet and its inhabitants. They would all participate in acts such as recycling and conservation of energy. Not all of their learning will need to be global in nature, some of the most important lessons will take place in our backyards.

As educators of participatory global citizens we would facilitate opportunities for them to organize actions that make a difference.  They might be cleaning a creek, planting a vegetable garden, or collecting relief supplies for an international organization.  And finally, as educators of justice orientated global citizens we would challenge them and work with them to get at the roots of environmental injustice – the roots are many, but we might start with issues like rampant consumerism and social inequity in our own country.  But those are thoughts for another column…

Perhaps the Moms Clean Air Force Facebook post says it best…

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Climate Change and Plants are Smarter than we Realize

Ellen Murray

I find that many superb Canadian environmental websites and learning resources suffer from a lack of promotion.  We are very good at developing resources and Ontario teachers are generous and willing to share but we often end up using a resource that comes up on the first page of our Google search.  So this article wants to honour Exeter’s Amusable Bayfield Conservation website for their excellent teacher resources page.  The first link is so practical – a handout that schools can send home with a month’s worth of litterless lunch suggestions including a cost comparison.  This flyer is from http://www.wastefreelunches.org which has a lot more great ideas on their website.

I also looked at the link to Canada’s Forests Climate Change Teachers’ Kit produced by the Canadian Forestry Association.  I am very conscious of the conflict of interest posed by an organization that promotes logging also producing a guide with activities about the value of protecting forests but of the activities, which mostly target grades 4-8 social studies, look like fun with good learning.  The Green Zone board game could easily be colour printed and with the addition of dice will be instantly playable.  I also found the grade 10 climate change role playing activity thoughtfully designed.  However, activity 8, about the carbon cycle and Canada’s Forests had the equation for photosynthesis wrong!

Forestry

While looking at the activity for plants trees I was reminded of a comment from CBC Quirks and Quarks Bob McDonald’s blog that the latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is barely being talked about. So here is some inspiration for teachers – go to the IPCC site for the 2014 report.  The most classroom friendly link is to the 15 minute video.  This is a summary of the science, impacts and mitigation efforts underway.  If you can’t easily stream video into your class then download the 35 slide shared slideshow.  It easily divides into the three sections reflecting the working group reports on the most recent science findings, the impacts and some positive news about possible mitigation efforts.  Each of these three sections is plenty to cover for a grade 10 science climate change or for any secondary human geography topic.

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I have recently become fascinated with some new research about the myriad of ways that plants communicate and this gives me some hope for how plants will adapt to the effects of climate change.  The 52 minute documentary How Plants Communicate and Think  by Gédéon Programmes was written and directed by Jacques Mitsch.  It is absolutely fascinating and a required background for any teacher wanting to raise these new scientific findings in a class. Some people might find that the science is occasionally out of context.

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Watch the Discovery video Plants Can Hear You for a 3 minute introduction to how plants hear and feel.  I then used the AAAS ScienceNetLinks one minute audio updates about how goldenrods smell danger from mating fruit flies and take evasive action, how tobacco plants eavesdrop on neighbouring sagebrush being eaten and how sea rockets display altrustic behaviour by decreasing competition when next to their close kin compared to non-related plants.

This AAAS ScienceNetLinks also has a wonderful lesson links page where you can choose one or more grades and topics and then a preselected list of lessons will pop up for your perusal.  There are numerous choices for plant and food based lessons under thier biology tab.  When looking at an Ocean Plants  lesson be sure to click on the left panel links to videos, slideshows and activity worksheets. I got distracted reading the lesson plan and nearly missed them.

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Finally, a super fun website with amazing graphics, the American Museum of Natural History “Ology” site.  I am putting this link on our school website to encourage students to “play science” at home.  Each of the 14 science disciplines has links to very short podcasts, drawing blackline masters, connect the dots or colouring activities, games, things to make, quizzes and “how to make a difference” activities along with experiments.  I checked out the biodiversity, water, and marine biology sections. The little interviews with scientists could inspire some young people to aspire to a career in science.  The Dive Into Worlds Within the Sea, was an interactive game to help grades 3-6 students draw food chains in either a deep sea, a coral reef or a continental shelf ecosystem. biodiversity

Enjoy the chance to get out and play in the outdoors and let your students inspire you to share nature and environment stories and tales every day.  Finally a reminder to check out the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Area’s Education website.  They have a grade by grade list of great websites for teacher use.

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Teacher Resources

Looking for ideas to green your lesson?  Check out these great resources below for a plethora of amazing ideas and activities!

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