Sustainability in Vermont’s K-12 Standards-Based Curriculum Framework

1. Sustainability in Vermont’s K-12 Standards-Based Curriculum Framework Russell M. Agne The University of Vermont http://www.uvm.edu/~ragne/

2. Outline of Presentation • Standards Based Instruction in Vermont’s K-12 schools • The original Vermont Framework (1996) • Grassroots environmental organizations rally to change • state educational curriculum regulations (1999) • Standards 3.9 “Sustainability” and 4.6 “Understanding Place” • A tour of exemplary sustainability projects • Assessment strategies to insure topics are taught • How might the enhancement process have been • conducted more effectively?

3. The Vermont Framework of Standards & Learning Opportunities (2000) * Vital Results cut across all fields of knowledge • Field of knowledge Standards traditional disciplines

4. Vital Results Communication Reasoning and Problem Solving Personal Development * Worth and Competence * Healthy Choices * Communication * Making Decisions (3.7-3.9) * Relationships * Workplace Civic/Social Responsibility * Service * Human Diversity * Change (4.5-4.6)

5. Sustainability Standard 3.9 PreK-4 3.9 a. Identify items that they consume on a daily basis and analyze the resources used in producing, transporting, using, and disposing of these items, including the origins of the resources; 3.9 b. Distinguish between personal wants and needs and identify how marketing and advertising inform their consumption patterns; 3.9 c. Identify and practice ways to repair, re-use, recycle, and design and implement a plan to monitor personal resource consumption; 3.9 d. Explore local natural and human communities, identify the systems within them, and what is required for these communities to be sustained.

6. Understanding Place Standard 4.6 Grades 5-8 4.6 aa. Apply knowledge of local environment through active participation in local environmental projects; 4.6 bb. Explore the interrelationship between the local environment and the local community culture (e.g., settlement patterns, tourism, hunting, agriculture); 4.6 cc. Explore and participate in sustaining or building on unique and valued elements of past and present community heritage.

7. Grades 9-12 Standards 3.9 aaa. Prepare an impact assessment that analyzes the effect of a particular product’s or project’s life-cycle on the sustainability of a natural and human community. [sustainability] 4.6 bbb. Evaluate and predict how current trends (e.g., environmental, economic, social, political, technological) will affect the future of their local community and environment. [understanding place]

8. Sustainability and Sense of Place Project Exemplars • Attentive to Standards 3.9 and 4.6 • Connections beyond lesson or unit • Collaboration with others • Experiential learning • Conceptually rich • Authentic work • A rich history and a promising future • Serves diverse learners Mount Mansfield

9. Environmental Learning for the Future (ELF) • School program taught by parents and other community volunteers. • Hands-on natural science in direct support of education standards. Includes Standards 3.9 and 4.6. • Vermont Institute of Natural Science

10. VINS seeks standards additional to Vital Results 3.9 and 4.6 Vital Results • Problem Solving: 2.2-2.3; 2.5; (process, types of problems, mathematics dimensions) • Abstract and Creative Thinking: 2.10-2.14 (fluency; elaboration; flexibility; product/service; planning/ organization). • Listening: 1.13-1.14 (clarification & restatement; critique). Fields of Knowledge • The Living World: 7.13 (organisms, evolution, and interdependence). • History: 6.4; 6.6 (historical connections; being a historian). • Artistic Process: 5.22; 5.24 (intent; artistic problem solving)

11. FEED Project: Northeast Organic Farming Association • Hands-on standards based units introduce students to farm life, agricultural cycles, nutrition education, and history. • A “curriculum of place” Cafeteria, local foods • K-8 Grinding flour Vermont FEED (http://www.nofavt.org/programs/vtfeed.php)

12. The Intervale • Building Real Connections The renovation of this historic farmstead will provide a center for experiential learning, where interactive dialogue and education takes place around land, food and land-and-food-based commerce. Interactive learning and project demonstrations, workshops, lectures and tours will educate the general public about diversified and sustainable farming, composting, riparian restoration and value-added ventures -- everything from bio-diesel production to growing mushrooms on spent barley or attaching an ice-cream business to a small dairy. A youth garden, educational winter greenhouse and community kitchen are opportunities for hands-on, get dirty learning, eating and cooking. Intervale 700 Acre working landscape http://www.intervale.org/

13. Place-based LandscapePlace Based Landscape Analysis Goals Provide educators with information and strategies for creating place-based learning opportunities for their students. * Cultural & natural history, web-based @ UVM * Landscape interpretation http://www.uvm.edu/place/

14. A Forest for Every Classroom: Conservation Study Institute • Students immersed in the interdisciplinary study of “place” are more eager to learn and be in stewardship of their communities and public lands. • Public forums • Teacher workshops • Curriculum Units FFEC professional development program http://www.nps.gov/csi/trends/forest.htm

15. Landscape Change Project Winooski in 2000 Winooski in 1927 Digital Archive of historic and current photo pairs http://www.uvm.edu/perkins/landscape/

16. Sustainable Schools ProjectEducating for Sustainability Understanding the Interconnectedness of the World Knowledge of Place – human and natural communities Awareness of one’s own ability to make a difference Students engaged in creating sustainable communities Sustainable Schools Project http://www.sustainableschoolsproject.org/

17. The Living MachineChamplain Elementary School “The tank and its place in the center of the school are emblematic of the seriousness with which teachers and students here appreciate the issue of sustainability” Invented by John Todd Classroom use of The Living Machine http://www.sustainableschoolsproject.org/curriculum/livingmach/lvngmach-intv-betsyp.html

18. Shelburne Farms Field trips Join the Flock! March Spend a day on the farm during lambing season. Students will explore the life of sheep from their care to the wonders of wool fibers. Students will card, spin, and felt wool. Hands-on experiments will help students investigate the amazing properties of wool. Educational Standards Taught Visual Arts, 5.29-5.30; Natural Resources, 7.16 (a-c and aa-cc); Understanding Place, 4.6 (a-c); Sustainability, 3.9 (d) Shelburne Farmshttp://www.shelburnefarms.org/educationprograms

19. ECHO at the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain Hands on the Land Standard 4.6 bb. Gr. 4-7 45 minutes--change in the Lake Champlain Basin Human impacts including hunting, intentional fires, forest cutting, agriculture, development, pollution, resource use ECHO Lake Champlain http://www.echovermont.org/

20. The Last Link/The Next Link: Building Sustainable CommunitiesTim Kahn An educational documentary on Pete Camino, an 83-year old shepherd who is one of the last Basque farmers in Buffalo, Wyoming. The film is a tribute to family-based agriculture and the loss we are now facing in this country and around the world with the disappearance of family farms. Narrated by Willie Nelson. Tim Kahn's Lesson Plans, Student Work Samples http://www.uvm.edu/~smelcher/nextlink/

21. Here Lie the Bodies: A Look at Vermont’s Cemeteries and their Place in the LandscapeJoan Alexander 1/3

22. As settlements grew, graveyards near churches and in towns were built…Sandstone and slate were popular for gravestones; they were softer and easier to carve than boulders, and were found locally. 2/3

23. In cities outside Vermont, the “in” gravestone material changed from slate to white marble during Victorian times (beginning about 1880), and Vermont followed the trend. 3/3

24. “Who Am I?” CurriculumThe Sharon Academy How does place influence who we are? Essential Outcomes • Gather and present evidence [town survey] • Consider perspective [personality and lifestyle] • Consider supposition [What might Sharon look like in 50 years without zoning laws?] • Demonstrate social commitment [service learning] • Make connections [language arts interviews, science] • Consider relevance [how place influences their lives] 7) Employ Creativity [Personal Special Places Map] 1/5

25. The Minister’s Lot The Sharon Academy Minister's Lot Project http://www.cmapgallery.org/gallery/TSA/index.htm

26. “You can’t get there from here..” The Sharon Academy Middle Schoolers at The Minister’s Lot

27. * There are too many trees, too close together, and the land needs to be logged. I think there are too many maples and that there needs to be something done to prevent diseases, and forest fires. * I think that the Minister’s Lot should be left alone. It is a good place for a preserve and not a good place for the public. * I think that trails should be made for people to walk on whenever they choose. * Making a campground, walking/cross country skiing trails, and leaving a habitat for the animals would benefit many people in different ways. Student Suggestions for the Sharon Conservation Commission

28. Assessment of “Who Am I?” CurriculumGrades 7-8

29. Acknowledgments Paul Bierman, The University of Vermont Christine Massey, The University of Vermont Joyce Morris, The University of Vermont Jen Cirillo, Sustainable Schools Project, Burlington Gail Hall, Vermont Department of Education Margo Ghia, The Nature Museum at Grafton David Alexander, ECHO Lake Aquarium & Science Center Judy Moore, The Sharon Academy Andrew H. Lane, The Sharon Academy Bruce Parks, Vermont Department of Education Susan Agne, Central School, South Burlington Sandra W. MacLeod, The University of Vermont Tim Kahn, South Burlington High School Joan Alexander, Glover Tracy Lavallee, Underhill ID School Anne E. Watson, Montpelier High School February 14, 2005