Summer Institute - Pilot Program for Sustainability Education: July 11 – 15, 2005

CELF’s first educational initiative took place July 11-15 2005. The 2005 Summer Institute was open to K-12 teachers.  24 teachers from New York and California participated.

Curricula developed in the workshops was based on eco-literacy stories written by
Gunter Pauli, internationally renowned economist, educator and founder of ZERI (Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives, www.zeri.org).  Mr. Pauli co-lead the program with Scott Beall, an author, international education consultant, curriculum designer and enrichment teacher at the Brewster, NY, Central Schools (see www.scottbeall.com). The initiative was jointly sponsored by CELF, the Putnam Westchester BOCES Center for Environmental Education (CEE) and the Hudson Valley Teacher Center.

Mr. Pauli was the keynote speaker on March 1, 2005, at the United Nations launch of the “UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.”  His thematic based curriculum illustrates sustainability and stimulates systems thinking.  It uses stories as reference points to organize interdisciplinary lessons, teaching pertinent science, social studies, math and language arts concepts within the overarching context of sustainability.  Interdisciplinary teaching has been shown unequivocally to enhance meaning and relevance for the learning of grade school skills and knowledge content.  ZERI programs have already been instituted throughout the world, where government officials have recognized the importance of education in both local and global efforts for a sustainable society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.   

ZERI eco-literacy stories encourage children to be curious, to ask questions, to probe for answers, and to insist on improving their world.  The curriculum focuses not on what we have done wrong, nor who is the culprit, but rather what we can do to make a difference.  It encourages role-playing and the creative thought processes that will benefit children throughout their educational careers and their adult lives.  The participating teachers learned how their role as educators must shift from the traditional “giver of knowledge” to that of catalyst of and facilitator for learning. 

Participants in the pilot program will use the materials and knowledge from the Summer Institute in their classrooms during the ’05-’06 school year, using reflective journals and collecting data and student work for inclusion in the assessment portion of the pilot program, which takes place in July ‘06.

The Sustainability Education pilot program includes:

• Teacher’s manuals and a bound set of bound ZERI stories as part of their workshop materials;
• A pre- and post-workshop test to evaluate teacher learning based on the definition of environmental literacy established by the North American Association for Environmental Education;
• Programs that work within New York State and national learning standards to teach children the interconnections of our natural systems, how they work, and how human decisions and actions affect the quality of their health and their environment;
• In-service credits through BOCES or daily stipends, should participants choose not to receive the credits;
• A guided tour of Glynwood organic farm and conference Center in Cold Spring, NY, with a presentation by the EPA (Jon Jacobs, JD, CELF Board Member and attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency Enforcement Council) on the concluding day of the July ’05 seminar.

"Gunter's agility and passion and imagination could inspire even the most
disinterested!! Also, the group work brought it all to life."
          - Teacher, Katonah Lewisboro District

A significant portion of the agenda was dedicated to discussing the science behind each of the stories, which is based on the five “kingdoms,” or domains, of nature—bacteria, algae, fungi, plants and animals—that have worked together for billions of years to form a highly productive and adaptive system. The concept of the five kingdoms was inspired by the work of Lynn Margulis, Ph.D.,
Distinguished University Professor of Microbial Evolution and Organelle Heredity at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in her milestone reference work, Five Kingdoms: An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth. Pauli specifically adopted the use of the term “kingdom,” since it speaks to the imagination of children.

Beyond semantics, the fairy tales revolve around their integral message: There is a symbiotic relationship among the various kingdoms, and humans play a vital role in it. (It is interesting to note that until recently, no human culture referred to the place it lived as its "environment," instead, calling it “home.”) The fairy tales relate how a healthy home requires all its members to make contributions, each according to his or her unique talents and essential nature. 

Co-leader Scott Beall, who uses systems thinking as a basis for his middle school enrichment course in Brewster, NY, worked with the teachers to show how the eco-literacy stories can be applied in the American classroom culture (testing, coverage, single subject orientation, etc.). This included presenting a portion of his Brewster sustainability curriculum that utilizes a ZERI tale.  He also provided the participants with a curriculum writing construct, pedagogical principles of project-based and thematic curriculum, rubrics, an action-research component for teachers' refinement of their designs, and a pre- and post-test for the gathering of data to assess the effectiveness of both the workshop and the teachers' curricular efforts.

Teachers were asked to create activities that would enable students to apply systems thinking to real-world situations that matter to them. According to an article in an Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development publication (Summer 2004), “relevancy is essential...for students to develop critical thinking skills.” Relevancy is critical to successfully translating systems thinking in a classroom to activities in everyday life.

The curriculum material produced during the workshop will be assembled into a draft teaching manual. It will include each of the six fairy tales and their supporting science, information about the scientists who inspired each story, and other background information that will assist teachers in presenting each of the stories to related grade levels.

Throughout the 2005-2006 academic year, the teachers will work with the stories and the activities they developed. Next summer, they will be invited to return for three days to discuss and evaluate their classroom experience with the material they produced. Using the results of their experience and assessments, they will review and make appropriate modifications to the materials. Once this is complete, the manual will be made available to interested educators.

"The revolutionary thinking and intellectual preparation of presenters and practical experience in related fields -- industry, science, etc. -- were invaluable."
          - 5th Grade Science Teacher, Ossining School District