Rationale



Rationale This plan has been developed according to two sets of principles. The C.A.R.E. principle of environmental education has informed the content of these lessons while the principles of Interdisciplinary Education (I.E.) and Differentiated Learning (D.L.) - both principle from the National Middle School Board of America - have informed the structure of the plan. The Complexity (C) of this plan is evident in the multiple objective approach of all the lessons. Each lesson teaches a proscribed learning outcome as per its subject's I.R.P; each lesson also, however, aims at an Environmental Education (E.E.) oucome as well. Randy Pausch describes the principle of 'Head Fakes' in "The Last Lecture" as the process where a student is putatively being taught lesson 'A', but also simultaneously learning about principles 'b' and 'c' and 'd'. Pausch recalls his childhood football team. His coach insisted that the students were learning passing and throwing and traveling, but each student was also learning teamwork, confidence and respect. In the end, the latter three lessons made the team great. The complexity of the lessons ensures both an explicit and an implicit reward for each lesson. The Aesthetic value (A) of the lessons can be seen in the attempt to both move the classroom out into nature, and also to view nature as a wondrous place for students to be. From Orienteering (PE) to Artist's Dates (ELA) and all the experiential science and geography to be done outside, this plan aims to foster an appreciation for nature not simply as something which needs our protection, but something which offers us incredible payback for our stewardship. The Responsibility (R) engendered in the lessons is a follow up to that Aesthetic appreciation. Once love for nature is established, the process of evaluating our connection to the world (unit 4) transforms from a list of 'do and don't' to a guide for preserving what is cherished. E.E. without time invested in appreciation for nature is little more than vanity; a lesson like Measure your Carbon Footprint (Science/Art) or Where does our food come from (H.A.C.E./PE) without a prior sympathy for clean air and healthy, ethical food choices is as engaging as multiplication tables. This plan, therefor, aims to precede lessons such as 'What might the world look like in fifty years' (ELA/Art) with lessons such as 'What if you were an animal' (ELA). Ethically (E) it is the role of a pedagogue to model positive behavior, and in this case responsible choices for the environment. The lessons in this plan, however, focus on the explicit discussion of the ethical principles of those modelings and choices. This approach may sometimes threaten to make lessons 'doomy' and preachy, but it need not, if the teacher is sensitive about the approach to those discussions. Each lesson, therefore, is generally listed in a group of lessons (both in its subject and across the curriculum) which have different, but related ethical principles. Lessons like Measure your carbon footprint and What might the world look like in fifty years have such similar themes that, if done side by side, the students may feel that they are being beaten over the head with an Aesopian moral. Instead, these lessons are designed to present themes such as 'Only human action can effect climate change' along side of 'the healthier the environment is, the healthier humans can be', so that students can be encouraged to see their own linkages between these themes. The evident goal of this plan to consider all curricula interdisciplinarialy. It can be seen in the way that the lessons all flow between subjects, and many of them cover multiple subjects, that the lessons in these units are meant to be taught under the mantle of whichever subject suits the teacher. The benefit to the students is that, in each lesson, there will be multiple activities and directions for each individual learner to take. In this way, it is my hope that though each student may take different rewards from each lesson, each will have the rewards best suiting their interests. Finally, it is a second feature of this plan that all the lessons be, in addition to interdisciplinary, differentiated. It is not enough to blend subjects when teaching students about something as complex as the environment. It is crucial that all students take from this year something suited to them. A simple interdisciplinary approach will ensure that all students have an area of interest to pursue; what of students with different academic ability levels? In order to keep all students learning at the best of their ability, these lessons suggest ways by which we may offer each student a challenge appropriate to their ability.

The goal of this plan is to offer ways in which to incorporate the Ethic of C.A.R.E. and the principles of interdisciplinary education and differentiation into an entire year of education. In the appendices, for adapting this plan to other foci (social responsibility etc.), the full power of a cohesive and unified annual plan is shown to be versatile also. I hope to complete this entire project along with the appendices, by the summer of 2011.

Scott Barnes