Examples+-+Science

=**EXAMPLES OF PBE: SCIENCE **= = =

The Youth Network for Healthy Communities is a place-based learning project that spans all of the districts of Washington state. It was founded and is funded by the University of Washington and is led by the teachers of various disciplines in the participating schools. The object of this K-12 program is to engage students in scientific research and problem solving for issues specific to their own communities (Sedlacek, Acharya, Botta, & Burbacher, 2005, p. 44).

Curriculum/Organization
The program begins with the teacher introducing the project to his/her students and then brainstorming with the students to find a specific issue in their own community that they would be interested in researching. After the issue or problem has been chosen, the students begin a 4-6 week research period which consists of reading traditional sources like journals, books, studies, and reports as well as conducting their own research into their own communities by visiting sites and interviewing community members (Sedlacek et al., 2005).

Once they have compiled all of their research, the students begin to construct a two-hour presentation that they will present via videoconference to other participating schools as well as a panel of experts from the University of Washington. After they complete their presentation (which can incorporate skits, mock trials, etc), the students participate in a question and answer session in which they defend their work (much as graduate students do a thesis). They also have the opportunity to ask the experts questions they would like answered.

Among the benefits of this learning project are: development of research and critical thinking skills, social/group work skills, and practical skills (researching local issues and using problem-solving skills to help solve these issues). Furthermore, the project brings together university professors, students, teachers, and community members to investigate local health issues.

Assessment
It is not known how each teacher evaluates students’ participation in this project or how this program is incorporated into the class structure or grading schema. Following the final presentations, both students and teachers evaluate their experiences, highlighting positive aspects as well as suggesting ways to improve the program in the future.  

References:
Sedlacek, N., Young, J.A., Acharya, C., Botta, D., & Burbacher, T.M. (2005) Linking the classroom to the community. //The Science Teacher //, //72 //(4), 44-45.

**HIGH SCHOOL FIELD ECOLOGY COURSE **
 In 2005, Olivia Griset, a high school science teacher in rural Lisbon, Maine, developed and offered a one-semester ecology elective course. As an elective, the course was not required to meet state science standards; however, it did meet national science standards. Griset organized the course to cover three specific units (Griset, 2010): (1) the study of ecology/nature, (2) aquatic ecology and pollution management, and (3) forest ecology and management. All three are place-based. In unit one, students explored and studied the land around their school. In the second unit, they investigated aquatic ecology through their town’s streams and learned about the specific types of pollution that impact them. Unit three focused on forest ecology and management—a big issue as the local economy is based on forestry and sawmills.

**<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Curriculum/Organization **
<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Griset’s school used block scheduling: her ecology class met every other day, for 80 minutes each day. Typically, students spent the first day of the week inside, learning relevant scientific concepts and preparing for their subsequent fieldwork. They spent the next few classes outside in unit-specific locales (land plots, streams, forests), observing, taking notes in their journals, and gathering data. Following the fieldwork sessions, the students would spend another day indoors, analyzing their data, writing reports, and taking assessments (tests and quizzes). Furthermore, Griset encouraged her students to evaluate their personal connection to the land through a variety of activities. Among the most successful activities were:

1) Sense of place: This activity was used as introduction to land management. Students examined the impact humans have had on land over time by drawing a picture of a meaningful place from their childhood. They then drew illustrations depicting how the same place looks now and examined the factors of change.

2) Land-Water connections: Students conduct an experiment to investigate the impact of a pollutant on plant growth.

3) Forest Inventory Growth Plots: The students formed small land plots for their study of trees. Local foresters taught students how they determine the economic and ecological value of the trees. The students used these criteria to measure the value of the trees in their plots, collecting the data, and comparing it to data around the state. The students then worked with the foresters to develop a forest managing service plan.

4) Role playing: Using knowledge gained from their fieldwork, students engaged in a mock debate about a real life controversy: should the town allow commercial development around the local forests and lakes? This activity required researched arguments, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.

**<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Community Involvement/Impact **
<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Aside from research and fieldwork, the course had a substantial service-learning component in which the students utilize their knowledge to either develop a plan for or to actually take action on a local environmental issue. The class chose their own issue to address, and to Griset’s surprise, enthusiastically did so. Some examples of their service-learning activities include: instituting and running a school-wide recycling system; auditing the school’s paper usage and preparing recommendations on how to save paper; collecting soil samples and meeting with scientists to determine the levels of contamination and possible treatment procedures. Some of the projects were interdisiciplinary and school-wide, such as the garden project. Ecology students, together with students from health, technology, art and social studies classes designed and planted a school garden.

**<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Assessment **
<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Griset used assessment tools that would allow her to observe and assess her students’ progress over time. The main methods of assessment were the student’s personal field journals (in which they recorded their observations), their lab logbooks of experiments and lab reports, class presentations, and traditional exams. <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">

**References:**

Griset, Olivia. (2010). Meet us outside!//<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> The Science Teacher, 77 //(2), 40-46. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">STREAM PROJECT, NOBLE HIGH SCHOOL
<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">At Noble High School in rural Berwicke, Maine, the science curriculum brings together ninth graders and tenth graders to work together on place-based environmental projects. According to a report by the Rural School and Community Trust (2000), the Berwicke area is poor, with most of the residents employed at various factories or seasonally in the tourist industry ten miles away on Maine’s southern coast. Because the town economy was largely based on unskilled labor, education was a low priority. In order to redress this problem, the Rural Trust organization restructured the town’s high school curriculum to core and advanced classes as well as “interdisciplinary project planning and collaborative assignments” (p. 27) that require students from ninth and tenth grade to work together in teams. The objective of the project-based learning is to provide students with practical applications for their knowledge. <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">

**<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Curriculum/Organization **
<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Each class period at Noble High School is 80 minutes long and, because the course is a year long, there is ample time for students to complete the many projects. As reported by the Rural School and Community Trust (2000), the 9th grade science curriculum is entirely project-based. Students work through six large projects that are comprised of a number of individual and group tasks and products. Each project is outlined for students at the beginning, providing them with the essential questions that will guide their inquiry into the subject, a list of goals or intended outcomes, and how the project meets state mandated standards.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The Stream Project is the first project of the year. The students study a local stream in order to understand the role of water in their lives as well as to the environment. The project is broken down into nine intensive assignments that, together, account for the first eight weeks of the school year. Briefly, these assignments are:

1) Water Cycle Diagram (a role-playing game: students pretend to be water molecules traveling in a water cycle. They must then diagram and explain the cycle.) 2) Groundwater Exploration (class examines what happens to water as it travels through groundwater systems) 3) Visual Survey and Habitat Inventory of the local stream 4) Stream Guide Contribution (students create a guide to the stream’s living things in the stream how they are impacted by pollution) 5) Chemical Analysis of local stream (collect/test water samples; learn to interpret results) 6) Freshwater Ecosystem Map or Diagram 7) Design, Write-up, and Presentation of Stream Investigation (students choose one aspect of the stream that interests them, investigate further, share findings with the class) 8) Community Contribution (Class decides how to share knowledge with the community) 9) Stream Project Portfolio (organize all stream project work into one portfolio)

The Stream Project culminates in “real work—designing a water purification system” (p. 29) and a final project portfolio consisting of all of their work. The students divide into groups and are given a rubric for what their system should do and how it will be tested. They keep thorough notes about each design and trial (such as what materials and procedures they used, time records, etc) which they use later in presentations to convince their classmates that their system is the best. <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">

**<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Assessment **
<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Rather than a traditional A-F letter scale, Noble High School utilizes a five level scale (p. 29): Distinguished, Advanced, Proficient, Novice, and No Credit. In this particular course, students are required to achieve, at minimum, the Proficient level. Students are given the rubrics for all of their assignments at the beginning of the project so that they use them to guide their work. The teachers use the same rubrics to grade each assignment, often allowing students to revise and improve their work throughout the project. The final assessment is not an exam but each student’s individual portfolio. These consist of the final (and revised) versions of their assignments as well as a table of contents, an introduction, reflective writing pieces, and a conclusion in which they summarize what they have learned. <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">

**<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Standards **
<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> As of 2000, when the School and Community Trust released its report, Maine had one standardized test called the Maine Educational Assessment (MEA). This nine day test did not correspond to Noble High School’s unique curriculum: for example, the 11th grade MEA tests physics, but NHS students do not take physics until the 12th grade. However, at that time, the MEA was not a high-stakes test. As a result, the school did not revise or modify its curriculum. The School and Community Trust report (2000) notes that student achievement on the MEA has increased in all areas, speculating that this increase could be related to the school’s place-based education projects. Since 2000, Maine may have changed its standards to at least include another form of assessment (New England Common Assessment) as well as specific content-area standards. There is no information as to how this has impacted existing PBE programs and curricula.

**References:**

School and Community Trust, Washington, DC., & Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA. Graduate School of Education. (2000). Learning in place: A special report to the rural school and community trust. Rural School and Community Trust, Publications Manager, 1825 K Street, NW, Suite 703, Washington, DC 20006 ($10). Retrieved from [|www.csa.com]

**<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">MARIN COUNTY BIRD CURRICULA **
<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">In her 2009 master's thesis, Sharon Anne Barnett presents a summary of place-based education programs on the topics of local birds in Marin County, California. She also collects information about the natural history of Marin County and useful curricula available through local and national organizations.

She encourages teachers to undertake a PBE project even if they are not familiar with the local information: "Even if the teacher is unfamiliar with birds and has not dabbled in PBE, both teachers and students can enjoy learning about birds together. Children can learn science through studying birds. Once the teacher is comfortable they can begin to add other components such as history, geography, and English [Language Arts]."

**<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Curriculum/Organization **
<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Ms. Barnett give the following illustration of how a PBE bird curriculum can evolve in an elementary classroom: "First grade students at the independent school, Marin Country Day School, study birdsfrom March through June. The class spends the first few classes outdoors looking for birds on campus. They focus on learning how to identify the different bird species by looking at the color, shape, and size of the bird’s beak, legs, feet and body. Posture, field marks, behavior and the habitat the bird is in are also clues that help the students pinpoint the different species. The teacher creates a species list of all the birds seen on a large piece of chart paper and attaches photos of each one. Mid-way through the unit each student chooses a bird to research from the class list. The study culminates with a conservation component. Science, history, geography, English-language art, art, and conservation were all woven into this three-month unit. And to the surprise of many, the teachers are usually as unfamiliar with birds as the students. Therefore, they learn about birds simultaneously with their students, resulting in an exciting classroom dynamic."

She goes on to mention summarize similar projects in other schools and settings: <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Next Ms. Barnett supplies specific information about the natural history and bird species of Marin County for teachers wishing to develop bird-focused PBE curricula there. She identifies two key sources for bird identification checklists, potentially applicable to any local area: <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">She also recommends finding a local field guide that is laminated, lightweight, and compacts easily for carrying along on class birding expeditions. And she recommends the [|eNature] website for additional online information.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Fifth graders in Look Mountain, Georgia studying the habitats and habits of Eastern Bluebirds throughout the school year
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Pre-school teachers taking repeated bird walks through their neighborhoods, taking pictures, and learning to identify the birds as the students revisit them over time
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Middle school students building an interdisciplinary unit around the Atlantic puffin, incorporating science, history, art, and language arts.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The local Audobon Society chapter (for southeast Michigan, the [|Michigan], [|Washtenaw] , and [|Oakland County] audobon sites may be valuable resources)
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The United States Geologic Survey[| Bird Checklists]

To support teacher professional development, she recommends finding and attending local free bird-watching outings. She also recommends the following bird-watching websites: <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">And lists many more online resources in her appendix.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Birdwatching.com]
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Neotropicalbirds.org]
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|The Owl Pages]

Ms. Barnett then profiles a few Marin County PBE Bird programs and highlights additional curricula and resources they use: <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Ms. Barnett also identifies a few excellent bird curricula produced by academic research:
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The [|Cornell Lab of Ornithology] has created [|multiple K-12 bird curricula], including some targeted for urban environments
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|PRBO Conservation] has created a teacher resources packet with 11 bird-related activities
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|The Bird Education Network] and the [|Bird Education Alliance for Conservation] both connecteducators using bird-centered programs in their classrooms to share resources
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Partners in Flight] provides a wealth of information about birds in a user-friendly database
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Enivornment for the Americas provides resources for observation of [|International Migratory Bird Day], with each year focusing on a different bird conservation theme
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">and many more (for a complete listing, please see the Appendix of Ms. Barnett's thesis)
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Burns (1994) gives a basic, uncomplicated, low cost unit that Barnett describes as "ideal for the teacher [who] doesn't know where to begin"
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Jackson (1996) incorporates technology, science, math, language arts, art, and social studies by exploring the world of bids through hands-on activities, including using binoculars, building bird feeders, experimenting with different seeds, graphing results, and hatching chicken eggs
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Russo (2008) describes a bird-study curriculum appropriate for preschool and elementary students incorporating repeated observations of "adopted" trees and bird baths, hatching chicken eggs, dramatic storytelling, art, and role-playing activities
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Silverman (2007) uses birdcalls to connect music and science and provides three curricula tied to the National Science Education Standards for K-8th grade

**<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Funding **
<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The Marin County PBE Birding programs Ms. Barnett profiles have found some materials to be expensive, and have sought funding from the following sources:
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The Marin Municipal Water District
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The Marin County Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program

<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">

Assessment
No information about assessment of results from bird-based PBE curricula is incorporated.

**<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Standards **
<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">At least one of the research-based curricula profiled above is explicitly tied to national science standards (Silverman, 2007).

<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">content area: science, natural history, environment locale: suburban grade levels: elementary status: unknown

**<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">References and More Information **
<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">
 * 1) <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">**<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">[|Download Ms. Barnett's master thesis from ERIC] **
 * 2) <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Barnett, S.A. (2009). //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Place-based education and teaching about Marin County birds: Curriculum development for teachers //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> (Unpublished master's thesis). Dominican University of California, San Rafael, CA.
 * 3) <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Burns, D.L. (1994). //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Bird study: An educator's reference desk lesson plan. //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Retrieved July 26, 2010 from askeric: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Lessons/Science/Animals/ANM0010.html
 * 4) <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Jackson, C.M. (1996). Can birds fly? Can first graders learn the importance of technology? //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The Technology Teacher, 56 //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">(1), 11-15.
 * 5) <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Russo, M. (2008). For the birds! Seeing, being, and creating the bird world. //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Young Children, 63 //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">(1), 26-30.
 * 6) <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Silverman, E., Coffman, M., & Younker, B.A. (2007). Cheep, chirp, twitter, and whistle. //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Science and Children, 44 //<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">(6), 20-25. Retrieved July 26, 2010 from http://www3.nsta.org/main/news/stories/science_and_children.php?news_story_ID=53291

Rural Roots Examples of Science Place-Based Learning
Achieving Academic Goals Through Place-Based Learning is an article that examines the role of rural place-based education (PBE) in five different schools in five different states. The first place-based education program exists in **Rural Alaska** and focuses on innovative science learning through native roots. Specifically, the example school is the Russian Missionary School, a small rural school that was failing nationally just five years before the article was written. The program uses PBE for high school science education and has the students participate in a unique curriculum that involves everything from beaver trapping to discussions with tribal Elders. The program is supported through the Alaska Rural Systematic Initiative (AKRSI), which is a state wide program funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF). Because the NSF requires documentation of student progress, the AKRSI has had support in documenting the success of PBE in rural Alaska.

The article then highlights the place-based education programs at **Tillamook Junior High Schoo**l. In Tillamook, Oregon, there exists a very large logging community. Loggers must leave a certain number of stumps and standing trees for conservation. Thus, to be involved in the local community, the students work with the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODOF) to assist in counting the number of stumps left by the loggers. They do so in the same way the professional ODOF workers do, and the students yielded highly accurate results. This was a four-year, long term project that helped make things relevant to students. Also, the middle school students got involved with the ODOF’s building of a new building. The students researched native Oregon animal tracks, then applied math skills to create cement tracks on an interpretive walkway. This interdisciplinary project motivated students and made the community relevant to their learning.

The third school was the **Guffey Community Charter School in Colorado**. The Denver Museum of Nature and Science created a program called “All Sky” in which meteor monitoring cameras were set up at different schools. Guffey was the only elementary school in the project, and with the help of a local volunteer physicist, the students monitored the cameras and helped the Denver Museum analyze meteor patterns. The students participated in this real, applicable science which allowed for them to ask questions and make observations they never would have from a simple text study.

References and More Information:

 * 1) Loveland, E. (2003). Achieving academic goals through place-based learning: Students in five states show how to do it. Rural Roots, 4(1), 6-11. (ED473969).