—U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, September 2010

 For teachers seeking to find a specialization in their Master’s of Education course curriculum, one subject area has acquired as much classroom relevance as social studies, civics, and U.S. History. That subject is the environment.

The Environment and America’s Youth

Recent studies pinpoint a growing disconnect between America’s youth and the outdoor environment around them. Specifically, the time spent in front of TV’s, computer screens, and cell phones keeps children from interacting with nature. This modern detachment from basic environmental sensitivity can hinder or even prevent the development of a vital appreciation for the natural world. As author Richard Louv points out in his popular book, Last Child in the Woods, “If [children] don’t care about nature now, they won’t preserve national parks, wilderness or farmland tomorrow.”

Environmental Education Online

The E-Learner seeking to obtain on online master’s degree in environmental education can make a significant impact on improving environmental literacy among students. The term “environmental literacy” has become something of a catch-phrase in educational circles and evolved from ideas promulgated in David W. Orr’s seminal book, Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World. Over time, environmental literacy has become a core component of National Environmental Education Standards, National Science Education Standards, and the Science Common Core State Standards. The term has now become an umbrella for curricula and activities that promote the knowledge required to identify, quantify, and ultimately solve environmental problems, and to embrace these concerns in everyday living.

 After successfully completing an online master’s degree program, a teacher trained in environmental literacy can motivate interested students to improve their skill sets in math, science, reading, and social studies. This fundamental knowledge is essential to enter advanced college programs or create sustainable enterprises in such areas as renewable energy, recycling, and waste management.

A Graduate Degree in Environmental Education

Ultimately, master’s degree graduates who stress environmental literacy in their classrooms can expect their students to:

• Comprehend basic scientific principles, processes, and forces that shape the surface of our planet;
• Understand Earth’s geophysical characteristics and the spatial distribution of ecosystems;
• Understand characteristics of human populations as they’ve migrated across the planet;
• Understand the dynamics and patterns of human settlement;
• Understand how human actions modify the physical environment; e.g., disposal of waste products;
• Understand how physical systems affect human systems;
• Understand the changes that occur in the perception, allocation, and management of resources;
• Understand the interconnectedness between economic, ecological and social/cultural needs in sustainable systems.

 With a master’s degree in education, the modern teacher can foster in students an understanding of how humans interact with the environment; the importance of sustainability for environmentally sound practices; and instill a sense of stewardship for both global and local ecosystems.

Why is Digital Learning Day so Important?

 Digital Learning Day sought to bring awareness to the transformative power of digital learning in the classroom and the amazing potential digital technologies have to engage students in new ways and motivate them to create and collaborate.

The day kicked off with a National Town Hall meeting — accessed online, of course — featuring U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. The town hall profiled teachers using technology to effectively deliver instruction and innovative education projects across the country. Schools around the country used Skype to join the conversation and interact with the speakers.

In addition to town hall, participants in Digital Learning Day including 39 states, 15,000 teachers and more than 2 million students all engaged in some form of digital learning activities and innovation. The activities across the nation showcased some of the best in digital education.

Many schools celebrated by using iPads. Miller Junior High School in Aberdeen, Wash., distributing an iPad to every 7th and 8th grade student. Other schools used the notebooks for science projects, health projects and photography. Schools hosted showcases of digital learning or created videos highlighting best practices. Kindergarteners in Topeka, Kansas used Skype to communicate with other classrooms and learn about how other students learn.

The daylong celebration also generated quite a bit of buzz in the digital world with bloggers commenting on digital education trends, teachers and leaders using Twitter and social media to share information and online articles in publications like eSchool News and the Christian Science Monitor.

What’s clear from the events of the day and the subsequent conversations about digital instruction is that education needs to catch up to the digital revolution in the workplace and the social sphere. Students shouldn’t first hear about the “cloud” or interact with a wiki after graduation. Schools should incorporate digital and technology innovations seamlessly and meaningfully into daily instruction. Plus, digital technologies can grow and enhance the collaborative, creative and critical thinking skills students need to succeed later in life.

Digital technology is here to stay. If schools truly want to prepare students for the 21st Century, they will need to embrace the ideas from this year’s Digital Learning Day and get ready to showcase their best next year.

An interesting scene at the White House recently had President Obama helping a young middle school student shoot marshmallows out of an air-powered cannon. It was probably one of the more important moments of the day as it highlighted the importance of science education not only to the press but also to the parents, teachers and most of all the students present.

In his comments the President stated that his new 2013 budget was going to give math and science the respect and attention they deserve. I think science always had respect. Generally we do not get attention because we are such specialized fields. In the early days of writing standards parents and legislators would get knee deep into the contentious discussions about how to teach language arts and math. After all most felt comfortable with simple math, reading and writing. Balancing equations or thinking about the systems in earth science was a whole new animal.

Science was able to fly under the radar. That was great for avoiding the often bitter battles that erupted over other subjects and it left science teachers alone to move forward without a great deal of interference. The problem with that was in attracting new faces and voices to the field. We simply began to run out of teachers for science and math. That problem is on the White House radar because it greatly impacts the economic health of the United States.

That led to the astounding sum of 80 million dollars that will fund a new Department of Education competition to support math and science teacher preparation programs. I greatly appreciate the funding and attention but we need more teacher voice in this discussion.

One of my favorite old sayings is, “if you keep doing what you’re doing, you are going to keep getting what you are getting.” I want something different from the status quo. I want science teachers selected for their passion for the subject, I want a clear path to help give ongoing content classes when an administration decides to have us teach outside our content major. I want teachers who can connect the science disciplines and help kids make sense of the systems that intersect. I want programs that follow important paths rather than a series of hoops and speed bumps.

Obama explained. “We’re a nation of tinkerers and dreamers and believers in a better tomorrow.” I agree with all of that but our colleges do not generally foster that spirit in their programs of study. We are great in education at adding on but not so skilled at letting go of plans and paths that are no longer viable. You can look at how difficult it was for the auto industry to change. Education is a bit like that.

This may be different. Several powerful philanthropic organizations have put 22 million into the effort to train science and math teachers. The goal for this funding and the new money proposed by the White House is to train 100,000 new specialized teachers who will help produce one million new graduates in science, technology, engineering and math. I am hopeful.

There are other organizations out there doing work that will support and impact this effort. The Center for Teaching Quality in North Carolina is connecting teachers and helping elevate their voice in policy discussions. I think that what I needed most in my early years of teaching science was a group of colleagues who shared the same subject and solved problems collectively. Connecting teachers and thinning the classroom walls is important work.

The schedule is a problem. Fitting a meaningful science lab into a period of time designed for a writing exercise (and a short one at that) is crazy. Yet, we do it in every state. Science has some specific and unique needs. Training more people will help a great deal. But it only solves the short-term problem.

To improve science teaching we need to look at how we learn science. There is some great research on this. We need to give kids a chance to look at the understandings they have about the world and reexamine them in light of new evidence. Science teachers design and guide students through experiences that give them that evidence which allows the kids to discard misconceptions and construct a more powerful set of scientific understandings.

There is a second benefit to doing this. When we give kids these kinds of experiences where they come to understand something richer and deeper they feel empowered in that subject. If empowered they may just decide to pursue a career in that field.

Standing in the White House with a device he designed to shoot marshmallows, Joey Hudy of Phoenix was in the zone. Someone important was praising him for his work. Someone was paying attention to the tinkering that is often left out of classes with a focus on standardized testing. If we could do that for every dreamer and every science student with a tiny flicker of passion for the subject we would be fine. The simple fact that this happened to Joey and a group of other students gives me hope.

These ten states were granted waivers after submitting successful proposals to bypass the structures of NCLB:

• Colorado
• Florida
• Georgia
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Massachusetts
• Minnesota
• New Jersey
• Oklahoma
• Tennessee

The only state that didn’t receive a waiver in this first round, New Mexico, is working with the administration to resubmit its proposal. Twenty-eight other states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, plan to submit waiver proposals in a second round of requests in coming weeks, and remaining states have the option to seek waivers in a third round.

What Exactly Do These NCLB Waivers Mean?

In response to flagging performance in America’s K-12 classrooms, President George W. Bush signed off on No Child Left Behind in 2001. In essence, it sought to improve education by measuring student success based on standardized test results, especially among poor and minority children. Initially, NCLB received widespread bipartisan support but has been up for renewal since 2007.

According to the Washington Times, about 82 percent of American school systems will fail to meet NCLB’s benchmark requirements in 2012. This jeopardizes federal funding at schools where students are not performing at 100 percent proficiency in reading and math by 2014. At the same time, school administrators contend that the benchmarks are too rigid and drive schools to “teach to the test.”

The new waivers allow states and school districts to follow a more discretionary path in:

• Setting more realistic achievement goals and timelines for students
• Preparing students for college and careers
• Enhancing methods for student evaluation and support that include observation, peer review, and student work;
• Improving parent-teacher relations;
• Rewarding the best performing schools;
• Providing more resources to schools in the bottom five percent;
• Improving teacher/principal development and compensation.

“After waiting far too long for Congress to reform No Child Left Behind, my administration is giving states the opportunity to set higher, more honest standards in exchange for more flexibility,” President Obama declared in a prepared statement last month.

Secretary Duncan Sounds Off on Waiver Benefits

A recent LA Times educational blog highlighted comments made last month by Education Secretary Arne Duncan who maintains that NCLB actually drives down standards, weakens accountability, causes narrowing of the curriculum, and labels too many schools as failing. Duncan also believes NCLB prescribes unworkable remedies at the federal level instead of giving spending authority to local administrators.

“Rather than dictating educational decisions from Washington, we want state and local educators to decide how to best meet the individual needs of students,” Duncan stated.

No Child Left Behind Still Has Merit, Supporters Claim According to the Washington Times, NCLB supporters point to the fact that from 2010 to 2011, schools reaching the “adequate yearly progress” benchmark improved from 39 percent to 48 percent, based on numbers from the nonprofit Center on Education Policy.

The Huffington Post reports that a House committee recently passed a pair of Republican-backed bills intended to improve No Child Left Behind while significantly reducing federal oversight of American schools. No Democrats supported the bills, however, and it is doubtful a contentious Congress can make any substantive headway on the NCLB renewal process during an election year.

 The science behind this amazing phenomenon is photo catalysts. These chemicals react to the wavelengths in sunlight. There are some that react to ultraviolet light but the trick was finding something you could coat clothing with that would react with sunlight. The chemicals they came up with are titanium dioxide (a key ingredient in white oil paints and interestingly tattoo ink) and silver iodide (used to seed clouds in early weather experiments). Titanium dioxide reacts with ultraviolet light and the Silver iodide reacts best with sunlight and is a catalyst.

 All these chemical are safe in most circumstances but there is a danger. Inhaling titanium dioxide is a hazard. That means that the researchers have to find a way to make the chemical stick and stay through thick and thin, wind and snow, play and sleep, well you get the idea. Since cotton clothing is made of individual woven fibers they can coat the fibers and if this coating sticks it may just be the new wave of clothes cleaning.

 The titanium dioxide works best in ultraviolet light and the silver iodide seems to speed up reactions in sunlight. We call a chemical that speeds up reactions a catalyst. These mighty chemicals speed boosters are useful in all sorts of manufacturing and even in reactions within your body.

 Chemicals need a certain amount of energy to react, like combustion (reactions between a hydrocarbon and oxygen). A catalyst lowers the energy needed to get the reaction started. This energy is called activation energy. So, if you wanted the sunlight to react with a chemical and clean clothing you would benefit from a catalyst that would let that reaction start even with minimal sunlight.

 There are cases where a catalyst only provides a surface for the reaction to happen on. The key is that in all of these reactions the catalyst is not changed. It remains the same where the two reacting chemicals form new compounds. The researchers did not report if the titanium dioxide gets depleted after a while and needs to be reapplied. Who knows, maybe a little bit goes a long way.

 I remember an old social studies video that showed folks in Brazil cleaning clothing by beating them against rocks in a local river. That beating allowed the soap and water to penetrate the individual cotton fibers and I can imagine it is a bit exhausting. My grandmother used an old wringer washer where the washer agitated the clothing doing the same thing as the rocks and then two rollers wrung the water out of the clothing.

Letting the sunlight do the work sounds like science fiction.

Still it is intriguing to think that I could hang out my clothing and have the stains, dirt, smells and any bacteria be chemically whisked away by the sun.

A link to the research is below:

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2012/01/self-cleaning-clothes/

By actively engaging with new experiences, children deepen their knowledge about the world and, in addition, expand their vocabulary and understanding of previously acquired words and knowledge. Not all experiences are created equally, however, and an important component of a quality early childhood literacy program is to include a variety of experiences that children can engage in throughout the year.

While every experience a child has contains the potential to deepen their knowledge, it is not enough to simply expose a child to new experiences. It is essential to immerse and ground these experiences in conversation.

Hart & Risley (1995), in their landmark study on vocabulary differences amongst children, talk about the concept of “parent talk.” “Parent talk” is when “a parent defines and labels what children should notice and think about the world, their family, and themselves and suggest how interesting and important various objects, events, and relationships are.”

In this same vein, it is important that teachers engage in this kind of “discovery talk” with young children. It is not enough to have a block corner in the classroom or to take a class trip to a museum without first helping children identify and understand the experiences they will have or help them label the work they have created.

Have conversations with children about what they might experience. So many times, we give children instructions and expectations about their behavior, but we don’t take the time to talk about what the child might see, hear, or touch. If you add a new art material to the classroom, take time to brainstorm with the children about what kind of magical objects they might create!

Help children talk about their experiences. Whether they choose to spend choice time at the sand table, or you’re heading out as a class to the local science center, each experience has specific words that help the child build a better understanding of what is occurring. They’ll also be able to better anchor the experience as a reference for the next time it occurs.

A variety of experiences will help children learn new vocabulary, give them practice talking about new things, and help to connect their thoughts in meaningful ways so they are able to interact with parents, with other adults, and with other children.

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Krystyann Krywko specializes in education research, and focuses on literacy, and on hearing loss and the impact it has on children and families. She holds an Ed. D in International Education Development from Teachers College, Columbia University; where she was a Spencer Fellow for the 2005 cohort. She has more than 10 years of early childhood teaching experience.

LEGO Education was started in the early 1980s as a consolidation of previous efforts to use LEGO materials in support of education. By creating a separate division dedicated to the improvement of student learning, the LEGO group became one of the leading multinationals companies to show a serious commitment to social responsibility. LEGO Education set about its mission by creating a learning philosophy based on learners acquiring knowledge through active participation in their own learning experiences. LEGO has produced a series of integrated curriculum materials that serve as an excellent resource for teaching STEM concepts.

The LEGO Education learning philosophy is built on the “four Cs” concept:

Connect – Construct – Contemplate – Continue

Connect.
Learners are given an open-ended task that allows them to find their own solution to the challenges placed before them. The active engagement of students in problem solving encourages them to connect to their own interests and motivations. Students are encouraged to ask questions and explore ideas to connect their newly acquired learning to their existing knowledge and areas of interest.

Construct.
The core of every LEGO task involves building. By actively learning through tactile experience, students construct knowledge in their minds. Students also construct knowledge with others in group settings, where collaboration extends their learning even further.

Contemplate.
Students are given the opportunity to consider what they have learned through the construction activities. Through contemplation, students ask reflective questions about both the content and process of their learning. These questions are designed to help learners gain awareness of the process in which they are engaged, and to encourage exploring new ways to go about finding solutions to the challenges set before them.

Continue.
Every LEGO task ends with a new task that builds on what has just been learned. Thus, students are encouraged to continue their exploration and extend the experience beyond the classroom.

The LEGO Education curricula provide students a unique combination of challenges and hands-on experiences designed to their particular skill level. Students are given the chance to build meaningful artifacts with their own hands both individually and in group settings. By using the LEGO Education materials, students become motivated and excited to learn.

LEGO Education materials can also help promote effective teaching of STEM subjects.  All the units are developed in close collaboration with teachers and education experts, with a focus on the need for comprehensive solutions to make learning interesting and motivating  – while also adhering to the national core standards for science, technology, engineering and math.

Interested in exploring the opportunities to teach STEM subjects through LEGO Education material? I would suggest checking out the following websites:

• http://www.legoeducation.us/
• http://www.legoengineering.com/
• http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/previews/nxt_products/robotics_eng_vol_1/robo_eng_1_print_preview.htm

Perhaps the most significant attribute of the LEGO Education programs is the students’ own motivation to participate in the learning experience. Most children know LEGO from playing at home, and although LEGO Education’s products are different from LEGO commercial products, students enter the education environment aware that using LEGOs is fun. This makes them motivated even before they begin.

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Solomon Menashi spent the first part of his professional life running a highly-successful, high-tech manufacturing firm. For the past 10 years, he’s been working in education — teaching, leading, and learning. He is founder and Executive Director of Mindsurfers, which focuses on building the confidence, skills and enthusiasm of underserved students in the fields of science, technology, math and engineering. Solomon holds an Ed.M from Harvard University Graduate School of Education. You can also follow him on Twitter at #mindsurfers.

For the young child, this usually means that language and literacy need to grow through interaction with people and knowledge tends to be acquired both experientially and aurally (through listening).

Research suggests that children spend up to 75 percent of their day engaged in listening activities. However, as Lois Heymann suggests, in her book The Sound of Hope, children are never taught this essential skill of listening. Ms. Heymann states, “Children need years of practice to develop the ability to listen to instructions, absorb and make sense of spoken and heard information, and follow directions. They are expected to enter kindergarten already able to use these skills.”

So how can parents and educators help young children learn how to listen?

First of all, there needs to be an understanding of the differences between hearing and listening. Hearing is a passive activity. It is simply the act of perceiving sound, and if you have typical hearing, you don’t have to do anything. It just happens.

Listening, on the other hand, is an active activity. It is something that you need to make a conscious effort to engage in so that your brain is able to process, and distinguish, between sounds, words, and sentences.

The good news is that you don’t have to rush out and buy a prepackaged program to help young children learn to listen. You most likely already have all the materials you need either at home, or in your program.

Shake Up Story Time. Reading to young children is one of the best activities to build vocabulary and gain an understanding of story language and structure. However, relying on picture books allows them to tune out for awhile and then “catch up” by looking at the pictures.

To help develop active listening skills, try listening to books on CD. Vicki Parker, Ph.D, SLP, cautions that active listening is a skill that needs to be developed in many young children. “Take your time when you are first starting out. Watch to see if the children are engaged with the story. If they’re not, simply turn off the CD and try again another time.” The first listening session might only last five minutes, but the next time might be longer.

Play Your Way to Bigger Words. Research shows a strong link between vocabulary and successful readers and writers.

When you think about vocabulary building, forget about reaching for those flash cards. Make it fun for young children. Use words they already understand and go from there.

If you come across a new word during story time, don’t hesitate to stop and explain the word (you might want to plan where to stop in advance). Try using the word a couple of times during the day, and the next day, as well. This gives young children the opportunity to hear the word in different contexts, which helps “deepen the use and meaning of these words.”

Don’t be afraid of using big words. Children often comprehend a new word before they try it themselves. Besides, young children love learning big words.

Mind the Gap. The more children know about their world, the more background knowledge they will have to access. A knowledge gap begins to grow between those children who understand basic concepts and those who have not had prior exposure. The more opportunities they have to explore using all five senses – touch, hearing, sight, taste, smell- the more familiarity they will have with the world around them.

“It’s all about exploration at this stage,” says Darla Hutson and Tracy Hitchins, co-directors of the Preschool Toolbox, in Illinois. “And the best thing is you don’t even need fancy materials to provide these opportunities.” Think funnels and strainers for water or sand play, or going on nature walks to collect materials such as leaves and stones that can be sorted.

Help children label their discoveries. Describe how objects look and feel. Compare differences in size, shape, color, and texture. Talk about the steps that are involved in an activity so they gain a better understanding of sequencing and organization.

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Krystyann Krywko specializes in education research, and focuses on literacy, and on hearing loss and the impact it has on children and families. She holds an Ed. D in International Education Development from Teachers College, Columbia University; where she was a Spencer Fellow for the 2005 cohort. She has more than 10 years of early childhood teaching experience.