EcoTeacherProject

JackDouglasPaterson
EnvironmentalStudies,EducationConcentration
Fall2016

Introduction
The American Forestry Foundation says, Tomorrows
leaders need to be equipped for tomorrow's challenges, andwemust
adequately prepare our children for the future they will inherit. That
requires a commitment to providing young students with
Environmental Education (EE).1 55 Million American students,
teachers, and staff (one out of every six people in the country)spend
2
their days in K12 schools. Logically, this is where EE should take
place. Although, much of EE is done in a standardschoolsetting,itis
rarely taught by a students primary educator. There isaplethoraof
qualitative dataastowhyitisdifficultforteacherstoincludeEEwithin
their curriculum.3 Much of EE is taught by programs and
organizations, nonprofit and otherwise, that go into publicschoolsandteachEEworkshops.4Thatbeingsaid,
why isnt more EE taught in astandardeducationalsettingbyastudentsprimaryeducator?Additionally,how
canwebetteradaptEEcurriculumsothatitcanbeusedinthissetting?
To approach this topic for my capstone, I chose to work with Return of the Natives (R.O.N.) a
community and schoolbasedEnvironmentalEducationprogramdedicatedtoinvolvingstudents(Kindergarten
through University) and the community in nativehabitatrestorationinMontereyCounty,CA.Theirmissionis
to bring nature closer to people, and people closer to nature. They achieve this goal through
communitywide habitat restoration events and EE programs in elementary schools. The Eco Ambassador
program works to further the EE aspect of that mission by teaching EE lessons to 800 fifth grade students,
from all eleven schools in the Monterey Peninsula Unified SchoolDistrict(MPUSD).Itismadepossiblebya
collaboration between MPUSD, R.O.N., the Pacific Grove Museum ofNaturalHistoryandtheArtsCouncil
for Monterey County with funding from the State Farm Youth Advisory Board. The program consists of a
series of environmental science lessons andhandsonoutdooreducation,taughtbyR.O.N.studentvolunteers
and staff, known as Eco Ambassadors. The Eco Ambassadors go into MPUSD classroomsandteachthose
lessons on professional development days when teachers arent in the classrooms. EE programs and
organizations that go into public schools like this, however, leaves the primary educator outside of their
studentseducation.
My capstone seeks to fill that gap by attempting to understand, anticipate, and address barriers
primaryeducatorshavetoteachingEnvironmentalEducation.

"Why Teach Environmental Education." Why Environmental Education Is Important. Accessed November 2, 2016.
https://www.forestfoundation.org/whyteachenvironmentaleducationinschools.
2
ibid
3
Ham, Sam H., and Daphne R. Sewing. "Barriers to Environmental Education." The JournalofEnvironmentalEducation19,
no.
2
(January
1988):
1724.
Accessed
November
10,
2016.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241739389_Barriers_to_Environmental_Education.
4
ibid

Background
Environmental Education has been shown to have positive
effectsonastudent'sabilitiesinSocialStudies,Science,LanguageArts,
and Math improve standardized test scores and gradepointaverages
and develop a student's skills in problemsolving, critical thinking, and
decisionmaking5. Studies have shown EE engages students in their
learning and inspires them to pursue careers in environmental and
natural resources.6 Why isnt more EE taught in astandardeducational
settingbyastudentsprimaryeducator?
Most commonly the answer teachers gave was time. Project
WILD, one of the leading EE developers, found in a survey on 228
certified Project WILD, Project WILD Aquatic, or Project Learning
Tree educators in Illinois that the primary reason for not teaching the
lessons given to them, was that they didnt have enough time to
incorporate the activities into their curriculum.7 Though we cannot give
teachers more time, Project WILD states userfriendly timesaving materials can be produced with certain
things in mind to address teachers needs. Firstly, proper training of facilitators is essential. Project WILD
hosts trainings for certified educatorsandeducationalfacilitiesmultipletimesthroughouttheyear,updatingand
guiding teachers through teaching the curriculum. Second, assistance in integrating Project WILD into their
curriculum and the providing of correlations to state and local standards. Finally, teachers also expressed a
need for sustained contact with Project WILD Facilitators or a support network of other educators,
EnvironmentalEducationexperts,andcommunityresourcepersonnel.
A 1988 paper by Ham & Sewing categorizes the barriers to EE into four major groups: attitudinal,
logistical, educational, andconceptual.8AttitudinalbarriersincludeteachersfeelingEEisinappropriate,butthe
study found minimal literature to suggest this is a major barrier. Many of the barriers listed so far would fall
under the category oflogisticalbarriers.Educationalbarriersincludeproblemsintheeducationofourteachers
and their lack of exposure to EE. The final group of barriers, conceptual barriers, are a byproduct of the
lack of consensus about the definitions, goals, and principles of EE, making it difficult to incorporate into
school curriculum. One ofthemostcommonconceptualbarriersisthatEEisalwayssciencebasedandcant
be incorporated into other aspects of curriculum. However, there is a plethora of EEthemed curricula that
can come in the form of Language Arts, History, Math, or even Art.9 Knowing all of this, how can we help
primaryeducatorsteachmoreEE?

Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Naturedeficit Disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin
BooksofChapelHill,2005.
6
Why Teach Environmental Education." Why Environmental Education Is Important. Accessed November 2, 2016.
https://www.forestfoundation.org/whyteachenvironmentaleducationinschools.
7
Pitman, Barbara J., comp. A Summary of Research Findings 1983 1995 and 1996 2003. Project WILD.
http://projectwild.org/documents/ProjectWILDSummaryofResearchFindings19831995and19962003_000.pdf
8
Ham, Sam H., and Daphne R. Sewing. "Barriers to Environmental Education." The Journal of Environmental Education 19,
no.
2
(January
1988):
1724.
Accessed
November
10,
2016.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241739389_Barriers_to_Environmental_Education.
9
TheWatercourseandtheCouncilforEnvironmentalEducation.ProjectW ETCurriculum&ActivityGuide.1995
AmericanForestFoundation.ProjectLearningTree:EnvironmentalEducationPreK8ActivityGuide.2006.

There are many EE programs and organizations, nonprofit and

otherwise, that are going into public schools and teaching workshops incertain
parts of the country. These nonformal education programs, though they are
effective in teaching EE and are inspiring to the children they teach, are
infrequent and only visit particular schools. There are innumerable reasonswhy
theseprogramsarentaseffectiveastheycouldbe.Thiscouldbeduetolackof
funding, knowledgeable educators, student engagement, or administrational
support.

Approaches
I believe the two most important reasons the programs arent as effective, are that the lessons arent
tied into the overall school curriculum, and arent taught by the primary educator with which the student has
developed a learning relationship. I believe that changing these two aspects will have a dramaticresultonthe
effectivenessoftheEE.
Though many of the needs and problems expressed by educators in the literature reviewed for this
project can beaddressed,mycapstonecannotaddresseveryissue.Oneapproachwouldbetohostatraining
with groups of Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD) 5thgrade teachers throughout the
semester to help them incorporate preexisting EE curriculum. Another would be to develop userfriendly
and approachable EEcurriculumthattriestopreemptivelysatisfyMPUSD5thgradeteachersneeds.Thefirst
method would require teachers to have a great deal of free time, which is not a reality. The second method
would be effective, but would not involve the essential training of primary educators. I chose the second
method because I felt that I could develop curriculum that accurately covered teacher's needs in an intuitive
waythatwouldnotrequiretrainingtoteach.

ProjectGoals
My capstone is titled The Eco TeacherProject.Iwouldcreatelessonsforprimaryeducatorstoteach
to their students in between visits from R.O.N. These lessons would expand the amount of EE curriculum
taught in these classrooms, furthering R.O.N.s mission, while also aiming to preemptively satisfy as many of
theteachersneedsaspossible.
I would provide correlations to state and local standards for each lesson to save teachersthetimeof
doing that same research. I would try to make it clear that these were EEthemed Language Arts based
lessons to address the conceptual barrier that EE is always sciencebased. I would also offer myself as a
resource line to R.O.N. for all of the MPUSD to address the desire for sustained contact. These lessons
would also have minimal to no set up work, allowing teachers to teach them spontaneously, saving them
additional time. In this way, I would attempt to address the majority of the needs andproblemsaddressedin
theliteraturetothebestofmyabilitiesandresources.

ProjectDescription
For myproject,IadaptedfourEElessonsfrompreexistingEEcurriculumbyProjectLearningTree10
and Project WET11 (Water Education for Teachers). These lessons had to beLanguageArtsbasedandfulfill
certain CCSS Reading and Writing requirements. After researching the CCSS requirements and listing those
on the lesson plan, Iwouldalsoincludeadditionalbackgroundknowledgefortheteacherincasetheywerent
as familiar in the subject. With some lessons I also had to adapt them to remove set up work, preparing
materials before including them in the envelopes to teachers. As a personal touch, I also adapted some of
these lessons to be taught outdoors, which is a common trend in EE. Once I finished adapting a lesson, I
printed and packaged copies for every teacher that would be delivered on the day R.O.N. visited the
classroom.
Apart from the lessons, I also developed
two surveys for the MPUSD teachers. One would
be delivered between Lesson 1 and 2, so that I
could get a sense of how everything was going and
to seeifIcouldchangelesson2inanywaytobetter
suit their needs before it went out. The second
survey would be delivered after my second lesson,
surveying overall feelings about theprogram,aswell
as examining further ways to assist them in
implementing EE into their curriculum. Only the first
two lessons were delivered during my semester
workingonthiscapstone.Theothertwolessonsand
a survey that I helped to create will be delivered
Spring2017.

Results
The majority oftheteacherswhoresponded
to the survey agreed that they did not have the time
to teach the Eco Teacher Project Lessons. (Results
1) Of the 28 teachers who were delivered Eco
Teacher curriculum, 6 responded to the first survey.
5 stated that they did not teach the lessons because they didnothavetime.Onesaidthethelessondidnotfit
theircurriculum.Therewerenoresponsestothesecondsurvey.
Due to the response rate of my surveys, there is little I can state from my findings with statistical
certainty. One or more teachers made comments about the Language Arts incorporation. Noting that they
liked that [Lesson 1] was tied to poetry. 50 percent of the teachers stated that their favorite aspect of the
lesson was theoutdoorsetting.(Results2)NoteacherstatedthetheconvenientELSstandardlistingwastheir
favorite aspect. The majority oftheseteacherswereexperiencededucators,3havingtaughtfor25yearsand
3havingtaughtfor5ormoreyears.(Results3)
10

AmericanForestFoundation.ProjectLearningTree:EnvironmentalEducationPreK8ActivityGuide.2006.
TheWatercourseandtheCouncilforEnvironmentalEducation.ProjectW ETCurriculum&ActivityGuide.1995

11

ProjectEvaluation
Though my project ultimately did not accomplishwhatitsetouttodo,Ibelievethatthishascreateda
format that be carried on by future capstone students. The literature suggested that the largest barrier for
primary educators incorporating EE into curriculum was the time to do it. My data supported the literatures
trend. My project was limited by how much contact I had with the teachers. I was not able tomeetwiththe
teachers in person at any point to make the case for why they should teachtheselessons.Ibelieveultimately
thiswasthereasonforthenegligiblesurveyresponseandlessoncompletionrate.

Recommendations
For future capstones working on this, I would continue this project in tandem with the
EcoAmbassador program, having the EcoAmbassador program gather data from the students while the
EcoTeacher project continues to surveytheteachers.Iwouldalsoattempt,howeverchallenging,tohaveone
districtwide, or several schoolwide meetings with the 5th grade teachers to introduce the subject at the
beginning of the school year. Ibelievethatthiswouldbethemostnecessarynextsteptotake.Finally,Iwould
package all the curriculum into one packet to deliver at the beginning of the semester, rather than delivering
severalcurriculumpacketsintermittentlythroughoutthesemester.

Conclusion
In conclusion, The Eco Teacher project, although ineffective in its goals, was beneficial to Return of
The Natives in providingamuchneededframeworkforbringingteachersintoR.O.N.smissionofbringnature
closer to people, and people closer to nature through Environmental Education. Though the lack of survey
responses was unfortunate for the sake of collecting data, the dataitdidcollectledtoasimilarconclusionof
muchoftheliteraturereviewed.