Washington Elementary School Handbook: Environmental Education Curriculum using Thematic Units

Abstract

In the Wisconsin Rapids School District, an Environmental Education Guide was developed in 1989. The guide listed 35 "Fundamental Environmental Principles". These principles were then correlated with the district curriculum objectives in the areas of Language Arts, Art, Science and Social Studies. At Washington Elementary School. in Wisconsin Rapids, the teachers integrated all subject areas, using a central theme.(Known as "Integrated ThPm:1t1r Units") District environmental education principles were not correlated to this new curriculum. A questionnaire was given to teachers in Grades 1-6 at Washington School in the fall of 1992. Teachers listed the thematic units they taught and ways they would like to utilize an outdoor site on school property. A handbook was designed which included ten lessons for each grade, using ideas from various curriculum guides and incorporating children's literature. The ten lessons infused environmental education into the thematic units that the teachers listed. Environmental objectives from the state curriculum guide were identified for each lesson. Care was taken to select lessons that took the student from an awareness level to citizen action. "Fundamental Environmental Principles" (from the district environmental education curriculum guide) were also identified for each lesson. One action project for each grade was created and included. At each grade level, lessons were designed utilizing the wooded area on school property. In the fall of 1993, an inservice was given to introduce the teachers at Washington School to the handbook. Teachers were asked to use the handbook during the school year. Interviews in May of 1994, indicated that half of the twelve teachers used the handbook to teach 1-3 of the ten lessons designed for their thematic units. The other half of the teachers taught 4-6 of the lessons. Two of the six grades participated in their citizen action project. The entire school participated in the fourth grade action project of prairie restoration. Reasons given for not utilizing the handbook included: not aware there was a lesson for a unit until after the unit was taught; no longer teach the units listed in 1992; additional curriculum was added which was very time consuming; and the teacher's need to add only one or two new lessons to an existing unit, each year. It was recommended that teachers at various grades meet and select specific units to be taught annually at each grade. Additional environmental lessons could be designed by a core of teachers for these new units. Another recommendation included the creation of a district scope and sequence in environmental education. Finally, a resource teacher, ·with an expertise or interest in environmental education could aid and encourage. fellow teachers at each school.