Environmental Education Curriculum Goes Statewide

After Michigan voters approved the Clean Michigan Initiative in 1998, $1 million from the environmental bond was set aside to develop environmental education materials. Now complete, those materials are ready to move into Michigan middle school classrooms.

The Michigan Environmental Education Curriculum Support (MEECS) debuts in early 2006 with five foundation units for grades 4-9 covering ecosystems and biodiversity, land use, water quality, air quality, and energy resources. The curriculum features extensive science background materials and more than 100 classroom activities.

“One of the major strengths of the curriculum is that it’s Michigan-specific,” says education coordinator Tom Occhipinti of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. “When we talk about ecosystems we’re talking about the forests of Michigan. When we talk about land use, we’re talking about the Upper Peninsula and Detroit. When we talk about water quality, we’re talking about the Great Lakes and rivers all over the state. For teachers and students, it’s right in their backyard.”

Several academic institutions developed content for MEECS including Western Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, and the Western Upper Peninsula Center for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education in partnership with Michigan Technological University. Central Michigan University coordinated publication of the five MEECS units and trainer-training. Science and Mathematics Program Improvement (SAMPI) at Western Michigan University is coordinating the evaluation process.

More than 120 Michigan educators reviewed the content and field-tested the lessons in their classrooms. Many organizations, including Michigan Sea Grant, contributed supplemental educational materials, and more than 60 partner organizations are endorsing MEECS and helping to provide information on the materials.

Air, Land, Energy and Water
Each MEECS foundation unit contains seven to nine individual lessons, each featuring several hands-on activities and optional extensions. The core of each unit is designed to be taught in a two-week period.

One of the favorite classroom activities comes from the unit on water quality, says Joan Chadde of the Western U.P. Math and Science Center. In Why Care About Groundwater, students create their own groundwater models by layering different types of cereal in a cup.

They add milk to simulate rainfall and groundwater recharge. Meanwhile, teachers display MDEQ maps showing actual sources of groundwater contamination by county. Students simulate the pollutants by sprinkling colored drink mixes and use straws to “drill wells” and “sample groundwater.”

“It’s effective learning for the students,” explains Chadde. “Students see the contaminants being put on the ‘ground,’ and taste the pollution that infiltrates down into the groundwater and is pumped out in their straw. The activity has added meaning as they are working with actual Michigan groundwater contamination data.”

With curriculum development complete, Chadde says the next step is marketing and dissemination. Ideally, entire school districts will adopt the five MEECS units.

“If a school district integrates the five units into their grade 4-9 curriculum,” says Chadde, “students will receive an awesome foundation for understanding Michigan and their environment.”

Making the Grade
MEECS lessons are aligned with Michigan science and social studies content standards. These ties to the Michigan curriculum framework are important, says Robby Cramer, president of Michigan Science Teachers Association. And the curriculum comes at the right time.

“We’re at a time in Michigan when we’re going to see huge changes in the next few years in terms of what’s being taught where,” says Cramer. “Educators will be looking for new materials.”

Cramer notes that the Michigan Department of Education is in the process of restructuring Michigan’s science curriculum over the next two years, and these changes will make it easy for educators to integrate MEECS units.

She also notes that the Michigan-specific curriculum reinforces current trends in environmental education. One trend is to provide science-based materials that encourage higher-level thinking and allow students to apply what they’ve learned to the real world.

“We live in a state where the environment is a very precious gift,” says Cramer. “We need to be wise consumers about how we use our natural resources. This curriculum will help teachers share this concept with students.”

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