The academic field of environment and ecology could be your link to integration between multiple disciplines. Real life experiences, connections to everyday life and an understanding of why the learning is important could be the key to success for students.

As standards dominate the curriculum, we must constantly ask ourselves if what we are expecting students to know is the most essential understanding that can be achieved through the content. Priorities for school district curriculum are set using the standards as a filter to insure that critical knowledge is taught.

Students often struggle with what is important to know and be able to do. Grasping at concepts and hanging on to misconceptions sometimes makes learning difficult. Misconceptions can be corrected by putting the learning to the test. Students have the opportunity to directly put cause and effect into play.

Standards place the emphasis on the content that should be understood at a conceptual level. Many things taught in the classroom are important to know while others need to be merely at a familiarity level. Learning must be part of real life experiences. Building on what a student knows and can do constructs the learning in an upward spiral. Learning no longer happens in a vacuum but contains meaning and understanding for the learner.

School districts need to be accountable for standards. Standards inform and shape our work. These standards provide a framework to help us identify teaching and learning priorities and guide the design of curriculum and assessment. Our classroom assessments must be valid and reliable indicators of student knowledge. As we move toward high stakes accountability with the new Science, Technology, Environment and Ecology State PSSA, it becomes even more critical that Standards, curriculum development, and assessment are aligned.

The environment and ecology standards can help students use their local community to build toward an in-depth connection to local, state, national and global issues. When a student has content knowledge, they can apply this effectively in a multitude of contextual situations. They can look at their own personal prejudices and decide what they know, what they want to know and how to move forward to achieve the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions on critical issues.

The reason we learn is so we can use this new knowledge in a meaningful manner. Attitudes and perceptions lead students to make decisions and form opinions. Teaching must address differences between student learning and assess this learning in a variety of ways. Paper and pencil test must make way for more authentic forms of assessing student achievement. Products and performances give a richer account of student learning. This kind of authentic assessment allows for multiple forms of accountability. Students can package their learning in a way that makes sense to them. Holding them accountable by providing highly structured task that demand critical thinking and analysis moves learning to a much higher level.

As in “Dimensions of Learning” there are two different kinds of learning. “Procedural knowledge requires a student to perform a process or to demonstrate a skill. In contrast, declarative knowledge is information for information’s sake. It does not require the learner to perform a series of steps with the mind or body.”

The lesson and unit plan format that I have developed places the standards at the forefront. These standards give you the critical or essential knowledge you need to present in your classrooms. Students make direct connections to their learning through local community involvement and place-based education, The anchors for both reading and math further define the tie between procedural and declarative knowledge. Reading is part of the teaching and not an isolated function. As each school district aligns their curriculum to the standards they need to ensure that lesson plans and units of study follow that alignment.

As you participate in each workshop, you have the opportunity to use some of the best national and state curriculums developed. These programs and supplemental materials should be your building blocks to write lessons and develop units of study. Each session will highlight standards, anchors and authentic assessment strategies.

As we move into an ever-changing system of education, we must all be prepared to accommodate all of the students who sit in our classrooms. Their experiences and learning styles will enable them to be successful only if we as teachers make our classrooms an environment for positive and constructive learning.

Take every opportunity for learning! Our job is to give you the tools. Your job is to make the tools work for you and your classroom.

Patricia L. Vathis

Environment and Ecology Curriculum Advisor

Bureau of Teaching and Learning Support

Pennsylvania Department of Education

Marzano, Robert and Pickering, Debra (1997). Dimensions of Learning, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, Virginia.