The Integration of Place-Based Activities Related to the Fox River and the Great Lakes Watershed into the 5th Grade Science Curricula for the Unified School District of De Pere

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to design and implement place based activities into a 5th grade science curriculum related to the Fox River and Great Lakes Watershed for the Unified School District of De Pere in De Pere, Wisconsin. De Pere is in Northeastern Wisconsin, along the Lower Fox River. As humans, our respect for the environment begins with connection to the living world, nature. Many children in this day and age must face the difficult challenge of maintaining that human connection to nature. With the advent of technology, in the way of computers, ipods, cell phones, video games and TV, children and adults in this world today are consistently less in tune with the natural world. It is the challenge of parents and educators alike to be present, and continue to foster children's positive connections to the environment. For this reason, it is critical to integrate place-based activities into the 5th grade science curriculum in the Unified School District of De Pere. To accomplish this task of integrating place-based activities into the 5th grade science curriculum, the researcher used knowledge of environmental education and experiences through coursework to rewrite the ecosystems unit for 5th Grade Science as well as incorporate place-based activities into the other existing science curricula: geology, energy resources, and weather. Wisconsin State Science and Environmental Education Standards, and District Benchmarks were used while the curriculum was being rewritten. A teaching partner and the researcher piloted the new science curriculum in the fall of 2008. The researcher was then responsible for training the 5th grade teaching staff of the Unified School District of De Pere on how to implement the new curriculum. The researcher met for two in-services in the late winter of 2009 to train the 5th grade staff. The teachers implemented the new place-based curriculum in the spring of 2009. Feedback for improvement was generated through an anonymous survey as well as through grade level discussions. The curriculum that was implemented is most likely not the end product, but rather a spring board from which to continue incorporating the local environment into science curricula for the 5th Grade in the Unified School District of De Pere.