Citysprouts-Middle-School-Curriculum
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In This Binder Section Weekly Theme Supporting Materials Page Intro Calendar 0 Lesson Planning Template(s) 00 Intro to the Model 2 Goals and Measurements 4 1 Knowing Each Other and Working Together Week 1 Overview 5 Community Building Activities 6 Chair for Bear Activity 8 Engineering and Design Resources 9 2 Ground Rules and Skill Building: Measuring Week 2 Overview 12 Dough Making Activity 13 Community Contracts Resources 14 Dough Recipes 16 3 Our Role and Our Tastes Week 3 Overview 19 Life of Our Tomato Sauce 20 Resources on Tomatoes 22 Life of a Tomato Activity 25 4 Doing Science with Milk Week 4 Overview 27 Making Butter as Science 28 Resources on Milk and Consumers 30 5 Making Decisions Together Week 5 Overview 32 Activity Explanation 33 Sauce Recipes 34 6 Skill Building: Knife Skills Week 6 Overview 36 Knowledge Building: Producers Activity Explanation 37 Knife Skills Guidelines 38 Yeast Experiment 39 Photosynthesis Teaching Resources 40 Background on Producers 42 7 Skill Building: Attending to Precision Week 7 Overview 44 Knowledge Building: Consumers General Resources 45 Cheese Recipe 46 Pickling Instructions 47 8 Reflection: Autonomy/Celebration Week 8 Overview 49 Pizza Making Tips 50 9 Reflection: Communication Week 9 Overview 52 Activity Explanation 53 1 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum Introduction to the Model Overview This curriculum is designed to engage Cambridge and Boston middle schoolers in an afterschool setting over 10 once-weekly sessions. Participating youth come from public schools and are diverse in culture, physical ability, socioeconomic background, interests, and conventional measures of academic achievement. Instructors are CitySprouts’ FoodCorps Service Members (FCSMs), who also bring diverse strengths, interests, and backgrounds. The curriculum aims to address goals for students fitting into three main categories: STEM Learning and Engagement, Healthy Eating, and Social-Emotional Skill Building. Within those categories our view-- what we’re thinking about and how we contextualize the work-- is wide. The focus-- what we hope to achieve and where we put the bulk of our energy-- is narrow. STEM Learning and Engagement Our broad goal is that youth come out more excited about the STEM subjects. The narrow academic focus of the curriculum is on giving students opportunities to practice and apply measuring, engineering, modeling, and observation skills in tangible, relevant contexts. The frame for building these skills is examination of Three Systems: ecosystems, food systems, and community. By the end of a ten-week session, students will have: 1. Had multiple opportunities to make qualitative and quantitative observations, take measurements, and/or engage in aspects of the engineering/design process. 2. Produced a product, through use of some or all of the above skills, that they are excited about and proud of. 3. Consistently heard language that parallels what they hear during school, in hopes of highlighting connections between in school and afterschool learning. 4. Contributed to a detailed visual model of the ecosystem, food system, and community in which they participate. Healthy Eating Our broad goal in that youth eventually make more healthful choices about what they eat. Changing health-related behaviors is a large process that works on the personal, interpersonal, community, environmental, and policy levels. In this setting we cannot address all of the interconnected factors that influence behavior and health. Our narrow focus is on increasing behavioral capability-- the knowledge and skills necessary to make a change-- and self-efficacy-- confidence in one’s ability to act (National Cancer Institute 2005, 20). By the end of a session, students will have: 1. Tasted 5-8 different vegetables in raw or lightly processed form 2. Learned to recognize 5-8 different vegetables 3. Practiced skills that contribute to growing and/or preparing vegetables (e.g. seeding, knife skills, weeding, etc) 4. Examined, via their visual model, where they have power to make decisions and how those decisions affect the Three Systems in which they participate. Social-Emotional Skill Building The social-emotional foci fall on building community and autonomy. While these two words have disparate definitions, the ideas behind them are complimentary when it comes to middle school youth. This curriculum aims to provide opportunities to build community through group problem solving and explicit examination of community as a system. Within that context, it leaves room for students to build autonomy by learning cooking and gardening skills, expressing opinions and creativity, and making decisions. The Three Systems frame brings community and autonomy together by providing a way for youth and instructors to examine the role of the individual their 2 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum context. As the group builds a visual model over ten weeks, the constant questions to return to are “what decisions do we have the power to make?” and “who do those decisions affect and how?” Behind the Design Creating this curriculum represented a design challenge. Through research and interviews, the following constraints emerged: 1. Temporal o Fits into 9 sessions (leaving 1 buffer week) o Includes time for start and end routines o Has flexibility for different seasons o Activities can be expanded and contracted for varied session lengths • Activity Type o Uses the garden o Incorporates cooking, but not too much o Doesn’t feel too much like school o Activities build and feel like parts of a whole (not one-off lessons) • Population o Middle school appropriate o Designed with consciousness of the diverse interests and strengths of youth and instructors o One student could participate for multiple years/seasons, including summer • Learning Goals o Focuses on Three Systems (eco, food, community) o Opportunities to practice STEM skills and build excitement about science o Builds autonomy and community o Provides opportunities and motivation to try new fruits and vegetables The design process will continue with prototyping, testing, and revision. Systems for collecting and assimilating feedback are built into the structure of the program. As we work through the curriculum together and with youth, everyone’s voices will be part of adapting and refining it. 3 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum Goals and Measurements We want students to... So that... How we’ll know it happened: Have multiple opportunities to make qualitative and Youth deepen skills related to Students and staff will quantitative observations, take measurements, scientific practice, and become collaborate to record and/or engage in aspects of the engineering/design more engaged in the STEM measurements and observations process. subjects. via written and video journaling Produce a product, through use of some or all of the Youth see real world applications Students will make and eat a above skills, that they are excited about and proud of STEM skills, build confidence, pizza. of. and experience the feeling of seeing a project through to completion Consistently hear language that parallels what they Youth see connections between in Written/Video Journaling; hear during school school and afterschool learning. Conversations with youth Contribute to a detailed visual model of the Youth get to practice the skill of Students will produce a visual ecosystem, food system, and community in which modeling, so that they come to see model of the systems on a they participate. themselves as part of a greater poster as a group. system. Taste 5-8 different vegetables in raw or lightly Youth are familiar with more Students will rate their processed form vegetables, a step on the way to preferences each week via a choosing to eat more fruits and sticker system, creating a vegetables. cumulative graph. Recognize 5-8 different vegetables Youth are familiar with more Students will complete a survey vegetables, a step on the way to at the end of the 10 week choosing to eat more fruits and course vegetables. Practice skills that contribute to growing and/or Youth increase behavioral capability-- Students will make preparing vegetables (e.g. seeding, knife skills, the knowledge and skills necessary presentations to guests about weeding, etc) to make a change, a step on the what they have learned at the way to behavior change. end of the 10-week session. Examine, via the visual models they create, where Youth increase self-efficacy-- Science notebook they have power to make decisions and how those confidence in their ability to act. prompts/video journaling decisions affect the Three Systems in which they This is a step on the way to prompts related to these topics. participate (food system, ecosystem, and behavior change. community). Build community through group problem solving Youth feel comfortable taking risks Written and video journaling and explicit examination of community as a system and build collaborative work skills. prompts. Build autonomy by learning cooking and gardening Youth increase behavioral capability, Conversations with youth, skills, expressing opinions and creativity, and self-efficacy, confidence, and positive written and video journaling making decisions self-image. prompts. 4 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum Week 1: Knowing Each Other and Working Together Primary Goals: • Get to know each other/build community. Youth will walk out knowing: • Everyone’s names (mostly) • That they’re going to get to participate in a super sweet project • You will walk