THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A GREAT LAKES THEMATIC UNIT AT SHEBOYGAN FALLS MIDDLE SCHOOL By Tamara L. Gerend A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree MASTER OF SCIENCE In Natural Resources/Environmental Education University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point July, 2004 APPROVED BY THE GRADUATE ADVISOR Dr. Randy Champeau Professor of Environmental Education 11 ACKNOWLEGEMENTS I would like to thank my husband, Chris, for all his support and editing time during the course of this project. If it would not have been his encouragement I may not have completed this project. I would also like to thank Karen Wodach and Lori Walker for their support and enthusiasm of making this Great Lakes project such a success. I appreciate the guidance and support from the administration at Sheboygan Falls Middle School without which this project may not have been an integrated project. lll ABSTRACT iv Abstract The purpose of this project was to create an integrated unit which would expose all seventh grade students at Sheboygan Falls Middle School in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin to the Great Lakes. The school is located in Sheboygan County and is about fifteen minutes from Lake Michigan. During the 2001-2002 school year, information was given to the seventh grade teachers and the director of instruction regarding the activities that would be included in the project with requests for feedback. In the spring of 2003 each teacher was given a binder that included all materials needed for them to teach their academic portion of the unit. In each binder was a divider that contained standards covers in each academic area, a divider for each activity to be taught and a divided section for papers that would need to be copied for the students. In addition there were evaluation forms to be filled out at the completion of the unit. Each activity had an introductory page with the school and EE standards listed, brief directions if needed and any rubrics or overheads which would be needed to teach the activity. All seventh grade students spent from one to two weeks learning about the Great Lakes. Activities included local history and the connection to the Great Lakes, water usage, groundwater, invasive species and water quality. After completing the unit some teachers commented that they liked the format with all materials included and ready to use. The students demonstrated their knowledge in discussions, a written reflection and participation on the SN Denis Sullivan. Students demonstrated an increase in their knowledge and a greater awareness and concern for the Great Lakes region. lV TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv CHAPTER 1: THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING 1 Introduciton 1 The Statement of the Problem 1 The Subproblems 2 The Significance of Problem 2 The Limitations 3 The Definitions of Terms 3 The Assumptions 4 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 5 Importance of Standards in Curriculum 5 Great Lakes 6 Curriculum Development and Integration 7 Implementation of the Curriculum 9 Evaluation of Unit Materials 10 CHPATER 3: PROJECT METHODOLOGY 11 Subproblem One 11 Subproblem Two 11 Subproblem Three 12 Subproblem Four 13 Subproblem Five 13 CHAPTER 4: PROJECT RESULTS 14 Subproblem One 14 Subproblem Two 15 Subproblem Three 15 Subproblem Four 16 Subproblem Five 17 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDSATIONS 19 BIBLIOGRAPHY 24 APPENDIX A: SHEBOYGAN FALLS AND EE STANDARDS 26 APENDIX B: SOCIAL STUDIES ACTIVITIES 48 APENDIX C: SCIENCE ACTIVITIES 70 APENDIX D: MATH ACTIVIES 117 APENDIX E: LANGUAGE ARTS ACTIVIES 137 APENDIX F: TEACHER EV ALU A TI ON FORM 159 APENDIX G: PERMISSION SLIP FOR FIELD TRIP 161 APENDIX H: NEWSPAPER ARTICLE 163 CHAPTER ONE THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING Introduction This project took place in the city of Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin with an approximate population of 6,741. The school district includes one high school, one middle school and a new elementary school. This project took place as part of the seventh grade curriculum. Sheboygan Falls Middle School houses grades five through eight. The seventh grade class has about 150 students. The students have 49 minute class periods which include a related studies block. In addition to regular education students we have EBD, LBD and CBD students. Prior to the implementation of this project, the seventh grade teachers did not all incorporate EE into their respective curriculums. The following is a statement of the problem and subproblems focused on throughout the duration of the project. The Statement of the Problem The purpose of this project is to develop, implement and evaluate a seventh grade environmental education integrated unit on the Great Lakes at Sheboygan Falls Middle School. I The Subproblems Subproblem 1: To determine which Wisconsin standards will be covered in each discipline (science, math, social studies and language arts) in relation to the Great Lakes. Subproblem 2: To locate resource materials containing information and activities on environmental education and the Great Lakes. Subproblem 3: To develop an environmental education integrated unit on the Great Lakes. Subproblem 4: To work with the director of instruction on an in-service for the seventh grade team members to implement the curriculum. Subproblem 5: To create an instrument for seventh grade teachers to evaluate the curriculum after its implementation. The Significance of Problem The significance of the problem is that the administration of the Sheboygan Falls School District requires the implementation of at least two integrated units in the middle school. The current seventh grade curriculum includes only one integrated unit. There is also a lack of environmental education in the current seventh grade curriculum. One of the guiding principles of environmental education from the Tbilisi Declaration states: 2 Environmental education should be interdisciplinary in its approach, drawing on the specific content ofeach discipline in making possible a holistic and balanced perspective. The stated principle confirms the need for integration of environmental education and therefore presents two good opportunities to infuse EE and to add a second integrated unit to the seventh grade curriculum The Limitations This study is limited by: 1. The cooperation of each teacher on the team to complete the integrated unit. 2. Maximum of one week for the unit. The Definitions of Terms Environmental education (EE)- producing a citizenry that is knowledgeable concerning the biophysical environment and its associated problems, aware of how to help solve these problems, and motivated to work toward their solution. Integrated- bringing together of different parts into a functional or unified whole. Unit - a collection of materials to be taught in the classroom on a specific subject. Implement - in servicing the teachers to teach a unit on the Great Lakes to put the unit into action. 3 Evaluation - a questionnaire for the teachers to fill out at the end of the unit on their in-service and quality of the program. Seventh grade team - all core academic teachers (science, math, social studies, and language arts) in seventh grade and the seventh grade learning disabilities teacher The Assumptions The assumptions in this project include: 1. The Sheboygan Falls seventh grade teachers will participate in implementation and evaluation of an integrated environmental education unit. 2. Sheboygan Falls Middle School administration will support this project. 3. There is a need for integration of environmental education into the Sheboygan Falls seventh grade curriculum. 4. There is an interest in the Great Lakes at Sheboygan Falls Middle School. 4 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW Importance of Standards in Curriculum According to the Department of Public Instruction ( 1998), standards are necessary to serve as rigorous goals for teaching and learning. These standards were devised to allow the public to know what material students should have learned at a given time. These standards should be the platform on which statewide assessment is established. When considering the standards, I reflected on what Simmons (1998) stated; that the goals required for education should set a national mandate to establish high standards for the disciplines. These standards are designed to define what students will learn and to what level they should be able to perform to be considered literate in all subject areas. I obtained copies of the standards provided by the district of Sheboygan Falls and a copy of the environmental education standards. These documents were used as a guide when selecting activities for this project. (Appendix A) Simmons (1999) article on curriculum focuses on the importance of environmental education in a standards-based curriculum. Since there is great focus on standards based instruction in the district, I did try to tie the districts standards, which are written to meet the needs of a specific discipline, with the standards of environmental 5 education. I found after reading the EE and the Sheboygan Falls science standards that there was not always a close correlation between the two documents, so I used both documents to ensure all that all standards would be covered. (Appendix A) It was the correlation between the two standards documents which allowed me to integrate environmental education into the classroom. Simmons (1999) gives the hypothization that infusing EE into the curriculum would ideally lead to environmental literacy. Great Lakes Support for this project idea came from Fortner and Mayer's (1991) research on the Great Lakes. They felt that environmental awareness did show some correlation to an increased knowledge after instruction. The two areas they did notice that environmental education were being overlooked in were in the areas of art and music. I found that this was relevant in my school but I also found that both departments were very excited about participating and incorporating materials about the Great Lakes into their programs. With a discussion of the Great Lakes, I felt that exotic species awareness was a critical issue and found supporting research from Mills (1994).