Building a Sustainable School

A Place-Based Service Learning Experience

Project Motivation

• Lack of recycling or waste reduction programs in New York City public schools

• Huge population of public school students and employees

• Sustainability – holistic approach to making our environment, both natural and social, available and livable to future generations

Examples

• Lights left on all over campus over-night• Huge amounts of individually packaged foods

are used• Large amount of uneaten food is thrown away

daily• Many rooms in the building remain unused,

have A/C that is often turned on• No classroom recylcing• Yellow busses every day carry a small handful

of students

Project Goals• Students tour a polluted park in their neighborhood,

observing and cataloguing the effects of unsustainable practices in their community

• 8 student groups of 4-5 students each will research 8 different components of sustainability

• Speakers from Sustainable South Bronx (SSBX), a community based outreach organization, will speak to my class about their project. Cost: Honorarium Donation + Transportation

• Students visit the Groundworks Science Barge, a facility modeling sustainable living practices. Cost: $400 for 140 students

Project Goals• Based on research and experiences, students

collaboratively compile a “sustainability index”, with rubric

• Students tour the school building, interviewing/observing facilities, and rate building using rubric, with each group giving a score for their rubric row.

• After the building tour and rating, the class reconvenes to develop a plan to increase the buildings’ index score

• Class drafts a proposal, sends to building maintenance and administration

• Class sends index and rubric to other schools in the area

Extensions

• Meet with our buildings’ administration to discuss implementation of plan

• Members of class visit other schools in the area to discuss how to rate their own schools and develop their own sustainability plans

Kick-Off

• Students play a variety of “limited resource” games, including:

• M + Ms Game : students pass around a bowl of M+Ms, modeling depletion of limited resources by a large, unchecked population

• River Runs Through It : Students each design their own section of river, stitch them together, and model how run-off, pollution, and other human activities can affect the health of the entire ecosystem.

Pugsley Creek Park Tour

• Completion of Kick-Off lesson– Scaffolds up from basic “reduce-reuse-recycle”

knowledge• Observations recorded in lab notebooks– Trash in waterways/on plants– Other pollution in Pugsley Creek– Runoff from unknown source– Edge effects– Fences, benches, other man-made structures

Research• Class divided into eight groups of 4-5 students• Each group is assigned a component of

sustainability. Suggested topics include:– Recycling– Waste/Consumption Reduction– Reusing Resources– Eliminating Non-Reusable Resources– Transportation– Energy Management– Space/Facility Usage

Research

• Each group further divided into different jobs:– Online Research– Text-Based Research– Recording of Data– Compiling/Organizing of data

• “Jigsaw” Organization:– Groups split such that all members with the same

jobs work together, at research stations

Science Barge Trip

• Before Trip: Students complete a “research plan” that details the specific aspect of the barge on which they will be focusing, based on their group’s assigned topic.

• During Trip: Student groups conduct investigations of how the Barge models sustainable practices, specific to their topic

• After Trip: Students incorporate their observations into their previous research

Energy EfficiencyAll energy used by the barge is generated by a set of wind turbines and two colossal solar panelsThis energy production has ZERO carbon footprint, and a large surplus of power is produced by the barge, more than enough to sell back to the city

Food ProductionTwo large greenhouses produce a wide variety of crops, including melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, peas, strawberries, etc.All food grown is completely organic, with fertilizer produced in part from the waste of barge visitors/administration

Logistics/Student InterestEating area, sample student projects/activities, and exotic plant life will help keep students entertained and engaged

Sustainability Index and Rubric• Based on their research, park tour, and Science

Barge visit, students create rough draft of a “sustainability rubric”

• Each group is responsible for a row of the rubric, based on their topic.

• After Sustainable South Bronx visit, students will create final draft of rubric, including a gross index based on the hypothetical rubric score

• As a class, students compile their groups’ rows into a coherent rubric, each row pertaining to each group’s topic

Sustainable South Bronx Visit• Before Visit: After research,

students compile questions based on their group assignment to ask the speaker, with the goal of refining/building their rubric

• During Visit: After the a speech on sustainability, students interview/dialogue with the SSBX speaker with the goal of finishing their rubric row

Sustainable South Bronx Visit• After Visit: Students

finish rubric rows based on compiled research, park and Science Barge tours, and SSBX speaker interview

School Building Tour• After completing rubric

student groups tour the school building, focusing on their group’s row.

• A score is given for each row, and index score calculated from row scores

• Every facility/aspect of the building pertaining to groups’ topics will be addressed

Sustainability Plan• Based on the rubric and index scores, the class

reconvenes and devises ways to improve the school’s score in each rubric row, and thus the index score as well.

• A specific, attainable, step-by-step plan is developed, with cost/benefit analysis, specific implementation strategies, etc. to improve the school’s scores on the rubric

• Each group devises a plan for their specific topic/rubric row

• Then, the class reconciles the mini-plans together to form a single, coherent, and comprehensive plan

Extensions/Final Steps

• The class(es) will meet with building administrators to discuss the problem, our rubric, our plan, and its implementation.

• Speaking points will be outlined before the meeting, and representatives from each group will be chosen to engage the administrators

• The students will work with the administration to modify the plan to make it economically and otherwise feasible, and plan for its implementation

Extensions/Final Steps

• Willing/accelerated students will send our rubric and plan to neighboring schools, and request to speak to classes about developing their own rubrics, and creating and implementing sustainability plans for their own schools.