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CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, ECONOMY, AND SOCIETYINTEGRATED ECOLOGY CURRICULUM: OVERVIEW

Organizational missionCEES was formed in 2006 as part of Columbia’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Consistent with its mission to bridge conservation science, economics, and business, CEES is led by Don Melnick, Thomas Hunt Morgan Professor of Conservation Biology in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, and Geoffrey Heal, Paul Garrett Professor of Public Policy & Business Responsibility at the Columbia Business School.

CEES has a dual strategy for promoting its core belief in the interdependence of environment, economy, and society: applied research and implementation; and education, professional development, and outreach. To implement this strategy, CEES is funded by more than a dozen foundation grants and gifts. CEES has 14 permanent staff, over 50 collaborating scientists, practitioners, and consultants, projects in seven countries, and an annual operating budget of $1.5 million. ---------------------------

Program DescriptionMission and OverviewSince 2005 CEES has developed and implemented an Integrated Ecology Curriculum (IEC) in public middle schools serving over 3,500 of the most economically challenged students in New York City. All of our partner schools have at least 75% Title 1 students. Our goal is to build capacity among teachers in appropriate charter, public, and parochial schools to provide integrated, project-based curricula to students, centered on authentic ecology field investigations. We aim to increase environmental literacy and awareness of the natural world, but in so doing, to also transform how schools deliver instruction in order to promote the skills and engagement students need across all subjects, for success in school and beyond. We build a sense of place for school communities, located firmly in local environments, celebrating local resources, and addressing issues of importance to local citizens.

AccomplishmentsCEES has implemented its IEC in five high-poverty NYC public middle schools over the past 18 months. We’ve seen a major positive effect on the approximately 1000 students we’ve reached: Severe Truancy has dropped by an average of 31.5%; Suspensions have dropped by an average of 74.0%; there has been a 52.9% decrease in failures in ELA courses; and a 43.9% decrease in failures in Math courses; a 48% increase in students who performed at grade level on their ELA standardized tests; a 28% increase in students who performed at grade level on their Math standardized tests; and IEC schools surpassed their peer schools in performance at grade level on standardized tests in 54% of the comparisons, as compared to the previous year when these same schools surpassed their peers in only 33% of the comparisons – a 64% improvement. Details of the results summarized above and the research that underpins their use can be provided upon request.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Authentic field investigationsThe IEC curriculum is focused around field research and hands-on activities that provide middle school students with opportunities to carry out authentic investigations in nature. These investigations are modeled after research undertaken by experts and scientists at Columbia University and other institutions in NYC. We want middle school students to learn to apply real world skills and strategies to answer real world questions and tackle real world issues.

Integrated Project-Based UnitsThe field component of the program is the centerpiece of a more extensive, integrated project that provides background, context, and content knowledge and skills needed to successfully carry out the fieldwork. Non-field activities range from readings and reflective writing, to hands-on investigations of natural objects, to focused field trips designed to guide the student through an intellectual path that deepens their understanding of information, issues and methods. Projects are developed together by CEES staff and partner teachers, who are trained to repeat and replicate project units and package the methods for their colleagues. Each unit is modified to fit the needs of the participating school. Social science, ELA, and math skills are woven into the many project activities. Some schools also implement Integrated Projects Week (IPW), a way to join the entire school in an intensive week of field-oriented projects, culminating in a showcase of student work.

Beyond Workshops: In-school support and flexible curriculaOver 6 years, CEES has refined the IEC program in response to teachers’ expressed need for more consistent, hands-on training. We’ve adopted an intensive approach that retains the most successful aspects of integration via ecology projects, while bolstering services that ensure schools truly build capacity to implement such curriculum over the long term. As many administrators discussed with us, they are committed fully to a mission of sustainability and/or experiential education, but their teachers may be unfamiliar with less-conventional methods that include inquiry-based, student–centered learning; collaborative projects across disciplines; use of informal education resources; and field education. Teachers are well intentioned, yet they are not always confident in their ability to develop innovative daily lessons, locate resources and materials, and carry out new methods on their own. This is where CEES steps in. Our curriculum specialists work with teachers at least once per week to develop curriculum, model and co-teach, smooth out logistics, provide materials and equipment, design meaningful hands-on and field activities, and greatly expand the “toolbox” each teacher commands.

CEES has developed flexible modules for project-based units that can be modified and tailored to the needs of each school and teacher. For example, we’ve worked with schools to create units that combine science, applied arts, and math; that meld seamlessly into the TC Reading and Writing program many schools use; and that provide summer intensive field camp for incoming students to acclimate them to project work. We are not an “add-on” program that imposes additional instructional demands on teachers. Rather, we help teachers re-invent the way they carry out existing requirements, creating project-based, inquiry units that enhance student engagement and knowledge retention.

By providing a menu of potential modules, along with materials and sample activities, CEES frees teachers to focus their initial energies on getting accustomed to methods and content that may be new to them. The modules are only guides, however, and our curriculum specialist works closely with teachers to tailor and modify them to fit within the existing scope and sequence and meet the pedagogical goals the teacher has already identified. In this way teachers take ownership of the unit that eventually emerges, and are committed to successful implementation. As the unit progresses, we guide and support teachers as needed, eventually helping them to review and assess the unit and make any necessary changes or updates. At the completion of each project, the teacher has a portfolio of all the materials, plans, and resources needed to repeat the project on their own. The partnership provides schools with fully-developed curriculum, and trained teachers to implement it.

Program BenefitsEnvironmental Literacy and Connection to the Natural WorldThrough ecological field study, students gain an understanding of scientific inquiry and also a sense of connection to the natural world. We make this connection close to home: students conduct all their work in the local environment, studying local ecosystems and environmental issues in their own neighborhoods and city. We hope this will inculcate a sense of belonging to their school community, to their neighborhood, and to

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the place we call New York. In turn, we hope they will embrace stewardship of the natural resources and processes that surround them.

Accountable Learning through Multiple ModalitiesIEC promotes learning by doing, and teachers do exactly that: they learn how to create and teach project-based curriculum by delivering it to their students. Thus through the IEC program students get the full benefit of immediate access to innovative learning methods. We use essential concepts and questions to connect different subject areas, and provide both conceptual and real-world context for the skills and content students learn. The aim is to motivate students, by making the “why” of learning, and the value of their output, self-evident as they answer questions and solve problems. Projects also allow students to display strengths that are not always evident in conventional classroom lessons. Activities are more varied, with opportunities to demonstrate learning via vocal, artistic, and kinesthetic expression in addition to writing. This can boost the confidence of students who may have weak literacy or math skills, encouraging them to participate where they may have otherwise retreated into apathy or acted out disruptively.

The IEC holds students accountable for their project work, because it is part of the normal curriculum, and is graded and counted toward evaluation of their academic performance for the marking period. Project units link to the regular academic scope and sequence, and the deliverables that students produce demonstrate skills across all subjects. Students are led through a process that helps them to practice ever-higher thinking skills and scientific habits of mind, ranging from detailed and thoughtful observation, to development of questions and hypotheses, to evaluation of information and building arguments.

Higher Cognitive Skills through ScienceCEES promotes environmental education, but the benefits of IEC go beyond science, strengthening academic outcomes across subjects. Field investigations provide a means to gain very specific skills: sustained observation, inference, developing testable questions, gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing information, and analysis and presentation. More generally, we want students to develop inquisitive habits of mind, and to think meta-cognitively: to understand “how we know what we know.” These skills are critical in science but are transferable to any subject and indeed, to any profession. Student mastery of these skills will serve them well in their academic and work careers and as private citizens facing a highly technical, quickly changing society. In addition, higher thinking skills work to reinforce content knowledge so that students are likely to better retain and apply what they’ve learned in their subject classes.

Providing Opportunity for Student Engagement Project-based, integrated education also promotes student academic engagement, which extensive research shows is consistently highly correlated with academic outcomes and graduation rates. Engagement includes behavior, attitudes, and cognitive strategies that demonstrate a student’s investment in learning. From staying on task, to feeling positive and motivated, to figuring out how to solve a problem, engaged students do what’s needed to succeed academically. And IEC provides precisely the type of learning that studies show engages students:

Authentic work with real-world relevance, that allows for the development of products Opportunities for greater attention and support from teachers Collaboration (among students, and among teachers) A variety of tasks and experiences to showcase different talents and skills Sense of community and membership – to a group, class, or entire grade or school Choice and autonomy in learning: opportunities to “own” what one learns and move toward

intellectual independence High academic expectations and use of higher cognitive skills

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