Standards

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Outdoor Science Education

NGSS has 3 Dimensions of learning: Disciplinary Core Ideas (traditional standards - content), Practice Expectations, and Cross-cutting Concepts., hence the cool logo! Another Way to look at these 3 key areas: What Students DO, What students KNOW, and How Students THINK. Teaching students to think like scientists and using the practices of science is 2/3 of science instruction!

TheThreeDimensions.pdf

Practices - what students do

PracticesVennDiagram.pdf

Outdoor Science Education is at the sweet spot right in the center of this Venn diagram of Science, Math, and English Language Arts Practices! THESE are the Science practices we want to develop in our selves and our students. What more "context-rich 'text'" is there than the natural world? My motto is "the best science classroom has no walls" and that is our strength - we are inside the subject matter.

MatrixOfScienceAndEngineeringPractices.pdf
AppendixF-ScienceAndEngineeringPracticesInTheNGSS_0.pdf

Disciplinary Core Ideas (content - or what students know)

MS LS topics combined 6.12.13.pdf
MS ESS DCI combined 6.13.13.pdf

Cross-Cutting Concepts - how students think

MatrixOfCrosscuttingConcepts.pdf
Appendix G - Crosscutting Concepts FINAL edited 4.10.13.pdf
CCC_Critical questions _JML symbols.pdf
STEM-Teaching-Tool-41-Cross-Cutting-Concepts-Promptsv2.pdf

Environmental Principles & Concepts!! 

These are now part of our standards!!

epandcs-flyer.pdf
EPC Matrix.pdf

Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

SEL should be embedded in all of our teaching

CASEL_Competencies.pdf

SEL in Residential Outdoor Education

Grow-Outside.org: A Social and Emotional Learning Toolkit for Residential Outdoor Ed

Each year, Residential Environmental Learning Centers (RELCs) collectively touch the lives of roughly two million youth across the United States who spend multiple days with sleeping away from home, sharing meals with classmates, and learning in outdoor settings. In addition to their many other functions, RELCs serve as ideal settings for supporting student growth in social and emotional learning (SEL). This toolkit offers strategies for adopting a more intentional approach to incorporating SEL within RELC program settings, with applications for program improvement across the environmental education field at large.
Team-building activities, challenge courses, and games are common methods for teaching Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), but outdoor science experiences are rich with many more opportunities for SEL! Almost any outdoor experience—such as a science investigation, moving across challenging terrain, a discussion about environmental issues, nature observation activities, or a habitat restoration project—involves social interactions and poses opportunities to develop SEL skills. This routine offers a structure to support students in developing SEL competencies as they participate in any environmental education experience.

The 5-E Model of Instruction - compare to the Learning Cycle for Outdoor Education