February 13, 2008
MEMO:
TO: Students Enrolled in "Environmental Education for Teachers"
FROM: Jim Lubner, Adjunct Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
I have compiled the following information to answer some of the questions you might have, and to help you prepare for the first class. If you need additional information before we meet, contact me at the phone numbers or email address listed.
Course Title: Environmental Education for Teachers
Course #: CurrIns 326 Sec. 102
Instructor: Jim Lubner, ()
Great Lakes WATER Institute, 600 East Greenfield Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53204
(414) 227-3291 [Office]; (414) 744-5074 [Home]; 414-750-4625 [Cell]
Course Location:
Schlitz Audubon Center, 1111 East Brown Deer Road, Bayside. (The center is located on the Lake Michigan shore; the entrance to the property is on Brown Deer Rd about one-half
mile east of the junction of Brown Deer Rd and North Lake Drive. Follow the entrance road
through the property to the parking area and the main building. The classes will be held in one of the classrooms in the main building.)
Course Time/Dates:
5:30 to 8:30 PM, Wednesdays, February 27, March 5, 12, 26, and April 2, 2008.
Dress for some possible outdoor activities as part of each class.
Audience:
The course is designed to fulfill the State of Wisconsin Environmental Education requirement
for elementary and early childhood teacher education candidates. Consult your advisor if you
are in doubt about your need to enroll in this course. It is assumed that course participants
have had a limited basic science preparation and have taken a methodology course.
Participation by Students with Disabilities:
If you need special accommodations in order to meet any of the requirements of this course,
please contact me as soon as possible.
Course Objectives:
To update knowledge of human, technological and environmental interactions.
To develop and clarify values and attitudes regarding the environment, increasing the
awareness that human survival depends on a harmonious relationship with the environment.
To outline effective teaching methodologies for incorporating environmental concerns into
elementary education.
To provide skills and knowledge to develop unit and lesson plans for environmental education
at all levels of elementary education.
- See Reverse -
Required Texts (available at the UW-M Bookstore):
Sussman, Art. Dr. Art’s Guide to Planet Earth. Chelsea Green, 2000.
Parella, Deborah. Project Seasons. Shelburne Farms, 1999.
Course Assignments:
All students will be expected to do the following:
1. Attend, and participate in, the five class sessions.
2. Complete assigned reading and associated homework assignments.
3. Observe an outdoor experience for an elementary age group at one of the area nature
centers (e.g. Wehr, Schlitz Audubon, Havenwoods, and Riveredge). Write a
report on your observations. (Wait for details to be given during the first class.)
4. Complete a Project Learning Tree: Early Childhood workshop. There is an additional fee of $10, which will be collected at the workshop, for workshop materials. One of these workshops will be held at the Schlitz Audubon Center during our course sessions. More discussion on this at the first class.
5. Write a 1-2 page essay about an experience you had with nature that left a lasting impression. More discussion on this at the first class.
6. Complete reviews of 5 children’s books relating to nature or the environment. More details at the first class
7. For each of Sussman’s major themes, find one example of an activity from the Project Seasons book for each of the three seasons covered that illustrates that theme – 12 activities total. More details at the first class.
Assignment for February 27:
Read Chapters 1 & 4 in Dr. Art’s Guide.