Webinar recap: Exploring the environment in afterschool

Earth Day 2018 has passed, but it is never too late to share an appreciation of our planet with environmental science education in your afterschool program. Teaching environmental science is a great way to help students develop core science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills — like the scientific method, teamwork, and problem-solving — and afterschool and summer learning programs provide the perfect environment to develop these skills and competencies. There are so many ways of engaging youth of all ages in environmental science education; regardless of where you are or your access to the outdoors, nature is everywhere and environmental science can be taught in a classroom, on a playground, or even walking down a city street.

To learn more about afterschool programs, resources, and curricula designed to engage youth in opportunities for environmental education, we recently hosted "Exploring the Environment in Afterschool." We spoke with Brianne Keith, Outreach Project Manager at WGBH Education; Kelly Schaeffer, Education Specialist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; and Laura Herszenhorn, Senior Manager at Science Action Club, and asked them to share some of their insight and resources.

Here are a few of the highlights from the conversation:

• The Plum Landing Explore the Outdoors Toolkit is designed to engage afterschool participants in urban environments with environmental science. The curriculum is centered around the Plum Landing online series, which features an alien named Plum who enlists the help of a group of children from earth to teach her and her fellow aliens about nature. The series is also paired with online games and activities that teach students about environmental science. The Explore the Outdoors Toolkit builds off of these existing resources and brings Plum into the afterschool space with resources for educators, activities specifically designed for the afterschool space, tools for parent engagement, and a series on professional development for taking students outdoors.
• The Investigating Evidence curriculum from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology reinforces the Cornell Lab’s mission to interpret and conserve the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. The curriculum, which is available for free online, is designed to help educators guide students through asking a question and designing an experiment to answer their questions. The curriculum has an additional focus on citizen science — projects in which volunteers partner with scientists to solve real-world questions — and uses the lab’s six ongoing national citizen science projects to create a foundation for the program activities. The online resources also include free, self-paced professional development to help educators lead the Investigating Evidence curriculum.
• Science Action Club is a nationwide program from the California Academy of Sciences that provides afterschool and summer programs with the tools they need to engage youth in hands-on environmental science learning opportunities. The curriculum consists of three units (Bird Scouts, Bug Safari, and Cloud Quest) which use existing citizen science tools to engage youth in questions about the world around them. Geared toward students in grades five through eight, club programs are equipped with lesson toolkits, curriculum guides, and professional development training. Games, projects, and hands-on investigation empower youth in Science Action Club to think and act like scientists while contributing to real science initiatives.

For more information on environmental science in afterschool, check out these additional resources and watch a recording of our webinar online!