Students investigate open space and its importance for the well-being of living things. Students first explore what open space looks like and feels like. Then they investigate why plants, animals, and people need open space. Understanding the role of open space in animal survival helps students connect with the natural world and think critically about how humans and animals can coexist.
This sparks wondering about different ways people use open space and how students use open space in their own lives. Students explore an outdoor area to experience the benefits of open space, which sparks curiosity about the people who maintain and protect open space. The unit culminates with students creating action plans to care for open space at school. By identifying the interdependence of living things to healthy open spaces, this unit lays the foundation in later grades to understand how open spaces can combat the effects of climate change.
“WOW! What incredible and engaging lessons to do with my students. They loved this opportunity to be scientists, explore and think about the food they eat, and I loved the ways that they began to model. I am so excited about these lessons and cannot wait to share them with my coworkers.”
“My kids have said, ‘Oh good, I like doing this,’ when we were starting the lesson each day. It’s a great topic. I also think it has made them more curious and do their own research.”
“I truly enjoyed teaching this. It has been heartwarming to see them care about other living things and the environment.”
“Students were curious and continue to be curious. They are more aware of their surroundings than before and continue to point out observations daily.”
“This lesson brought in cultural stories from the original people who inhabited California. This is a perspective that is not often taught in science. I think that the kids liked having science be a little less facts and figures and more story.”
“This is engaging because it uses real data about the state students live in and shows changes within their lifetime, like the rise of warehouses and trucking during the pandemic.”
“I heard comments like, ‘I didn’t realize how much climate change affects my community,’ and, ‘This project made me think about what I can do to help.'”
“What I find interesting is that students are discussing the material outside of class time. I heard students discussing the ideas before class in the hallways and even during lunch periods.”
“The kids become more engaged because now they are actually actively doing things. They’re really having to look for themselves. It’s not given to them on a platter, but all the resources are right there.”
“They’ve never thought about stuff like this before, and now they’re sharing it. One girl said this was the only class that she went home and talked to her parents about.”
“Using the maps and seeing things like schools and how close they are to hazards is really cool. They may not be super connected personally, but they can put themselves in the shoes of other kids and try to relate. I know it’s working because I have a kid that just watches Netflix all day, every day and he pulled out his earbud and participated!”
“Every lesson was so thoroughly designed, the case study design book was beautifully organized, and it helped to give my class a real-life understanding of how college/graduate-level academic research works. Being able to connect their research back to environmental issues they actually experience was simply icing on the cake. Well done!”
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