My journey with AIP
It was one Saturday in the spring of 2015 that my AIP journey “unofficially” started. With my desire to keep adept with the current trends in science education and to learn strategies that engage my students, I attended the Science Council of NYC (SCONYC) conferences at Stuyvesant High School in New York City. During the lunch break, while checking out the conference exhibit room, the Advanced Inquiry Program (AIP) flyer caught my attention. The title of the program itself made me curious enough to check out their website and eventually I decided to register for the program.
I have always loved science since I was a child. I always enjoyed the hands-on and exploration part of it. My childhood dream was to either work in the field as a biologist or work in a laboratory as a chemist. But with all the twists and turns in life, I ended up taking an education degree with a general science major. I had a great appreciation for all my science teachers while I was in school because, despite the lack of even the most basic laboratory equipment, they managed to instill in me the passion for learning and teaching science. When I started my career as a science teacher, I felt the need to learn more and to think deeper on how I can engage my students in meaningful science education. And I think this was a primary motivation for me to embark on my “official” AIP journey.
As I started taking classes, both in person and online, I became more and more reflective of the reasons why I am doing what I am doing. I kept asking myself why am I putting myself into the added stress of taking classes while trying to keep up with the demands of teaching and parenting. As I delved more into the content of the different courses, and as I laid out my master plan, my purpose became more apparent. I care. I care about my students. I care about the environment we live in and I want to make a difference.
Background Information
Our environment is facing many challenges caused by us, humans. Global population growth puts stress on our planet’s limited resources. The increasing number of people requires more infrastructure to meet their basic needs such as housing, schools, as well as the development of more technology to improve lifestyle. As these developments are going on, often, we sacrifice the quality of our environment. The air we breathe becomes polluted which leads to health problems. The water quality becomes a problem due to chemicals dumped into the bodies of water. Overconsumption leads to more waste which leads to waste disposal problems. Our environment is a delicate system that needs a balancing act. All the activities we do can have an adverse impact not only on our surroundings but to the species that we co-inhabit the planet with. We drive certain species to extinction because of habitat fragmentation, deforestation, and climate change (Omoogun., Egbonyi, & Onnoghen, 2016). People have to remember that just as the environment affects our lives, we, as humans, also affect our environment. The effect that we have in our environment can be felt not only locally, but it also has a global impact. One concrete example is the burning of fossil fuel. The emission of greenhouse gases leads to climate change, and the effect of climate change is not limited to just one place (Omoogun., Egbonyi, & Onnoghen, 2016). It’s felt worldwide which makes it a global concern.
Some questions that we can all ask ourselves, are “ Is our lifestyle sustainable?”, “Can the environment sustain us for long with the kind of activities we engage in?”, “What do we mean by sustainability and sustainable development?”. The commonly cited definition of sustainable development is from the Brundtland Commission’s report, Our Common Future (1987); it is defined as “the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.” How do we meet our needs without compromising future generations’ needs? Will the future have clean air? Will the next generation have clean water? How do we get people to be on board to being stewards of the planet?
Environmental education is vital to instilling values such as environmental stewardship among young people. Before we can expect them to become stewards, they need to be aware of their environment. Students need to be mindful of the beauty of nature, the way we are connected with other species and what are the threats facing the environment around us. According to Roth Blanchard & Buchanan (2011), there are four stages of ecological literacy: awareness, concern, understanding, and action. The roles of educators are essential in every single step of ecological literacy. By providing students with concrete experiences with nature, they will be able to reflect on their experiences and act upon those reflections to protect the environment. Three critical components need to be embedded in teaching environmental science to instill a lifelong appreciation for environmental learning and to lead to action: context, connection, and communication (Basile & White, 2000). These experiences will promote inquiry, problem-solving, critical thinking skills, collaboration, real-world applications and learning in the content area.[1] These experiences need to be cross-curricular and touch on areas such as mathematics, social studies, and language arts. When students begin understanding these connections, this can lead to decision making and actions related to the environmental issues that they hold valuable. All throughout this process of learning and making connections, children should be encouraged to engage in dialogue and discussion.
With all the points stated on my background research, I chose to inspire my students to take action in conservation efforts by engaging them through in-school and out-of-school inquiry-based activities that involve various issues in biodiversity as my primary goal for my master plan . Throughout my AIP journey, I designed projects aligned to this goal.
The inquiry process…
Single-use plastic bags bother me a lot. They are not only unsightly, but have such a negative impact on marine life and the entire environment. I wonder if people know how plastic products affect organisms such as sea turtles and seabirds. I also wonder how many people use reusable bags as an alternative to single-use plastic bags and what will motivate people to use this alternative more often. When I took the Foundations of Inquiry (FOI) course, I decided to survey how prevalent the single-use plastic bags are used in two stores in my neighborhood. I divided my inquiry into two parts, a comparison study and a survey. For the first part, I compared the number of shoppers that used plastic bags with the ones who used reusable bags. For the second part, I gave out a survey asking if shoppers are aware of the negative impacts of plastic bags and if they will start using reusable bags if a 5 cents bag tax is imposed.
My findings indicated that the majority of the shoppers in both stores were using plastic bags and only a small percentage used reusable bags. My data suggests that, despite awareness of the negative impact of plastic bags on the environment, the shoppers still use them. I think that the result can be attributed to a lack of incentive or policy such as imposing bag tax on these stores. Based on the outcome of the second survey question, 82 % of the respondents will start using reusable bags once the city begins charging 5 cents per bag. I believe that saving money is a big motivator for grocery shoppers in this area in the Bronx.
This simple inquiry provided me insights on people’s attitude towards the use of single-use plastic bags and it made me wonder a lot of things related to the study. I am curious about how the data would look if I have a bigger sample size. I am also curious about how the data from my neighborhood would compare to suburban areas or a different borough. I also thought that it would also be insightful to ask to follow up questions on the survey conducted.
Engaging the local community…
My inquiry project on single-use plastic bags motivated me to dig a little deeper into the social-ecological issues of littering and proper waste disposal. I engaged my community, which included my students, park administrator and staff, park goers and sanitation staff, in a conversation on how to improve one of the parks in our community. I used surveys, personal interviews, and phone conversations to get stakeholder’s perspective on the issue.
I enjoyed the honest conversations I had with the people involved. I learned from the park goers how much they appreciate the amenities the park provides them. On the other hand, I came to realize the challenges city parks are facing in proper maintenance. They are usually understaffed, so they rely on volunteers for many aspects of park maintenance.
In this particular project, I enjoyed the mapping activity I did with my students. We used google maps to map out the presence of plastic trash and other litter around the park. We also mapped out the location of trash bins. The mapping activity provided us with the groundwork for identifying possible solutions to the littering problem. Some of the solutions we identified were: labeling trash bins, adding “No Littering ” signage and imposing fines for littering.
One of the shortcomings of this project is that I was not able to communicate these results with the people I initially interviewed. In terms of my students who were involved, we were able to debrief the process. One of the good things that came out of this process was that students were able to initiate two park cleanups after. I intend to continue facilitating similar events in the future and get more students involved in making those suggested solutions a reality.
Using social marketing…
The first two projects I did in this program made me think about what strategies I can utilize to change people’s attitude and behavior towards the use of single-use plastic bags. My Global Biomes class inspired me to design a project using social marketing where the primary goal was to influence people’s behavior by using a charismatic animal to appeal to the consumers with the hope of encouraging them to use reusable bags instead of plastic bags. I decided to use the Kemp ridley turtles as the face of my proposed campaign against single-use plastic bags. My plan included setting up a booth in one of the grocery stores in my neighborhood. I planned on involving my students in engaging the shoppers with a trivia game about the effects of plastic on marine life. Participants will receive a reusable bag and a raffle ticket for a store coupon. Also, posters of celebrities carrying reusable bags will be displayed at the store’s entrance to remind the shoppers about bringing their reusable bags every time they shop. A sign containing the message reminder and the instructions to get a raffle ticket for a $10.00 coupon will also be on display.
I think that this project has a great potential in raising awareness on environmental conservation, changing attitudes and behaviors towards single-use plastic bags and engaging the community but it requires a lot of planning and buy-in among the different stakeholders. Due to time constraint and other logistics, I wasn’t able to implement this project, but I hope to be able to make this a reality soon.
Why not use technology…
With the advent of new technologies and social media, environmental messages can quickly be relayed to more people at a faster rate. We can also reach the younger generation who are supposed to be digital natives. That is if we know how to use the media effectively. To satisfy the Biology in the Age of Technology (BAT) final assignment, I created an informational video about waste and waste disposal. I used VideoScribe for this purpose. The process was both challenging and enjoyable.
I consider this project as a rigorous and creative process. In most classes, the final requirement is a research paper or a synthesis paper to demonstrate what you learned for the semester. Although challenging, I appreciate the added layer of producing a video product. It made me explore other avenues to share the importance of environmental conservation including the understanding of how our waste is contributing to many environmental issues. I showed my video to my students and just basing it on their reactions, I felt that they understood the message I was trying to relay. Instead of just using any random YouTube videos, it was more personal because I did it myself from the background research to the recording, to editing and publishing.
Inquiry-based lessons…
Climate Change: Not Cool for Biodiversity
Aside from plastic pollution, another environmental issue that I am passionate about is climate change. Climate change is a complicated topic to understand, but it is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed. The Earth’s climate has changed throughout history caused by both natural and human-made events. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2013) pointed, however, that the current changes in atmospheric temperature are due to the increased level of greenhouse gasses emissions. We have been burning an enormous amount of fossil fuels. I believe that educating the younger generation is paramount. They need to know what their future looks like given the climate change situation. They need to know that they can have their voice heard if they choose to take action. To raise awareness among first-year high school students about climate change and its effect on biodiversity, I compiled a set of lessons which involves simple inquiry activities to engage students in meaningful conversations on what actions they can take to mitigate this environmental issue and to take measures to drive changes in policies and personal choices.
The So Un-Natural Evolution
I teach Living Environment, and we follow the New York State curriculum for this regents class. Living Environment is one of the science regents examinations students need to pass in order to graduate from high school. Two of the units we cover in class are evolution and human impact. When I teach the evolution unit, we focus on evolution by natural selection, and when I teach human impact, we focus on multiple different environmental issues. In my Issues in Evolution class, I read Allendorf & Hard (2009) article on “unnatural” selection, and this gave me an idea to design lesson plans that connect the two units covered in the curriculum. I believe students have to learn the reality that humans are inducing the evolution of some organisms in an “unnatural” way.
The series of lessons I created includes the following objectives:
- Explain ways in which humans induced the evolution of individual species.
- Explain the negative implications of human-induced evolution.
- Suggest solutions to mitigate the effect of human-induced evolution.
- Create an infographic about one of the species affected by the unnatural selection of humans.
I plan on using these lesson plans with my students this semester because I wasn’t able to implement it last year due to pacing conflicts. I think that the students will be able to learn a great deal of information and they will be able to integrate some use of technology and creativity as they create their infographics.
Being stewards…students taking actions!
My primary goal for my master plan is to motivate my students to take action in conservation efforts. Throughout my time in this AIP program, I designed activities and events that involved environmental stewardship, community participation, and voice. I started the environmental science club at our school which the students named Young Environmentalists Society (YES). These students were involved in multiple events including a park clean-up, a coat drive, and community gardening. They also wrote a grant through DonorsChoose for the recycling bins in our school.
For my Environmental Stewardship class, I engaged my students in a street tree care activity where students gained first-hand experience of caring for the trees which provided them with knowledge about the importance of street trees and the skills to take action whether as a leader or a participant in future street tree care events.
Belize Earth Expedition Reflections & Plan for the Future
One of the highlights of my AIP experience is the Earth Expedition (EE). I was part of the Belize III EE in July 2018, One of the reasons I signed up for EE class was to gain more fieldwork experience. I always felt that I lack knowledge in that aspect. Belize did not disappoint. The three inquiry projects we did, provided us with opportunities to apply some data collection methods and techniques. I was able to experience a lot of things I thought I wouldn’t be able to experience. Some of the activities pushed me beyond my comfort zone which made the experience more worthwhile. One of the highlights of the trip is snorkeling. I was able to snorkel despite not knowing how to swim. I snorkeled not just once but four times, thanks to the inventor of the life vest and the presence of supportive instructors and peers. I was very emotional at those times. When I told my students this story, I was teary-eyed, and I think they felt my emotions. I hope I inspired them to push themselves, too.
My main takeaway for these beautiful experiences is that being with nature is priceless and that each one of us has a responsibility to make sure that the younger generation will get to experience it, too. With this in mind, I am partnering with EF Tours to take my students to Costa Rica in the spring of 2020. So far, I have 7 students who enrolled and I am still working on recruiting at least three more.
Conclusion
I am proud of the work I have done in this program. I had two reasons for joining this program: first is to learn more about environmental conservation and secondly is to gain some knowledge on how to conduct fieldwork and science inquiry. For the latter, this program provided a lot of scaffolding and modeling on how to do authentic inquiry activities. After taking multiple classes, I am more confident now in initiating events that will provide students with opportunities to connect with nature and inspire them to become stewards of the environment. I learned that building partnerships with the community is an excellent strategy in accomplishing your goals. We don’t have to do it alone; we have to “build bridges” and shoot for that goal we want to achieve.
References
Allendorf, F. W., & Hard, J. J. (2009). Human-induced evolution caused by unnatural selection
through harvest of wild animals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(Supplement 1), 9987-9994.
Basile, C., & White, C. (2000). Respecting living things: Environmental literacy for young children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 28(1), 57-61.
Blanchard, P. B & Buchanan, T.K. (2011) Environmental stewardship in early childhood. Childhood Education, 87(4), 232-238, DOI:10.1080/00094056.2011.10523184
Omoogun, A. C., Egbonyi, E. E., & Onnoghen, U. N. (2016). From Environmental Awareness to Environmental Responsibility: Towards a Stewardship Curriculum. Journal of Educational Issues, 2(2), 60. doi:10.5296/jei.v2i2.9265
Perry, R. K. (2013). A Case for Sustainability Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Multicultural Teacher Education.Multicultural Education, 21(1), 46-51.
Steele, R. (2010). Reorienting teacher education to address sustainable development: Guidelines and tools – Environmental protection. Retrieved April 7, 2018, from http://bangkok.unesco.org/index.php/content/reorienting-teacher-education-address-sustainable-development-guidelines-and-tools-1
Uitto, A., Pauw, J. B., & Saloranta, S. (2015). Participatory school experiences as facilitators for adolescents’ ecological behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 43, 55-65. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.05.007
World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Our Common Future(Rep.). Oxford University Press.
BIOGRAPHY
I grew up in a small town of Bulan, Sorsogon in the Philippines. There, I literally lived the “farm to the table” experience. My parents have a rice farm and my mother has a garden in our backyard where she grew vegetables and raised chickens and ducks. When I moved to the city for college, I missed being with nature and the simple lifestyle but I also learned to appreciate the comforts of life in the city.
In 2004, I came to the United States to be a New York City public school teacher. I was amazed by the “concrete jungle” despite experiencing culture shock. Teaching in a very diverse community pushed me to be more creative in designing learning activities that students can make connections to.
I love exploring new places and being in nature. One of the things that motivated me to join AIP was the option to participate in the Earth Expedition. I joined the Belize III EE in July 2018.
Stride & Wander 