Once upon a time, in the 1950s,

there was a little city girl

whose father had been a country boy.

Every year the father took the little city girl to the country

to spend a week living close to the land.

They hiked in the woods and talked about

gum that came from trees.

They visited Milton’s garden, and talked about what plants needed to grow and be healthy.

They fished, and talked about the growing pollutionthat was making fish sick.

But of all the things in the country…

The little city girl loved the trees the most!

She loved to climb them and hide in the leaves.

She loved to lie in the hammock, and look up at their foliage as a cool wind blew in off the lake.

Best of all she loved to swing her legs out over the lake from the old cedar tree.

From that tree the little city girl imagined enoughwondrous adventures to last an entire year, until she

could come back to the country again.

Soon the little city girl grew up.

She became…

She rarely thought about the trees or the land.

Almost forty years passed.

One day the city girl was visiting collegeswith her son.

“Have I missed an important lesson in my life?” she thought.

She learned some things about the environment and about herself that changed her life.

So she enrolled at the University of New Hampshire.

Hi! I’m Louise James.

I developed a new passion for teaching children aboutthe scientific connections in their lives.

It is based on the following ideas.

My years at UNH were a journey into the world ofenvironmental science and sustainability.

Those years took me back to my environmental roots with a sense of déjà vu.

Science is the story of how the world works.

Student experiences should model the nature of science

to illustrate the wonder and connections thatmake science real.

I believe it is vital to scaffold science skills and environmental responsibility

for elementary school children.

I believe that elementary students can achieve and maintain high standards in science, and that

parental involvement enhances that achievement.

I decided to incorporate the following three components and use the environment as a

connecting theme upon which I would differentiate.

As a student at UNH, my objective was to write a standards-based environmental science curriculum.

As a teacher, I wanted this curriculum to be authentic for my students.

Third grade science concepts Volcanoes Plants Energy

Forest Watch concepts The Scientific Method Field Protocol Lab Protocol

Global Systems Science conceptsColor and Light

Satellite Imagery Analysis

Standards-Based Curriculum Components

I considered my students, who were 8 and 9 year old city children from a diverse population.

I conducted a study to determine the differences between elementary and middle school science knowledge.

I interviewed two former students on their knowledge of third grade plant science.

One student was a fourth grader who had been in my science class the previous year.

The other student was in middle school, and was into his second year of middle school science.

I asked them basic questions about the parts of plants and their functions,

and about basic environmental knowledge.

The fourth grader consistently answered with more accuracy and detail than the seventh grader.

The Environment

How You Affect Your Environment

How YourEnvironment Affects You

Good EffectsBad EffectsGood Effects Bad Effects

Problems

What can people do?

I developed this web to apply to my third grade science units in order to provide students

with a basic method for thinking about the world.

The students apply concepts from Forest Watch and Global Systems Science to deepen their

understanding of the specific environments studiedin grade 3.

Along with my third grade students, I maintaina Forest Watch stand in Lynn Woods,

the second largest municipal woods in the country.

Forest Watch students use white pine trees to demonstrate the use of bioindicators.

They learn and understand how bioindicators are plants that can provide important information about the state

of the environment.

White pine trees absorb ground level ozone through their needles.

The students learn how to recognize ozone damage on the needles, and record the data.

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Scientists use student data to track variationsin forest health and summer ozone levels.

How tall is this white pine?

Students learn the skills to ask and answerquestions such as:

How old is this tree?

Are these trees healthy?

How do we know?

Record ground cover andcanopy data,

Build community.

Students helpclip tree samples,

Students develop authentic field skills.

Determine tree height,

Measure tree diameter,

Studying the basics of color and light in relation to remote sensing was an excellent third component.

It excited the students, who proved to be very capable.

First, the students learned that the colors of light…

Work differently from the colors of pigment.

Then they challenged each other to the computerizedcolor games of the Global Systems Science Program.

This was great for practicing mental math calculations and for determining probability, one of our school goals.

When trying to determine, “Why is the sky blue?” and “Why is the sun yellow?”

Eric reasoned it out in under three minutes!

Then the students compared the scientific explanation to the ideas of a poet.

The students learned about pixels, and manipulated images with false color.

Chris and Cam convert pixels to miles using a satellite image of Mt. St. Helens.

They want their parents to learn how to look at satelliteimages so that they can talk about the program with them.

Makenzie and Adrianna measure distance on a satellite image.

Makenzie believes that it is important for third gradersto be challenged.

Nicholas excels in asking well-developed questions.He would make a great scientist!

Forest Watch and Global Systems Science area perfect match with third grade math concepts.

Third grade standards require students to learn and apply these math skills:

Measurement methods and conversion of units,

Prediction and estimation,

Probability and questions of chance,

Calculation of percents,

Mental calculation,

Problem solving.

When students work cooperatively on Forest Watchand Global Systems Science concepts, they are usingthe higher level thinking skills of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

They are excited to learn and to practicebasic skills of inquiry, which provide a strong basis

for future math and science education.

They care about the environment, and aremotivated to make changes.

Students consistently foster parental involvement.

When guided from familiar to difficult concepts, students are able to excel at high level objectives

in math and science.

Science and Third Grade Students

Third grade students possess a natural curiosityabout science, and how the world works.

When new students enter my class in September, they always want to know, “What is science?”

So I tell them…

Science is the story of how the world works…

As I created this curriculum, and attendedForest Watch meetings and MVH gatherings,

I found myself thinking,

“The more I learn about science, the more there is that I still want to know.”

I want to convey that philosophy to my students.

Science is a work in progress.

2. Interpreting Satellite Images Activities, John Pickleand Jacqueline Kirtley, Museum of Science, Boston, MA,In support of the Lawrence Hall of Science’s Global Systems Science student series.

www.lhs.berkley.edu/GSS/

1.Forest Watch Overheads,

www.forestwatch.sr.unh.edu

Works Cited