Media & Policy Center: Education for Social Action
Our development of the Edens Lost & Found project reminded and reinforced in us the importance of turning knowledge and inspiration into action. While we encountered numerous innovative ideas that were being set into action by adults, we felt that the future of America — and, indeed, our planet — lies in the education of our young people about the issues facing our communities today. In this spirit, we are creating educational curricula on topics central to our media work, in the hopes of challenging minds and hearts to take up the cause and learn to see the connection between our actions and our mutual well-being as a society.
Our first project in this area is an environmental curriculum based on the Edens Lost & Found PBS series. Throughout the Edens stories runs a thread of sustainability, community and environmental awareness that provides the perfect basis for educational materials. The curriculum project has grown out of a desire to bring these ideas and the tremendous examples set by the documentary’s subjects to the classroom, where they can inspire new generations of thinkers and doers.
The Edens Lost & Found curriculum will be approximately 200 to 250 pages in length and initially geared toward a high school audience (grades 9 through 12). We expect to later extend the material for undergraduate and community use. It will be divided into 20 topics, all of which are discussed in the Edens Lost & Found book and documentary series. Each topic will be covered in approximately 10-15 pages, depending on the subject matter. Extension activities and reproducibles are provided and can be used by teachers year after year. Video segments, like that previewed on this page, will be provided to support and extend the textual curriculum.
The units presented in this curriculum will correspond to national standards in learning for science and social studies, as outlined by the National Science Teachers Association and the National Council for the Social Studies. In addition to the science and social studies standards addressed throughout the curriculum, there will also be a wide variety of cross-curricular activities, with a focus on literature, math and art tie-ins. Two separate indexes will help teachers evaluate activities: Teachers can look for an activity by topic, and see which standards it satisfies; or teachers can seek out the standards first, to find activities that will satisfy them.
Activities range from reading comprehension and graph interpretation to in-class experiments and topical debates. Teachers do not need to be environmental experts to use the curriculum and can choose to what extent they wish to incorporate these lessons into their yearly plan. The completed curriculum will also include objectives and time needed for each activity, as well as standards satisfied. There is enough here for a year’s worth of educational activities — for someone teaching an environmental education class, for example — or teachers can simply pick and choose what works for them and the time they have available to them. It is also important to note that a school that has this curriculum on hand can offer activities to social studies and language arts teachers who might be looking to expand their repertoire. Our team of teacher consultants are currently reviewing all materials and trying them out in classroom settings. Their feedback is one of the many keys to the success of the Edens Lost & Found curriculum.
This curriculum will be ready for review in the summer of 2008; we encourage interested educators and others to contact us for sample materials and further information.
Other resources for Education For Social Action:
- Download a sample unit for the Going To Green curriculum (pdf, 3.3 MB)
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Reviews of
Edens Lost & Found: "The ordinary Americans profiled in this PBS series, book, and Web site aren't just improving their own neighborhoods by building parks, cleaning up rivers, and installing public art. Inspiring examples from Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Seattle show how people can rediscover the natural attributes that made their cities desirable to settle in the first place." — Jennifer Hattam, Sierra Magazine "The inspiring story of ordinary citizens in four great American cities — Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Seattle — who have stepped forward to improve the quality of life in their communities. Filmmakers and authors Harry Wiland and Dave Bell highlight practical solutions and models for urban transformation that go beyond pollution prevention to tackle the challenge of improving the quality of life in cities for ourselves and future generations." — Chelsea Green Publishing "Ordinary people cooperating to re-green city streets, oversee eco-friendly watershed management, create rooftop and urban gardens, and restore parks. There's hope yet!" — Nathalie Jordi, Plenty Magazine "They might be small acts of do-goods but together America's citizens are making a difference. Reading the enthusiastic and refreshing stories may inspire you to knock on your neighbours' doors and get them to join you to grow a vegetable garden and cover your building with solar panels." — Treehugger |
