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CRESS Collaborative Research Grant 2008-09 Final Report: Making ‘hands-on’ science ‘minds-on’ science: connecting farms, habitats, classrooms and communities (Word doc download, 176 KB)
We are excited to share these resources developed in collaboration with SLEWS teachers, mentors and partners.
These curriculum lessons for your classroom are designed to follow the SLEWS restoration cycle and meet California State Science Standards. While the bulk of the lessons themselves take place in the classroom, they will necessarily follow or be followed by experiences in the field.
The SLEWS Environmental Science Curriculum includes multi-day lessons with labs, activities, and supporting multi-media. This is a curriculum for teachers interested in using restoration projects as a basis for standards-based learning in the classroom. It is a series of stand-alone lessons that, if strung together, can become the foundation of a biology or environmental science course rooted in real-world experience.
The Science Writing Prompts are single-day prompts designed to prepare students for specific SLEWS field days while encouraging thoughtful science writing. Graphs and media also accompany them. They were created through a yearlong research project in collaboration with SLEWS teachers and the UC Davis School of Education.
The original classroom companion to the SLEWS program, Workbook: A SLEWS Curriculum, provides background readings on ecological restoration, plant communities and wildlife in the California Central Valley, and measuring success of restoration through monitoring. Each chapter includes activities and extensions to connect concepts to real life situations in students’ own neighborhood as well as your class’ SLEWS restoration project.
Resources Available:
SLEWS Environmental Science Curriculum
There are seven units, each with multiple lessons and labs, developed in collaboration with SLEWS teachers and UC Davis graduate students in Ecology. Our lead teacher/writer was Jerry Delsol of Woodland HS. Financial support came from the US National Science Foundation IGERT program, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Nature Restoration Trust, and the Yocha Dehe Community Fund.
This will download as a .zip file. (Windows: right-click on the icon and choose "Extract All".) The folder extracted will include a PDF of the unit, handouts, powerpoint presentations and other media.
Riparian Habitat
Biomes and Habitat
- Basic Ecosystem Units
- Biotic and Abiotic Factors
- Trophic Levels
- Community Interactions
- Limiting Factors
- Biomes
- California Biomes Lesson/Lab
Students Sampling from Putah Creek
Water Quality
- Watershed Hydrology
- Water Pollutants
- Sedimentation
- Monitoring Measurements
- Benefits of Vegetative Restoration
- Monitoring Protocols Lesson/Labs
Energy Flow Game
Energy Flow
- Energy Defined
- Laws of Thermodyanmics
- Respiration and Photosynthesis
- Trophic Levels Explained
- Ecosystem Energy Flow
1910 Agriculture
Environmental History
- What is environmental history?
- Why do changes in the land matter?
- Major human disturbances in central Californian environmental history
- Agriculture
- Hydrology
- Invasive species
- Environmental History Activity
- Invasive Species Profiles
- Time Capsule and Student Presentations
Wolf and Moose Community Interactions
Community Interaction
- Biotic Potential and Environmental Resistance
- Limiting Factors
- Importance of Diversity
- Competition
- Succession
Predator-Prey Activity
Population Ecology
- What is a population and how they grow?
- Equilibrium
- Disturbance
- How do invasive species populations grow?
- Invasive Species and their New Ecosystem
- Population Ecology Lesson/Lab
Community from "Wolves on Isle Royale"
Community Ecology
- Community Ecology Basics
- Changes in Communities
- Community Ecology and Restoration
- Management Plans
- Part I: Site Visit to a Non Invaded Community
- Part II: Pre-Restoration Site Visit to a Typical Invaded Central Valley Community
- Part III: Post-Restoration Site Visit
- Part IV: Management Plan
SCIENCE WRITING PROMPTS
There are five science writing prompts. All include instructions for teachers, background information and media, a graphic organizer, the prompt, and a scoring rubric.
- SLEWS Writing Prompt Instructions for Teachers
- Orientation Prompt
- Native Tree and Shrub Planting Prompt
- Planting Cuttings and Grasses Prompt
- Irrigation Prompt
- Monitoring Prompt
- Scoring Rubric
In-Class Writing Prompts for SLEWS Teachers
Making “hands-on” science “minds-on” science: connecting farms, habitats, classrooms and communities
This collection of writing prompts for high-school science classes will help students prepare for and reflect on their field day experiences while developing scientific reasoning and writing skills. SLEWS teachers, staff members and University of California, Davis researchers developed the prompts as part of a year-long collaborative research project funded through the CRESS (Cooperative Research and Extension Services for Schools) Center in the School of Education at U.C. Davis. For more information about this project and our collaboration, please contact Dr. Heidi Ballard at the U.C. Davis School of Education.
The writing prompts are based on CA state science standards and are closely linked to SLEWS field day activities. Our hope is that if students better understand the science behind what they do on their SLEWS field days, their experiences will be more meaningful. In turn, students may become more excited about science class if they can directly relate their SLEWS experience to what scientists do.
How to use these prompts
We have designed and tested these writing prompts as activities to last one 50-60 minute period, including time for introduction of the content resources and writing prompt, small group or whole class discussion of the prompt and filling out the graphic organizer to help students organize their thoughts before writing, and time for students to write their response. However, depending on the time you have available and your specific goals, you can use the prompts in a variety of ways. See the SLEWS Writing Prompt General Instructions document, located in the folder when you download the prompt.
Collaborative Research by Teachers, SLEWS educators, and U.C. Davis Researchers: Connecting classroom learning to SLEWS field days
These writing prompts were developed as part of an educational research project during the 2008-2009 school year. The purpose of our collaborative research was to help answer the following question:
How does the integration of formal in-class instruction, coupled with hands-on participation in SLEWS field days, contribute to student understanding of ecological concepts and engagement in the learning process?
Here are some of the things we found out:
- Students reported that by writing in response to the prompts before each field day, they felt more prepared for their field days. Many students also reported that writing after each field day helped them remember and clarify what they’d learned during the field day.
- Students’ understanding of content material improved after the field day experience in many cases, as well as their expressions of stewardship attitudes (including a sense of ownership of the project and commitment to helping their community through restoration work)
- Teachers noticed that students were particularly engaged during the group discussion portion of the writing activity.
- SLEWS staff and teachers noticed that students were excited to share what they knew with mentors and staff during the field days.
- Teachers noticed that many of their students became more comfortable with writing throughout the year.
- SLEWS staff reported that their own practice changed to focus more on the science concepts included in the prompts. They reported greater student participation in content-related discussion during field days.
- Prompts that had a personal audience and a familiar format (emails rather than newspaper articles) tended to elicit more enthusiastic, detailed responses from students.
WORKBOOK: A SLEWS CURRICULUM
There are seven chapters. You can download the whole workbook as one PDF or download the chapters individually.
Workbook: A SLEWS Curriculum (whole PDF)
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