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Environmental Education
Environmental education is a mandated K-12 program in the State of Maryland. Maryland has developed Environmental Education standards, objectives, and indicators that are tied to the science, health, and social studies standards. MSDE currently works with many State agencies and nonformal education agencies to provide experiences for students. MSDE also has set standards, objectives, and indicators for instruction, and works with social studies, English, mathematics, the fine and performing arts, and sciences to effectively integrate EE into the PreK-12 curriculum.
Maryland EE Centers and Organizations
Click the yellow box to access all Environmental Education Centers and Organizations organized by County.
Outdoor School Experiences
Grade 5 Outdoor School
Allegany County Public Schools’ outdoor education program for 5th grade students is held at the Western Maryland 4-H Center in nearby Garrett County, MD. This program provides week-long residential experiences for fifth graders focusing on experiential and environmental education. The 4-H Center offers 12 rustic cabins, several of which are handicap accessible and have the capacity to sleep 10 students and 2 volunteer parents each. Heated restrooms and showers were recently renovated and are located close to the cabins. The Center also provides several smaller cabins for staff, a medical clinic, cafeteria, lodge, and an educational classroom.
During a week at Outdoor School, students will learn about the natural world, explore the forest and lake ecosystems and work cooperatively through hands-on lessons aligned with the Maryland Voluntary State Curriculum and designed to extend and enhance classroom learning.
Students attending Outdoor School are closely supervised 24 hours a day through school personnel and parent volunteers. If you would be interested in volunteering for this program, please contact your child’s school.
Grade 6 Outdoor School
ACPS students will have a meaningful environmental Chesapeake Bay experience here in Allegany County. 2-days (10 hours) will be spent at Rocky Gap State Park where students participate in 4 Bridging the Watershed (BTW) instructional activities and a half day (2.5 hours) will be spent at the C&O Canal National Historic Park where students explore the western terminus of the 184.5 mile long shipping waterway that served as the beginning point of much of the heavy shipping and major boat building. They will discover it was here, where most of the Georges Creek coal was transferred to canal boats for shipment to Washington DC. As students tour the Visitor Center they enter the portal of the Paw Paw Tunnel where step back in time to the days of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal where they participate in several interactive exhibits including visiting with Mutt the mule!
Bridging the Watershed (BTW) is a partnership program between the Alice Ferguson Foundation (AFF), the National Park Service (NPS) and ACPS that promotes student achievement, personal connections with the real world, lifelong civic engagement, and environmental stewardship through hands-on curriculum-based outdoor activities.
The curriculum is designed so students can observe problems in the watershed of Allegany County from a historical perspective, from the human perspective, and from the perspective of an environmental scientist. Students work in groups, and at times individually, on activities that include engaging questions and situations. They are guided through field and laboratory explorations that invite them to hypothesize about what will happen, to interact with natural phenomena, to observe, and to collect data about their observations.
Students complete the following Core Modules:
Alien Invaders: Assessing Exotic Invasive Species
Don’t Get Sedimental: Runoff and Sediment in the River
Water Canaries: Assessing Benthic Macroinvertebrates
Watershed Watchdogs: Assessing Water Quality
The pre and post Outdoor School experiences that teachers conduct, in addition to active participation at Outdoor School, will fulfill the thirty (30) hours of student service learning required for sixth grade students to meet the seventy-five (75) Service Learning hours required for high school graduation.
For more information about 6th Grade Outdoor School programs please contact Karen J. Bundy, Director of Secondary Education at (301) 759-2008 or via email at karen.bundy@acps.k12.md.us.
Meaningful Outdoor Experiences
The Evergreen Heritage Center has entered a partnership with Allegany County Public Schools to provide Meaningful Outdoor Experiences (MOE) to every child every year...and improve the environmental literacy of all students in ACPS. The chart below is the proposed 5-year plan for providing environmental education experiences..jpg)
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NAAEE Guidelines for Excellence
The National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education, initiated by NAAEE in 1993, has developed a series of Guidelines that set the standards for high-quality environmental education.
Pre K-8 State Curriculum
Includes Goal 6: Environmental Science AND Goal 3: Life Science, ecology. EE also can be integrated through Earth Science, Chemistry, Physics, Health, Family & Consumer Sciences, and Social Studies (geography, economics, government).
High School Environmental Science Indicators and Assessment Limits
In Environmental Science courses, students use scientific skills and processes to investigate the interrelationships of the natural world and to analyze environmental issues and their solutions. Initial instructional activities involve careful observations of the environment. During these early years, students observe both gradual and rapid changes and compare the effects of these changes on the environment. By middle school, students are able to construct models that explain the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. These models prepare students for the deeper analysis that occurs in grades 9-12. At this level, they explore the regulatory nature of earth’s cycles, the fluctuations in global temperatures, and the resulting environmental effects.
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For a detailed description of Bolded and Italicized terms, click here. ^ TOP
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| Flow of Matter and Energy |
| By the end of grade 3, students know and are able to do: |
By the end of grade 5, students know and are able to do everything required at earlier grades and: |
By the end of grade 8, students know and are able to do everything required at earlier grades and: |
By the end of grade 12, students know and are able to do everything required at earlier grades and: |
| 6.3.1 explain that the amount of water on earth continues to stay the same even though it may change from one form to another. (i.e., water cycle) |
6.5.1 explain that regardless of how many parts of a material are assembled or broken apart, the parts are the same. |
6.8.1 explain how matter is transformed between the physical environment and organisms (e.g. food webs, nitrogen cycle) and that the total amount of matter remains constant. |
6.12.1 analyze and explain the movement of matter and energy through the biosphere (lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and organisms) and the influence of this movement on weather patterns, climatic zones, and the distribution of life.
The student will demonstrate that matter cycles through and between living systems and the physical environment constantly being recombined in different ways
(CLG 6.1.1).
The student will analyze how the transfer of energy between atmosphere, land masses and oceans results in areas of different temperatures and densities that produce weather patterns and establish climate zones around the earth
(CLG 6.1.2).
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Interdependence of Organisms
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| By the end of grade 3, students know and are able to do: |
By the end of grade 5, students know and are able to do everything required at earlier grades and: |
By the end of grade 8, students know and are able to do everything required at earlier grades and: |
By the end of grade 12, students know and are able to do everything required at earlier grades and: |
| 6.3.2 explain that organisms can survive only in environments in which their needs (e.g., food, water, and habitat) can be met. |
6.5.2 explain how Earth’s surface features (i.e., mountains, valleys, oceans) and environmental conditions (i.e., temperatures, amounts of food or nutrients, types of soil) limit what types of living things can survive.
(MLO 6.1) |
6.8.2 identify and explain the interdependency of organisms within the environment in a given ecosystem (i.e., producer/consumer, predator/prey, host/parasite).
(MLO 6.1) |
6.12.2 use physical, chemical, biological, and ecological concepts to analyze and explain the interdependence of organisms within the environment.
The student will explain how organisms are linked by the transfer and transformation of matter and energy at the ecosystem level
(CLG 6.2.1)
The student will explain why interrelationships & interdependencies of organisms contribute to the dynamics of ecosystems.
(CLG 6.2.2)
The student will conclude that populations grow or decline due to a variety of factors.
(CLG 6.2.3)
The student will provide examples showing that natural selection leads to organisms that are well suited for survival in particular environments.
(CLG 6.2.4)
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6.5.3 identify the survival needs and interactions between organisms and the environment (e.g., insects depend on plant and animal material for food). |
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Natural Resources and Human Needs
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| By the end of grade 3, students know and are able to do: |
By the end of grade 5, students know and are able to do everything required at earlier grades and: |
By the end of grade 8, students know and are able to do everything required at earlier grades and: |
By the end of grade 12, students know and are able to do everything required at earlier grades and: |
6.3.4 explain that Earth’s natural resources (i.e., fuels, water, air, trees, animals) are taken from the living and non-living environment to meet human needs.
(MLO 6.1) |
6.5.4 explain hownatural resources(i.e., renewable and nonrenewable) are used by humans to meet basic needs.
(MLO 6.1) |
6.8.4 compare how different parts of the world have varying amounts and types ofnatural resources and how the use of those resources determines environmental quality (i.e. soil erosion ,water pollution, deforestation). |
6.12.4 use concepts from chemistry, physics, biology, and ecology to analyze and interpret the impact both positive (recycling) and negative (toxic wastes) of human activities on the earth’s resources (land, water, air, energy, biological).
The student will evaluate the interrelationships between humans and air quality.
(CLG 6.3.1)
The student will evaluate the interrelationship between humans and water quality and quantity.
(CLG 6.3.2)
The student will evaluate the interrelationships between humans and land resources.
(CLG 6.3.3)
The student will evaluate the interrelationships between humans and biological resources.
(CLG 6.3.4)
The student will evaluate the interrelationships between humans and energy resources.
(CLG 6.3.5)
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Environmental Issues
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| By the end of grade 3, students know and are able to do: |
By the end of grade 5, students know and are able to do everything required at earlier grades and: |
By the end of grade 8, students know and are able to do everything required at earlier grades and: |
By the end of grade 12, students know and are able to do everything required at earlier grades and: |
| 6.3.5 explain that using the environment to meet one’s wants and needs has consequences (i.e., pollution, extinction) |
6.5.5 explain that decisions influencing the environment may have benefits, drawbacks, and unexpected consequences no matter how carefully the decisions are made. |
6.8.5 analyze how human activities can accelerate or magnify many naturally occurring changes (i.e., erosion, air and water quality, populations).
(MLO 6.2) |
6.12.5 investigate and analyze environmental issues from local to global perspectives (e.g., world population, food production and distribution, pollution and epidemics, biodiversity) to develop an action project that protects, sustains, or enhances the natural environment.
The student will identify an environmental issue and formulate related research questions.
(CLG 6.4.1)
The student will design and conduct the research.
(CLG 6.4.2)
The student will interpret findings to form conclusions and make recommendations to help resolve the issue.
(CLG 6.4.3)
The student will apply the conclusions to develop and implement an action project.
(CLG 6.4.4)
The student will analyze the effectiveness of the action project in terms of achieving the desired outcomes.
(CLG 6.4.5)
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6.8.6 compare different ways of obtaining, transforming, and distributing energy from various sources (e.g., fossil fuels, sun, water, radioisotopes) and their impact on the environment. |
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At grades 3, 5, and 8 regular type is used when an indicator, or part of an indicator, is specifically included in the Maryland Learning Outcomes (MLO) for Science. These indicators are also cross-referenced by number with the Maryland Learning Outcomes. Indicators in italicized type are not specifically measured through the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program.
At the high school level specific indicators from the Science Core Learning Goals (CLG) are in regular type and cross-referenced with the appropriate CLG number. Content standard indicators that are closely related to the CLG are also in regular type, but do not have a CLG number.
Italicized type is used when an indicator is not assessed as part of the High School Assessment – Science Core Learning Goals. “SFS” refers to the Skills for Success CLG. Click here for the complete match between the content area indicators and the Skills for Success
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NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS
Standards are open for review through January 29th
ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY SUMMIT
Click here for details
August 6-9, 2012
HIGHLIGHTS
C&O Canal High School Student Video Project
7th Graders at Evergreen Heritage Center
RESOURCES
Environmental Literacy Curriculum
MSDE Environmental Education Bylaw COMAR
Environmental Literacy in America
Chesapeake Bay Program
Service Learning & the Environment
County Contacts
DOCUMENTS
MD Environmental Literacy Standards
A Framework for K-12 Science Education
MD Partners for Children In Nature
Chesapeake 2000 Agreement
National Environmental Education Act of 1990
Environmental Science Mandate
No Child Left Inside
FUNDING OPTIONS
Chesapeake Bay Trust Grants
The NEA Foundation Grants
SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Environmental Excellence Awards
Lowe's Charitable & Education Foundation
NOAA Environmental Literacy Grants
NOAA B-WET Meaningful Watershed Experience Grants
SUMMER PROGRAMS
Regional Math Science Center
Outdoor Discovery Summer Camp
NRCC PowerPoint
NRCC Video
OTHER LINKS
HSA Public Release Documents
Info on College & Career Readiness
Science Songs
HSA Biology Practice Test
HSA Online Courses
STEM Initiatives & Student Projects
High School Requirements
Advanced Placement Offerings
Methods of Instruction
Recommended Course Sequence
High School Course Offerings Information
Maryland BioLab
Reference Links
Chesapeake Bay Foundation Education Opportunies
SCIENCE COMPETITIONS
Chemathon
Oak Ridge
Envirothon
5th Issue Study Guide
5th Issue Test
Junior Science and Humanities Symposium
Science Bowl
SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Rachel Carson Scholar Program
Northrup Grumman Engineering Scholarship
Barbara Lotze Scholarship
For Future Teachers
SCIENCE ASSOCIATIONS
MAST
NABT
ACS
AAPT
NSTA
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