Exemplar Type: MODULE
Title: Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources
Grades: 11, 12, Undergraduate
Discipline: Science
Submitted By: Jill Schneiderman
Courtesy Of: InTeGrate at Carleton College
Summary Despite the fact that most people would agree that water is a shared resource, few think about who gets what share of fresh water. This module enables students to identify the freshwater components of the hydrologic cycle and connect them to the basic need of all human beings for equal access to clean fresh water. This is accomplished by framing the water science within theories of environmental justice defined by the US Environmental Protection Agency as "the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.”
BENCHMARKS REPRESENTED IN THIS EXEMPLAR
Big Ideas
We are all in this together: We are interdependent on each other and on the natural systems - The changes to the Earth’s surface environments made by human activity are causing unintended consequences on the health and well-being of human and other life on Earth (proposed Anthropocene Epoch)
The significant problems we face can’t be solved with the same thinking we used to create them. Our prior experiences with the world create cognitive frameworks (also known as mental models/maps) that inform what we can perceive. They shape our behavior and our behavior causes results. If we want to produce different results, it all begins with a change in thinking
Fairness applies to all. To us, to them and to the “we” that binds us all together
Sustain-ability requires individual and social learning and community practice
Applied Knowledge and Actions
Cultures, Tradition, and Change
The Many Ways of Knowing
Multiple Perspectives
Higher Order Thinking Skills
Anticipatory: Futures Thinking
Complex: Critical Thinking
Mindful: Questioning
Dispositions
Open Minded
Caring
Place/Community Conscious
Applications and Actions
Create Social Learning Communities
Honor the specific knowledge and skills that each person and culture brings
Build from successes, Learn from mistakes, develop strategies to improve, and apply what is learned
Community Connections
Consider and prepare for a range of potential future scenarios, while charting a course toward the preferred future
Provide Independent and Curriculum Based Learning Sites (case studies, learning journeys, research sites)
Provide Physical spaces for school and community stakeholders to learn and work together for the future they want