IEC: INTEGRATED ECOLOGY CURRICULUM PROGRAM FOR NYC MIDDLE SCHOOLS
The Integrated Ecology Curriculum (IEC) program developed by CEES is a unique approach to middle school education that uses topics in environmental science as a framework for problem-oriented, place-based learning. Ecology is used as the conceptual “hook” to place subject content in larger contexts, encouraging cross-disciplinary collaborations among teachers, and engaging teachers and students in experiential learning.
Integrated? Ecology? Curriculum?
Curriculum integration refers loosely to interdisciplinary and/or thematic approaches to learning, where knowledge from different subjects is applied to a problem or connected by a common concept or question. Teachers work collaboratively to reinforce concepts in their respective lessons, and students recognize the interrelation and real-world relevance of what they are learning in the classroom.
Ecology - or more broadly, Conservation Biology - provides a natural framework for such integration, as it is intrinsically interdisciplinary, addressing the scientific aspects of ecology and earth systems, as well as the cultural, socio-economic, and health implications of the natural environment. Today environmental issues can no longer be compartmentalized; the economic and social impacts are increasingly clear and profound. An understanding of these connections will be crucial for all citizens.
Origins and Rationale
Laying the Groundwork—Integrated Projects Weeks
Integrating the Curriculum, Schoolwide
Accomplishments
Highlights during the 2006-7 Academic Year
Laying the Groundwork—Integrated Projects Weeks
Integrating the Curriculum, Schoolwide
Accomplishments
Highlights during the 2006-7 Academic Year
Origins and Rationale
The IEC program emerged at first from a simple coincidence of mutually reinforcing goals among partners. Our goal to promote environmental and scientific literacy dovetailed neatly with the poverty alleviation mission of a major funder, the Robin Hood Foundation. The Foundation believed environmental education would better engage students, and thus increase attendance in middle school, which in turn is known to increase the rates of high school graduation and ultimately, economic self-sufficiency.
Middle School 88 had been designated by the Board of Education as a “School Under Registration Review” (SURR school), and needed new methods to improve performance in order to avoid closure. The student body was and is almost completely first generation immigrants and most of them qualify for the school meals program, a measure of economic disadvantage. MS88 also had a dynamic, committed administration and teaching staff. For us, it was the perfect place to start. Within two years, MS88 received a grade of “A” from the Department of Education, placing it in the 93rd percentile of New York City’s middle schools.
Initially, we combined teacher training in environmental science with the development of experiment- and field-oriented lessons for MS88 classes. However, we soon encountered logistical difficulties both in scheduling teacher training and in carrying out lessons outside school walls. We sought guidance from experts at The (K-8) School at Columbia, designed from conception with a fully-integrated curriculum. They recommended integrating the MS88 curriculum via concepts in ecology.
The benefits of integration were easily demonstrated to the administration and faculty at MS88. Implementing this new type of curriculum in the school presented a greater challenge than initially anticipated.
Middle School 88 had been designated by the Board of Education as a “School Under Registration Review” (SURR school), and needed new methods to improve performance in order to avoid closure. The student body was and is almost completely first generation immigrants and most of them qualify for the school meals program, a measure of economic disadvantage. MS88 also had a dynamic, committed administration and teaching staff. For us, it was the perfect place to start. Within two years, MS88 received a grade of “A” from the Department of Education, placing it in the 93rd percentile of New York City’s middle schools.
Initially, we combined teacher training in environmental science with the development of experiment- and field-oriented lessons for MS88 classes. However, we soon encountered logistical difficulties both in scheduling teacher training and in carrying out lessons outside school walls. We sought guidance from experts at The (K-8) School at Columbia, designed from conception with a fully-integrated curriculum. They recommended integrating the MS88 curriculum via concepts in ecology.
The benefits of integration were easily demonstrated to the administration and faculty at MS88. Implementing this new type of curriculum in the school presented a greater challenge than initially anticipated.
Laying the Groundwork—Integrated Projects Weeks
The key to working with the dedicated teachers of MS88 lay in developing a “test run” that would provide proof of concept, build trust, and demonstrate how IEC would work in practice. This “test” was dubbed Integrated Projects Week (IPW), and later became a cornerstone of IEC, institutionalized in the school culture. During IPW, regular classes are suspended so that groups of students and teachers can work together on projects driven by an ecology framework. These projects are team-taught and call for knowledge across disciplines. Projects focus on a particular ecology concept, and feature guest speakers, field trips, experimentation and modeling, culminating in a final product or event.
The pilot IPW in 2005 was a resounding success. Projects included “Radio Red Hook” (examining the environmental and social isolation of Red Hook through the lens of island ecology, with a radio broadcast as the final product); “The Nature of Invention” (using models of flight in nature to design flying machines); and “The Survivor and the Poet” (exploring themes of competition and adaptation, expressed in a final poetry slam). Word quickly spread via enthusiastic students and teachers, and the first school-wide IPW was held the following semester.
The pilot IPW in 2005 was a resounding success. Projects included “Radio Red Hook” (examining the environmental and social isolation of Red Hook through the lens of island ecology, with a radio broadcast as the final product); “The Nature of Invention” (using models of flight in nature to design flying machines); and “The Survivor and the Poet” (exploring themes of competition and adaptation, expressed in a final poetry slam). Word quickly spread via enthusiastic students and teachers, and the first school-wide IPW was held the following semester.
Integrating the Curriculum, Schoolwide
The success of IPW paved the way for full implementation of the IEC throughout the 6th through 8th grade curriculum, now that the school community had gained a deeper, practical understanding of integration and collaboration.
Professional development time was set aside for ecology training for all teachers, supplemented by regular curriculum retreats, where selected teachers would meet over 1-3 days to map the school curriculum. Maps revealed what students were learning in each subject over the course of the year, allowing teachers to align their own lessons accordingly. More importantly, teachers worked to identify ecology-based links and develop conceptual questions that spanned disciplines. Weekly grade-wide meetings allowed teachers to continually update and refine these links.
Professional development time was set aside for ecology training for all teachers, supplemented by regular curriculum retreats, where selected teachers would meet over 1-3 days to map the school curriculum. Maps revealed what students were learning in each subject over the course of the year, allowing teachers to align their own lessons accordingly. More importantly, teachers worked to identify ecology-based links and develop conceptual questions that spanned disciplines. Weekly grade-wide meetings allowed teachers to continually update and refine these links.
Accomplishments
Our collaboration with MS88 is nearly complete, with IEC assimilated into the school community and culture. Teachers and students eagerly anticipate IPW each semester, working together on ideas and possible themes, while administrators generously commit time in a schedule increasingly crowded with testing and reviews.
The entire school curriculum has been integrated through an ecology framework and most of the faculty has been trained in environmental science to support the curriculum. New teachers have been hired with the IEC in mind, a science coordinator helps teachers gain and maintain the needed environmental literacy, and an extra period of planning time has been set aside each week for teachers in each grade to work on the ongoing integration of lessons.
Administratively, the school has taken on the tasks and skills needed to maintain the IEC program independently. Early on, extensive administrative and budgetary support was needed for everything from ordering supplies and planning field trips to scheduling classrooms and transportation. Gradually the school has transferred these tasks to their own personnel, and built up the institutional knowledge needed to ensure the IEC persists.
Finally, in complement to ecology integration, CEES has worked to better integrate educational technology throughout MS88. A technology-training pilot in early 2007 had the explicit goal of supporting teachers in and outside the classroom via technology. Individual teachers came up with inspired applications: one had her students develop a French-English dictionary online; another class created a virtual museum; a math teacher used buzzers to quiz students game-show style, and soon had her class begging for quizzes every day! More comprehensive training this year focused on “Web 2.0” technologies such as wikis, blogs, podcasting and social bookmarking. A school-wide webhosting system will be implemented by the start of the 2008-9 school year, which will provide a secure online community for all. Teachers will post lessons and homework, accept student assignments, link to other teachers’ lessons, and send emails to participating students and parents about progress. All Web 2.0 technologies will be supported, and student work can be archived in a virtual portfolio that will be valuable to document performance and to support applications to high school later on.
The entire school curriculum has been integrated through an ecology framework and most of the faculty has been trained in environmental science to support the curriculum. New teachers have been hired with the IEC in mind, a science coordinator helps teachers gain and maintain the needed environmental literacy, and an extra period of planning time has been set aside each week for teachers in each grade to work on the ongoing integration of lessons.
Administratively, the school has taken on the tasks and skills needed to maintain the IEC program independently. Early on, extensive administrative and budgetary support was needed for everything from ordering supplies and planning field trips to scheduling classrooms and transportation. Gradually the school has transferred these tasks to their own personnel, and built up the institutional knowledge needed to ensure the IEC persists.
Finally, in complement to ecology integration, CEES has worked to better integrate educational technology throughout MS88. A technology-training pilot in early 2007 had the explicit goal of supporting teachers in and outside the classroom via technology. Individual teachers came up with inspired applications: one had her students develop a French-English dictionary online; another class created a virtual museum; a math teacher used buzzers to quiz students game-show style, and soon had her class begging for quizzes every day! More comprehensive training this year focused on “Web 2.0” technologies such as wikis, blogs, podcasting and social bookmarking. A school-wide webhosting system will be implemented by the start of the 2008-9 school year, which will provide a secure online community for all. Teachers will post lessons and homework, accept student assignments, link to other teachers’ lessons, and send emails to participating students and parents about progress. All Web 2.0 technologies will be supported, and student work can be archived in a virtual portfolio that will be valuable to document performance and to support applications to high school later on.
Highlights during the 2006-7 Academic Year
MS88 student performance improved such that the school was removed from SURR status (2005-6).
MS88 recorded “exemplary gains” in student performance. Students averaged 11% gains in literacy and 15% gains in math proficiency. Those in the lowest third of performance improved the most, averaging gains of 31% and 25%, in literacy and math, respectively.
The rate of students required to attend summer school fell from 38% to 33%.
Attendance approached 100% during IPW; average attendance during the 2007-8 year was 93%
2006-7 Quality Review: “Twice a year, students engage in an Integrated Projects Week where they present authentic ecology- driven exit projects based on inquiry-based, integrated curriculum approaches. Both students & staff are wildly enthusiastic about this exciting way of learning & correlate it to improved achievement levels.
MS88 received an “A” grade on DOE Progress Report, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all middle schools in NYC
MS88 recorded “exemplary gains” in student performance. Students averaged 11% gains in literacy and 15% gains in math proficiency. Those in the lowest third of performance improved the most, averaging gains of 31% and 25%, in literacy and math, respectively.
The rate of students required to attend summer school fell from 38% to 33%.
Attendance approached 100% during IPW; average attendance during the 2007-8 year was 93%
2006-7 Quality Review: “Twice a year, students engage in an Integrated Projects Week where they present authentic ecology- driven exit projects based on inquiry-based, integrated curriculum approaches. Both students & staff are wildly enthusiastic about this exciting way of learning & correlate it to improved achievement levels.
MS88 received an “A” grade on DOE Progress Report, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all middle schools in NYC