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If you have any problems, Frank
Rodgers (CI's Education/Outreach Director) can be reached at home
after hours at 304-258-7657.
Upcoming eForum:
Stream Cleaner Environmental Forum,
March 15 to April 22, 2010
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SCE Forum Section Worksheets
Our
Challenge
It's Your eForum
too - Teacher Suggestions.
Teacher Lesson/Unit Plans
Standards
Please ask students to take the
survey before they begin.
Why we ask for
Control Codes on forms
Crafting the Perfect POV.
When the eForums conclude . . .
Thoughtful
Discussions Form - Getting it Right.
eForum Lesson Plan
(you can also reach lesson plans through
the Teacher's Room)
Teacher Tips
Hands-on Projects
SCEForum 2010 emails.
Our challenge.
Cacapon Institute's challenge in conducting Environmental Forums and
other Potomac Highlands Watershed School activities is to provide a
setting where the content is highly relevant to the required curriculum,
where everything a teacher needs can be readily found, and where
everything works. Making everything work can be more difficult than it
appears, because every school system installs filters on their computer
networks to both prevent students from accessing inappropriate material,
and to prevent harm to their computer system from accidental downloading
of malicious software (viruses, spyware, malware, etc.). Because every
school system, possibly even every school, does this differently, it is
our challenge to develop content and processes that work everywhere.
For example, we do not have a required "user name/password" system (the flash
activities have a "visitor's" bypass), we do not post streaming video (although we
would love to), and we take care that eForum activities do not "feel" like a
chat room to school filters that would then kick them off.
How subtle can
the problems be? Pretty subtle. For example, the original file
names for our Flash activities (like Stream Cleaner) included the
word "game." Some systems (one in a Missouri library, one in a WV
school system) had filters that automatically kicked a user who tried to
access these activities off the web because of the word "game"
in the file name. We
learned of the problem because people told us about it.
If you need
something that you can't find, or if something doesn't work for you, we
won't know unless you tell us. So, please, let us know – and we will do
everything in our power to fix it.
It's Your eForum
too - Teacher Suggestions. We
really encourage participating teachers to share their experiences and
offer suggestions. We do listen, and make every effort to respond in a
substantive manner. After all, this is your eForum as much as it is
CI's. Some examples of teacher comments helping shape the eForums:
-
Laura Picard (Jefferson High, WV)
commented that the SCE Forum was a bit intimidating for her students
because it is “VERY text heavy.” Laura suggested it might “be
easier to have more bookshelves which open to…small chunks of
content”. In response, we added a graphic “book shelf” with
clickable links to act as both a navigational aid and to help
visually break up the text into "chapters." The bookshelf is
repeated at the bottom of every section, and also includes "books"
that take you to the POV posting area, and to the eForum Vocabulary.
The lessons themselves have not changed, and the main content
remains on the eForum's home page to avoid having students get lost
in a maze of links.
-
Sectional worksheets were
added in 2009 at the request of Brooke Swecker Martin from Turner
Ashby High (VA). They were modeled after worksheets prepared
by yet another teacher, Laura O'Leary (North Hartford High, MD) for
2008's Oh Deer! eForum.
-
Long-time particpating
teacher Bill Moore (Hampshire High, WV) developed a new method for
developing consensus that was added to the Teacher's Tip's page .
These are instances where
participating teachers have provided suggestions and examples of how
they use the eForums that have made a material difference in the quality
of the experience.
Teacher Lesson/Unit Plans
Standards
Please ask students to take the
survey before they begin. The teacher code is optional,
but
we
strongly encourage their use. You
may assign a different code as an identifier if you have multiple classes
participating.
Why we ask for the
"Control Code" on forms?
Control Codes are assigned by teachers, not CI.
We do
this to prevent mischief by students and by "unauthorized" users. The
potential for mischief is vast, and one of our jobs is to make sure that
none of it makes its way to your school computer screens. For example,
the control code should help deter any temptation students might have
to toy with the survey (for example sign on as a different school and
answer all the questions “wrong”). " We also read every
submittal before manually posting it on the website. With numerous
classes participating, that will keep us plenty
busy during the Thoughtful Questions period.
Crafting the Perfect POV.
POVs
should be crisp, concise, and persuasive. The optimum
length for a POV is from 250 to 600 words. Too short
and it cannot adequately cover the material it
 needs to address.
Too long and it frightens other students away - and the dialogue
suffers.
When the eForums conclude,
we'll ask participating teachers to fill out a
short survey to help us
know what went right, what could use improvement, and how the experience
impacted your view of the use of computers in the classroom. We'll also
schedule a time for a conference call where we can all just informally
talk about it. For example, a conference call following our 2006 Oh
Deer! eForum led to a number of significant changes to the time frame
and to the POV page format.
Thoughtful
Discussions Form. While we have simplified the
original Thoughtful Questions
form for the SCE Forum 2010, this part of the forum has traditionally
created some confusion among participants - with much resulting
confusion on the receiving end here at CI. Watch this space for an
instructional video to use with your students prior to the start of the
Thoughtful Discussion phase.
Hands-on Projects. For
schools in D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia the SCE Forum,
coupled with a hands-on activity, meets the Meaningful Watershed
Education Experience (MWEE) requirement. We can also support
Oh Deer! related projects if they have a watershed component. The
eForums also help meet 21st Century Learning guidelines. We offer technical and
material resources to help participating schools continue the eForum
lessons by implementing their own watershed stewardship project,
projects like these. Classes might plant a riparian
buffer, establish a watershed friendly schoolyard management plan,
control erosion, or do any number of best management practices (BMP).
Schools don’t need to be near a stream - terrestrial projects like
controlling rooftop and parking lot runoff are also watershed BMPs.
Education and community outreach are important BMPs too, so, if a class
produces posters or flyers we can help with costs and materials.
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Dear Teachers,
Registration for the Stream Cleaner Environmental Forum is going well.
The online dialogue opens in just 5-1/2 weeks.
How may classes will you have participating? How many stakeholder TEAMS
from each class do you anticipate submitting work?
The volume of submissions will challenge our two staffers. Please
ensure students are acting within a team (3-6 students). Since
everything submitted on line is moderated by us daily, hundreds of
individual students submitting work will overload the system. The SCE
Forum is intended to simulate the democratic decision making process
through consensus building. The team role play and peer review
fosters critical thinking and concise, persuasive writing. Peer review
within teams, prior to posting online, is a
key component of stakeholder group development. It is not necessary for
each class to represent all the stakeholder types (homeowner, farmer,
etc.) since teams from other schools/classes will offer insight, all
view points will be covered.
While we require TEAM submissions online, we appreciate teachers' need
for individual work as a grading mechanism. Amanda Fordyce (James Wood,
VA) suggested a balance between individual verses team work that is
becoming popular. Consider requiring each student to write an
individual POV. This will provide a grading mechanism and a guide for
merging individuals into
stakeholder teams. The team can aggregate individual ideas up and
benefit from peer review within their group to draft a sharper, better,
single POV.
The benefits of team peer review and discussion also applies to TDs.
Suggestions will originate from individual students, but should be
vetted through the team to ensure the TD is indeed thoughtful and
clear. Students should use punctuation & capitalization, employ their
best spelling & grammar, and avoid "chat" (4COL its 2EZ!).
Along with the scientific challenges of reducing non-point source water
pollution we encourage team role play and consensus building to
emphasize societal challenges. Teacher Susan Settle (Rappahannock H.S.,
VA) put it best:
"It makes group work more meaningful as stakeholders in a real problem.
Sounds official to the students - which it is - and makes them much more
willing to work for a solution. Controversial topics are a fact of
life and necessary to address in our classrooms. With your forum the
students need to come to a consensus for a large, real controversial
topic twice - as a small group and as a large group. They get to see a
BIG picture to a for-real BIG problem. Then they get to see what
solution others propose.
That is the best piece of it. They know how they fit in/measure up in
our school. With the forum, they can fit into a larger piece - be
exposed to ideas and biases from other areas/classrooms. So it also
lets each school class involved see that everyone is learning the same
skills - their school is not better or worse but trying to get essential
skills across in a way that is meaningful, usable, and "learnable". It
has also taught me a respect for the ability of many of my students to
see the big picture and to
express it concisely."
With so many snow days we're hearing from teachers concerned about
time. It is important teams post their Point Of View papers in the
first two weeks. Provided the students have access to the web,
the worksheets and lessons are ready to go anytime so SCE Forum lessons
might help on snow days when late starts or early dismissals interrupt
regular classes. The pre-survey should
only take 10-15 minutes for example. Over the years teachers have
suggested methods of time management, student-team teaching, and keeping
students on subject that are posted on our website (Follow the "Teacher
Tips" link on the left of the "eForum Info & Sign Up" at
www.cacaponinstitute.org/teachers.htm).
Don't hesitate to contact us with questions or concerns.
Frank Rodgers
Director of Education
304-856-1385 (H 304-258-7657)
3/10/2010
Dear Teachers,
We're looking forward to the SCE Forum dialogue beginning next week. We
realize the extreme snowy weather has caused havoc with schedules. We
will be as flexible as possible during the dialogue, but it is important
the POVs come in on schedule so all classes maximize the opportunity for
participation in the peer review phase. Perhaps the off-the-shelf,
anytime, nature of the SCE Forum will be of some benefit in organizing
short days or odd class schedules.
When do you expect your classes to post their POVs?
We have more classes registered then ever before so please help us
manage the volume of the dialogue. Ensure students work as teams, not
as individuals. Have students work in larger teams if possible (~5-6
students). It is not necessary for each class to represent all
stakeholder types (farmer, waterman, homeowner, etc.) since those groups
will be represented by other classes. To maximize the benefit of this
Project Based Learning exercise, we want students to have productive
discussions between classes, schools and states. Encourage them to look
beyond their own class and engage as many different stakeholder teams as
possible. Also, once the Thoughtful Discussion (TD - formerly
Thoughtful Questions) phase starts, they should answer questions put to
them before posting new questions to others. Students should keep in
mind, it is the quality of their content, not the volume, that makes the
dialogue productive.
We have posted two six minute videos: "Introduction to the eForum" and
"Your POV and TD Primer". The introduction is optional for students
and/or teachers. A MUST for students is the "Your POV and TD Primer".
To mitigate download speed problems, we suggest you show it to your
class as a group. It is posted in three places: eForum Updates and the
eForum Lesson Plan (both accessed from the Teachers' Lounge
http://www.cacaponinstitute.org/teachers.htm ) and the Teacher Tips
(accessed by following the "eForum Info & Signup" link).
Please, please, show the "Your
POV and TD Primer" to your classes before they begin posting
Thoughtful Discussion questions and comments. They should pay close
attention to addressing of TDs. When the addressing is wrong, it can
take an unmanageable amount of extra time to figure out to whom students
meant to send their comments to. When volume is heavy we will be forced
return incorrectly addressed TDs.
Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions, comments, or
suggestions. (Evening/weekend phone: Frank: 304-258-7657
or Neil Gillies, Exec. Director 304-897-6297)
P.S. This record breaking weather might make for an interesting spring
for the Bay from a non-point source water pollution perspective.
Consider incorporating the Real-Time Data page into your lesson and
track the impacts of snowmelt on stream heights and on water quality in
the Bay (click on the yellow "Bay Buoy" in the classroom).
Sincerely,
Frank Rodgers
Director of Education
3/15/2010
Dear Teachers,
Some housekeeping on opening day of the SCE Forum.
1. Please do the surveys before anything else.
2a. Worksheets: A printable blank student-answer sheet to match the
worksheets is available in the Teachers' Lounge.
www.cacaponinstitute.org/teachers.htm follow the links: "High
School Activities" on the table > "Environmental Forums" #11 > link for
"Lesson Plans here" > link for "Stream Cleaner Environmental Forum".
2b. The teacher correct-answer key (not available on the website) is
attached in a zip file. If you have any trouble with zip files please
let me know.
3. Archive links to past SCE Forum POVs will be "hidden" from students
to encourage original thought. Past POVs can be accessed from this
link:
http://www.cacaponinstitute.org/eForum_Archives_sceforum_spring_2009.htm
(change the year's number to access 2006-2008). Please note, in the
past, we have seen clever students use Google to "catch" the archive
links and view past POVs.
Sincerely,
Frank Rodgers
Director of Education
4/15/2010
Dear Teachers,
Musselman H.S. and Rappahannock H.S. have posted additional POVs
recently and we expect more today and tomorrow. Look for them at the
bottom of the POV webpages appearing chronologically. We are gratified
to see such interest and activity (especially considering snow-racked
schedules).
More than 80 POVs have been posted and there has been an amazing
600-some TDs; and a week still to go!
A few housekeeping notes:
1. ANSWER TDs first - Please, each day, have students respond to TDs
put to them before they posting new questions. We're seeing a lot of
activity by only a few real back-and-forth dialogues. Teacher direction
is needed.
2. Classroom consensus - The final phase is the most challenging, we
typically only see about 25% of classes make it through. As students
move into the final week of dialogue redirect their thinking. Now it is
time to reconcile differences between POVs for the greater good
(mitigating non-point source pollution). Consensus tips available at:
http://www.cacaponinstitute.org/PHWS%20Signup/teacher%20suggestions.htm
3. Post-Surveys - PLEASE don't forget.
4. News Flash - Bay crabs making a comeback.
Thoughtful Discussion is schedules to end the middle of next week. We
will, however, continue to post ANSWERS/RESPONSES through the end of the
week. If you have a class period after next week where students will
have an
opportunity to ANSWER TDs we will try to accommodate you. We can not
continue to post TDs daily, but, IF you give us a heads-up, we will
re-open the TD form, look for your answers and post them on a specific
day. Since the SCE Forum will remain posted on our website for years to
come, it is important to us (and reflects well on your school) that
questions are not left to linger unanswered.
Finally, we have technical & financial resources available for hands-on
watershed projects. Mussleman (WV) is having an Earth Day event
at their school, Luray (VA) will be starting a native tree nursery this
spring, and East Hardy (WV) is planning an erosion control project. Do
you have a hands-on project planned? We're happy to post your story &
pictures to our Projects Page to inspire other classes: (http://www.cacaponinstitute.org/projects%20webpage/PHWS_projects.htm).
Sincerely,
Frank Rodgers
Director of Education
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