NEWESD 101
Northeast Washington ESD 101 focused on creating a way to reach all 288 schools in their region with standards that fit their scope and sequence while expanding teachers understanding of climate science. This resulted in larger professional development for regions and individualized professional development for some schools.
Teacher Professional Development
In addition to several professional development workshops within the region, NEWESD contracted with Immersed Games to buy licenses and professional development in order to use their current ecology “sandboxes” to teach climate science standards. These licenses are being used in teacher Professional development. Immersed Games is being funded by the Department of Education to build more “sandboxes” based on earth science standards. NEWESD is providing science consulting to Immersed Games who is working within the ESD 101 region to provide licenses to schools and educators.
Instructional Materials
PBS is working on creating three videos for use in classrooms. They will be based on our single source aquifer and each will be geared to a different grade level. K-5; 6-8; and High School. The high school video will be based on career and connected learning and feature careers that are available around climate science and what communities in our region are doing to address the issue.
Student Engagement
NEWESD contracted with Filament Games to build a Climate Science Game called Climate Champions. This work included a face to face meeting and building a game from a standard up. We chose game play based on the all or nothing principle where the players have to learn to play together to win or everyone loses. This game is now in the production phase and we have built professional development for both a 3 and 6 hour training which accommodates both after school and full day availability for teachers.
Partners & Collaborators
Pacific Education institute
Outdoor Learning Center
Spokane County Libraries
Whitworth Gonzaga University
WA MESA
Computer Science Teachers Association
Filament Games
Workshops
ASCD Workshop
High school teachers participated in a workshop facilitated by ASCD and supported by Spark 101 videos. This workshop focused on industry based careers. Teachers built and designed lessons for their math and science classes based on industry practice.
School Visits
School visits have continued throughout our 59 districts as we have endeavored to reach every one of our 288 schools in our region. We continue to travel to our northern, western, and local districts doing climate science workshops, after school events, and also individual class visits with many or our rural districts.
Success Stories from NEWESD 101
In Washington, Students Learn About Climate Change Like Nowhere Else
Food justice classes and mock G7 summits are on the curriculum in the first US state to fund “climate change education” in public schools. In science teacher Ali Coker’s sophomore biology class, students became farming activists attending a G7 summit. Coker wove in...
Rural Students Bring Climate Conversations into the Community
When Celia Cummings started teaching Waterville High School’s first environmental science class, she discovered that many of her students came from families that doubt the science of climate change. Celia was enrolled in a climate justice focused professional...
Opening Minds to Learning, Action, and Hope.
Ever wonder how to talk to students about climate change and how to empower them to take action? Many elementary teachers in Washington State wonder about this too! In an effort to support teachers, Regional Science Coordinators in Tri-Cities, Yakima, Wenatchee, and...