Teaching Forest Ecosystem, Carbon Cycling and Photosynthesis through STEAM Integration and Project – Based Learning Approach

Abstract

Environmental education enhances critical thinking, problem solving, and effective decision-making skills, and teaches individuals to weigh various sides of an environmental issue to make informed and responsible decisions.
To ensure ecosystem and forest fire curriculum development, I will be using an extensive multi-layered curriculum development process to guide the creation of the materials and assessment. This process includes research, surveys, writing workshops, and reviews, resource professionals.
Some activities will reflect several methods of teaching environmental literacy and values. Each activity attempts to guide the learner through the process of awareness, understanding challenge, motivation, and action using active involvement and hands-on experiences.
I will combine the PLT (Project Learning Technique) activities to academic standards for the 7th Grade Science class and assess the subject areas that will complete correlations to the Next Generation Science Standards once released. Teaching through project learning techniques will help my students learn about the concepts, understanding the breadth and the more in depth about forestry and ecosystem as a whole.