KAEE 2024 Conference

Harnessing younger students’ innate curiosity about the natural world and desire to protect it can be done with hands-on classroom activities that build STEM skills, increase environmental literacy, foster environmental stewardship and encourage creative thinking about sustainable paths forward.

In this session, the presenter will facilitate a series of interdisciplinary lessons that involve collecting and analyzing data, creating 3D models and concept maps, and working collaboratively on solving authentic problems related to human ecology. Activities support Kentucky Academic Standards, especially Earth and Human Activity (Disciplinary Core Idea - ESS3C). Participants will receive lesson plans and background materials in an electronic format, along with links to digital tools that can be used in and out of the classroom and environmental education center.

After a brief introduction on the ecology concepts to be presented, the presenter will lead participants in several hands-on activities. These include:
• an interactive story about a local river, how different communities have affected that ecosystem over time and strategies for taking care of the area.
• small groups will create concept maps connecting cause-and-effects relationships between people’s activities and environmental trends.
• participants play a game on sustainable research management

The presenter will lead discussion on how the activities can best be incorporated into classroom and nonformal education programming.