Fulbright!

The Vitale-Wolff Penniman family will be studying abroad Spring 2015 as part of the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program! We are so grateful! A summary of the project follows:

The Science of Sustainable Food:

A Project-Based Curriculum Exploring Food Production in Mexico

The purpose of the project is to create a project-based learning curriculum exploring the sustainability of food production in Mexico. The work will be designed for high school students and made available for free online in both English and Spanish, via the New Technology Network and Deeper Learning Professional Community. Accompanying professional development for aspiring facilitators of the curriculum will be presented at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in July 2015 and be available internationally through webinar. The curriculum will include a collection of learning challenges based on analysis of food sustainability case studies. All project units will use the Global Competence Matrix and be mapped to the NexGen science and engineering learning standards.

 The projects in this curriculum will engage students in using scientific and engineering processes to analyze the complexities of our globe’s food and sustainability challenges. Pushing beyond the boundaries of citizen science as currently conceived, students will discover that thinking critically and grappling with evidence result in real solutions. Use of curriculum will additionally result in an increase in student attainment of skills in global competency, numeracy, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and technology literacy. Specific content strands to be addressed include, but are not limited to: carbon cycle and climate change, watershed management, soil science, nutrient density, agro-biodiversity,  biofuels, ecosystem energy budgets, mineral cycling, and chemical toxicity. The curriculum will include tools for scaffolding the needs of students with varying abilities. Learners will have the option to complete the projects asynchronously and self-paced, or to join with a diverse community of collaborative learners online.

 

Disclaimer: This is not an official Department of State website/blog and  the views and information presented are my
own and do not represent the Fulbright Program, the Department of State, or IIE.