The following six OERS for grades K-5 are designed for teachers to use the outdoor spaces around their schools for learning with the goals of connecting students with their sense of place and well-being. Together, the six experiences comprise a school-wide mini-unit in which each grade level explore an Investigative Question.  Collectively, each Investigative Question leads the entire student body in considering the Essential Question of the mini-unit.  A school leadership team identified the Wisconsin Standards for Environmental Literacy and Sustainability (ELS) to be addressed at every grade level and developed an Essential Question to be explored.Wisconsin Green Schools Network FIELD coaches provided teachers with an introduction to outdoor, place-based inquiry learning, unpacked ELS, and met with grade level teams to co-create inquiry questions (called Investigative Questions in the lessons that follow) for their students to investigate outside each quarter. These OERs were co-taught with teachers and FIELD coaches and were refined during co-reflection.

This recording from February 16, 2022 will enable viewers to learn alongside Skylar Primm, advisor and co-lead teacher of High Marq Environmental Charter School, Montello, WI as we explore ways to incorporate phenology studies along with nature journaling for science instruction.

The is the recording of the online collaboration of the BEETLES and Nature Journaling WISELearn Group collaboration on March 2, 2022.

Slight shifts in lesson structures can meaningfully engage learners inequitable and culturally-relevant inquiries. Experience instruction in ways that people really learn and share your ideas for implementation. Come prepared with a nature journal or paper, pencils, and colored pencils as you view and participate in these recorded experiences.

CESA#1 EL OER Project

This presentation provides an outline for students to write a short informative essay about one state in the United States.

BadgerLink has compiled a nice set of resources for teaching K-2 and 3-5 students the basics of research strategy.

Super 3 Research method: Plan, Do & Review!

A team of educators from Urban Academy Laboratory High School in New York City share their perspective about the teacher's role in an inquiry based classroom. Central to this process is the idea that a teacher is a facilitator and supports student development of ideas using evidence. Student voice is valued and used to encourage students' critical thinking. Throughout this development of ideas, teachers also play a critical role in building a culture of respect through honoring student ideas and using them to develop and inform other perspectives.

Unit Title: Urban Runoff and Its Impact on the Community and BeyondAuthor: Anthony Jordan, Franklin High School, Franklin Public SchoolsGrade Level: 9-12Context:  This unit of study combined mathematics, environmental science, and literacy while also incorporating a real world context. Students began the unit of study by looking at specific examples of environmental impacts of rainwater runoff and the contaminants they contain. In addition, students used these articles to build context knowledge and dive deeper through research on the reasons behind stormwater runoff, the systems in place, and solutions to solve this problem on a local, national, and global level. Afterwards students began to incorporate how to calculate the amount of stormwater runoff and utilized GIS and google earth to develop a deeper understanding of how to accurately calculate the area of impervious surfaces. Finally, students compared the amount of runoff calculated and were able to construct a project on how to address building a greener school. 

This series of 5 high-quality, standards-aligned, inquiry-based lessons have been field-tested by the fifth grade students of Wequiock Children's Center for Environmental Science and their teachers. These lessons encourage students to use natural areas around their school as they improve their science and engineering skills as part of a unit on earth's systems. Created as a part of a WISELearn OER Innovation project, Connect, Explore, and Engage: Using the Environment as the Context for Science Learning was a collaboration of the Wequiock Children's Center for Environmental Science and the Wisconsin Green Schools Network. One of the goals of the project was to create standards-aligned lessons that utilize the outdoor spaces of the school . These lessons were created to take place during late winter. A stewardship project to reduce the impact of stormwater run-off was planned for the spring.