In this multi-day activity, students explore environments, ecosystems, energy flow and organism interactions by creating a scale model biodome, following the steps of the engineering design process. The Procedure section provides activity instructions for Biodomes unit, lessons 2-6, as students work through Parts 1-6 to develop their model biodome. Subjects include energy flow and food chains, basic needs of plants and animals, and the importance of decomposers. Students consider why a solid understanding of one's environment and the interdependence of an ecosystem can inform the choices we make and the way we engineer our own communities. This activity can be conducted as either a very structured or open-ended design.

The power of connection can never be underestimated. We know this to be true when it comes to building relationships with our students. Really knowing who they are can help you establish a plan when it comes to their education and well-being. But a student is more than what they present inside your classroom.

Discover what Milwaukee Public Schools teacher, Darnell Hamilton has to share about the importance of utilizing your students’ communities to understand them more holistically and help them achieve their potential in a short video and companion essay in the post on the aka Teacher blog.

Hosted by PBS Wisconsin Education, and created with and for Wisconsin educators, the aka Teacher blog offers a space for exploring the many hats educators today wear, and the topics that aren’t covered in teacher preparation programs. Blog posts include videos featuring educators around the state, and resources you can share with learners and use to continue your own learning.

From New York to Neenah, this industrious innovator’s journey to becoming a leader in the paper products world was marked by his commitment to serving his community and country.

Resources available for exploring this story include:
- A short animated video with captions and transcripts in English and Spanish
- A short biography book accessible as a slide deck, with per-page audio for listening along, and maps of key locations in the story
- Questions that can be used for conversation, reflection, and connection with the story
- A historical image gallery full of primary and secondary sources to explore
- A guide for activating the media with learners that includes story stats, extension activity ideas, and standards supported

This story is part of Wisconsin Biographies, a collection of educational media resources for grades 3-6. Explore the full collection at pbswisconsineducation.org/biographies/about.

Citizen participation is everywhere. Invoking it has become de rigueur when discussing cities and regions in the developing world. From the World Bank to the World Social Forum, the virtues of participation are extolled: from its capacity to ‰ŰĎdeepen democracy‰Ű to its ability to improve governance, there is no shortage to the benefits it can bring. While it is clear that participation cannot possibly ‰ŰĎdo‰Ű all that is claimed, it is also clear that citizen participation cannot be dismissed, and that there must be something to it. Figuring out what that something is -- whether it is identifying the types of participation or the contexts in which it happens that bring about desirable outcomes is the goal of the class.

Students learn that ordinary citizens, including students like themselves, can make meaningful contributions to science through the concept of "citizen science." First, students learn some examples of ongoing citizen science projects that are common around the world, such as medical research, medication testing and donating idle computer time to perform scientific calculations. Then they explore Zooniverse, an interactive website that shows how research in areas from marine biology to astronomy leverage the power of the Internet to use the assistance of non-scientists to classify large amounts of data that is unclassifiable by machines for various reasons. To conclude, student groups act as engineering teams to brainstorm projects ideas for their own town that could benefit from community help, then design conceptual interactive websites that could organize and support the projects.

Climate Lessons was co-authored by first-year undergraduate students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute while exploring the influences of Earth systems and human systems on climate change and the communities at most risk. The book highlights key interests and insights of current students in their quest to create a better world.

"Students will explore the idea of different responsibilities in their community and analyze images that highlight the jobs of the three branches of government as outlined in the Constitution. This Civics for All of US distance learning program is available for groups of 10 or more students free of charge.

Each program will be led by one of our educators located at National Archives sites, the Center for Legislative Archives, and Presidential Libraries across the country. After submitting your program request, you will be connected to an available National Archives educator to confirm your reservation.

We require that the requesting educator or another educator from your institution be present during the student distance learning program to observe the session and support classroom management.

Check out the teacher guide for this program for optional pre- and post program activities.

The Constitution Rules! Teacher Guide Download includes lessons and activities to help students construct their own classroom constitution!

Programs are also offered as regularly scheduled interactive webinars. Registration is required, but there is no minimum attendance prerequisite.

Questions? Please contact civics@nara.gov."

" This course provides an exciting, eye-opening, and thoroughly useful inquiry into what it takes to live an extraordinary life, on your own terms. The instructors address what it takes to succeed, to be proud of your life, and to be happy in it. Participants tackle career satisfaction, money, body, vices, and relationship to themselves and others. They learn how to address issues in their lives, how to live life, and how to learn from it. This course is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month. This not-for-credit course is sponsored by the Department of Science, Technology, and Society. A similar, semester-long version of this course is taught in the Sloan Fellows Program. A semester-long extension of the IAP course is also taught to the population at large of MIT (please see PE.550, Spring). Acknowledgment The instructors would like to thank Prof. David Mindell for his sponsorship of this course, his intention for its continued expansion, and his commitment to the well-being of MIT students."

Different Types of Ecosystems:Describe various ecosystems and the biotic/abiotic factors involved in themDiscuss variables that can affect population size and survivalExplore how a change in one population can affect an ecosystem

This multidisciplinary seminar addresses fundamental issues in global health faced by community-based healthcare programs in developing countries. Students will broadly explore topics with expert lecturers and guided readings. Topics will be further illuminated with case studies from healthcare programs in urban centers of Zambia. Multidisciplinary teams will be formed to develop feasible solutions to specific health challenges posed in the case studies and encouraged to pursue their ideas beyond the seminar. Possible global health topics include community-based AIDS/HIV management, maternity care, health diagnostics, and information technology in patient management and tracking. Students from Medicine, Public Health, Engineering, Management, and Social Sciences are encouraged to enroll. No specific background experience is expected, but students should have some relevant skills or experiences.

In this service-learning engineering project, students follow the steps of the engineering design process to design an assistive eating device for a client. More specifically, they design a prototype device to help a young girl who has a medical condition that restricts the motion of her joints. Her wish is to eat her favorite food, pizza, without getting her nose wet. Students learn about arthrogryposis and how it affects the human body as they act as engineers to find a solution to this open-ended design challenge and build a working prototype. This project works even better if you arrange for a client in your own community.

Students begin by reading Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax" as an example of how overdevelopment can cause long-lasting environmental destruction. Students discuss how to balance the needs of the environment with the needs of human industry. Student teams are asked to serve as natural resource engineers, city planning engineers and civil engineers with the task to replant the nearly destroyed forest and develop a sustainable community design that can co-exist with the re-established natural area.

Students will learn about careers and entrepreneurial businesses that exist within their own community by taking pictures and interviewing people working. This is a great way of creating career awareness or encouraging a more in-depth study of entrepreneurial careers. This can be used as a way for students to hone communication skills; become more familiar with different kinds of jobs, and expose them to a wealth of career possibilities. This activity can also be used to foster business/community partnerships. It can be used as a formative activity to prompt student motivation and interest, or as a summative assessment through which content is assessed for the inclusion of the targeted learning objectives.

Whether school groups visit the acrtual community of Pleasant Ridge near Grant County, Wisconsin or view the replica at Old World Wisconsin, students will be transported back in time to a place where African-Americans ran their own community and lived in peaceful integration with their neighbors of various ethnic backgrounds.  A visit to either location is sure to engage students in critical thinking and interviewing skills as students look to gain insight into what life must have been like during that era.

How and why do we participate in public life? How do we get drawn into community and political affairs? In this course we examine the associations and networks that connect us to one another and structure our social and political interactions. Readings are drawn from a growing body of research suggesting that the social networks, community norms, and associational activities represented by the concepts of civil society and social capital can have important effects on the functioning of democracy, stability and change in political regimes, the capacity of states to carry out their objectives, and international politics.

This series of lessons introduces students to the expectations of members of different groups. In the first lesson, students explore what it means to be members of their closest groups like the family, classroom, and a team. Towards, the end of the lesson students move on to discussions about more abstract groups such as a neighborhood or a town. In the second lesson, students learn the difference between the rights and responsibilities of US citizens outlined in the US Constitution. Finally, the accumulating activity asks classrooms to stage a mock election where students are asked to choose a fun class activity. Students are asked to use their knowledge of rights and responsibilities to make a choice that serves the common good of the class.

Focuses on how the housing and human service systems interact: how networks and social capital can build between elements of the two systems. Explores ways in which the differing world views, professional perspectives, and institutional needs of the two systems play out operationally. Part I establishes the nature of the action frames of these two systems. Part II applies these insights to particular vulnerable groups: "at risk" households in transitional housing, the chronically mentally ill, and the frail elderly.

Introduction to usage and impacts of information technologies on urban planning and communities. Literature review, guest speakers, and web surfing provide examples and issues that are debated in class and homework exercises. Includes examination of metropolitan information infrastructures, urban modeling and visualization, e-government, collaborative planning, and cyber communities. This seminar is an introduction to the usage and impacts of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on urban planning, the urban environment and communities. Students will explore how social relationships, our sense of community, the urban infrastructure, and planning practice have been affected by technological change. Literature reviews, guest speakers, and web surfing will provide examples and issues that are debated in class and homework exercises. We will examine metropolitan information infrastructures, urban modeling and visualization, e-government, collaborative planning, and cyber communities. Students will attend a regular Tuesday seminar and occasional seminars of invited speakers during lunchtime on Fridays or Mondays. During the past two decades, ICTs have become so pervasive and disruptive that their impact on urban planning and social relationships has begun to reach far beyond their immediate use as efficient bookkeeping and automation tools. This seminar will examine ICT impacts on our sense of community, urban planning practice, the meaning of 'place', and the nature of metropolitan governance. In each of the four areas, we will utilize readings, class discussion, guest lectures, and homework exercises to identify and critique key trends, relevant theories, and promising directions for research and professional practice.

" This course is designed for students seeking a fundamental understanding of Japanese history, politics, culture, and the economy. "Raw Fish 101" (as it is often labeled) combines lectures, seminar discussion, small-team case studies, and Web page construction exercises, all designed to shed light on contemporary Japan."

A Leadership Curriculum with a Community Service Framework can help achieve and strengthen SEL and leadership skills necessary in today's world. Whether your group meets virtually, in-person, or a blend of the two, this program is set to go!

How do you find the time and resources to integrate leadership training and community service into the curriculum? With Lead4Change it’s easy!

We understand the choices you have as you try to give your students the best educational leadership experience; which is why all of our materials are aligned to current education standards. The lessons have been used and approved by over 11,000 educators and road-tested by 1.8 Million students since 2012. The lessons in the program have been carefully aligned to the WI State Standards for CCTS. The alignment allows teachers to plan strategically to incorporate the Lead4Change lessons seamlessly into their classroom and expand to meet classroom needs.

We know you don’t want to leave your students' future up to chance. By using the FREE Lead4Change program, you are creating transformation in your students and real change in your community. Your students will remember you, and this experience, for a lifetime!
• Certificates of completion for all students
• Graduation Honor Cords for seniors
• School Certification after 2 years
• Based on leadership principles from the book, 'Taking People with You,' by David Novak
• Full teacher and student lesson plans are accessible on the website
• After completing the lessons and a project, students share their leadership story by entering the Lead4Change Challenge and become eligible for charity and school grants up to $10,000.

This free program integrates into core classes but also fits well for advisory time, CTE classes, association/clubs, and more.

Full teacher and student lesson plans are accessible on the website: Lead4Change.org. This is a free program perfect for advisory time, clubs/associations, CTE classes, and any subject area!