Communication
To learn about “Diversity in local ecosystems” is one of the big ideas in Environmental Science 11. The Salish Sea promotes a unique setting for exploring bio- as well as cultural diversity because the land has been managed ecologically sustainable by aboriginal peoples for thousands of years. There is more biodiversity of the Salish Sea due to a better understanding of the ecological relationships among species which leads to more targeted environmental protection and to successes like the return of Humpback Whales into Victoria waters. This unit aims towards fostering cross-cultural communication skills and how we as a society can learn to adapt indigenous traditional ecological knowledge into our ways of lives. The curricular competency mainly addressed will be how to:
- Communicate scientific ideas, information, and perhaps a suggested course of action, for a specific purpose and audience, constructing evidence-based arguments and using appropriate scientific language, conventions, and representations
Connection to BC teaching standards:
- Educators value and care for all students and act in their best interests
- Educators respect the diversity in their classrooms, schools and communities.
Critical Thinking
In order to receive profile 6 in the Critical Thinking competency students with that profile have developed: “I can place my work and that of others in a broader context.” To understand deep geological time is one of the big ideas in Geology 12 and to understand this timeframe means to understand our interconnectedness and relationships within a living system; it provides a deeper understanding about our role as humans and the resulting “work” we choose for ourselves. This concept is poorly understood by contemporary decision-makers who confuse work with making a quick buck. However, deep geological time is deeply embedded in First People’s knowledge and indigenous peoples have managed to live sustainably with rich cultural expressions for millennia, adapted to the ice ages and are well aware what our contemporary Western environmental destruction means for humanity.
To develop a high level Critical Thinking competency means to engage in global resistance to destructive economic ideologies including resource extraction in Canada. The consequences of 200 years of global capitalism will be easily visible in deep geological time and 200 million years from now new life forms will be able to admire the remnants of bleached coral reefs and the soon to come widespread flooding will create a rich fossil record of human culture. Oil sands, pipeline projects and denying of climate change have in common economic considerations and a complete absence of critical thinking. If students were to leave high school with profile 2 in the Critical Thinking competency “I can use evidence to make simple judgments.” they could easily replace those ones in power doing nothing against climate change.
Connection to BC teaching standards:
- Educators have a broad knowledge base and understand the subject areas they teach.
- Educators teach students to understand relevant curricula in a Canadian, Aboriginal, and global context.
Positive Personal and Cultural Identity
Students in high school science education often go through the motions and that has a lot to do that science, unless they want to go into a scientific career or need good grades, has nothing to do with their real lives. Therefore, real life connections with science are critical to maintain lifelong curiosity and that science can become part of one’s cultural identity. It is directly applicable to life to teach students about extreme weather events, agricultural practices and personal health as those topics can form powerful experiences when learned in multimodal ways. For example, students could
- grow an organic food garden
- join an aboriginal elder for a nature walk
- learn how to become prepared for an earthquake
Important is to stress that science is a powerful world view for explaining reality and to teach science cross-cultural. Students can assemble the best parts of their various cultural experiences to create their own unique cultural identity. The activities mentioned above foster the following curricular competencies:
- Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal, local, or global interest
- Apply First Peoples perspectives and knowledge, other ways of knowing, and local knowledge as sources of information
Social Responsibility
I believe, most students will be able to understand diversity and take action when human rights are violated. I am very optimistic about this because all competencies leading to “Social Responsibility” can be modeled and practiced in the classroom and being part of a diverse society starts in grade 1. Our new high school graduates will be able as adults:
- To take action to support diversity and defend human rights
- To identify how diversity is beneficial for community
- To build and sustain positive relationships with diverse people
- Show empathy for others
Students will need those competencies in order to address climate change or if the worst-case scenario hits humanity can live through the consequences, at least with a socially responsible set of values. A value set, which was not taught to previous generations and whose practices are leading now to the exploitation of Earth and all its inhabitants. I am grateful that I can teach climate change from grade 9 to 12 in the new BC curriculum because I believe my students can become catalysts of positive social change and will apply their knowledge towards more social justice on Earth. The content of Grade 11 Oceanography and Hydrosphere is applied science for a better world:
- the hydrologic cycle is driven by the transfer of energy within the atmosphere and hydrosphere
- First Peoples perspectives and knowledge of ocean processes
- water is a unique resource and is found in many forms on Earth: water sources are affected by climate change
- oceans and lakes influence local and global climates
- First Peoples knowledge of climate change and interconnectedness as related to environmental systems
Connection to BC teaching standards:
- Educators are role models who act ethically and honestly.
- Educators act with integrity, maintaining the dignity and credibility of the profession.
Creative Thinking
The learning in the Science 10 unit about energy will be applied towards the creation of a slide show about human’s energy use from before the Industrial Revolution until an imagined future in which humanity will be able to satisfy its energy needs from solar energy alone. The energy density of solar radiation is very low for satisfying the energy demands of a postindustrial, however, I believe creative thinking is the best starting point to overcome the technological obstacles. Students will choose a soundtrack for their slideshow in order to demonstrate their understanding about how energy usage intensified over the last 400 years. This activity fosters the following cross-curricular competencies:
- local and global impacts of energy transformations from technologies
- transfer and apply learning to new situations
- movement, sound, image, and form to convey meaning in music
Connection to BC teaching standards:
- Educators understand and apply knowledge of student growth and development.
- Educators are knowledgeable about how children develop as learners and as social beings, and demonstrate an understanding of individual learning differences and special needs.
Personal Awareness and Responsibility
Science 12 - Anatomy and Physiology focuses on developing a “healthy and balanced lifestyle”, which is part of the the Personal Awareness and Responsibility core competency. In particular the unit organization focuses on:
- What functional interrelationships exist among body systems
- How nutrition and lifestyle differences affect human health
- First Peoples holistic approach to health
- How medical conditions may affect body systems
The topics foster the following curricular competencies:
- Consider the changes in knowledge over time as tools and technologies have developed
- Connect scientific explorations to careers in science
- Exercise a healthy, informed skepticism and use scientific knowledge and findings to form their own investigations to evaluate claims in primary and secondary sources