Education Law

Operation: infinite potential

An Inconvenient Truth opened the door for a long overdue national conversation and call to arms for the state of our environment and the carbon footprint being left behind. The financial crisis in this country currently exacerbates the environmental awareness for Americans. If individuals can save money by being more ?green? and lower their electrical, water, and gas bills by making their homes more efficient or take fewer trips in hybrid cars, they are taking every step to make that happen. So it isn?t any surprise that environmental education and awareness is common place today in the classrooms nationwide. Curriculum on water and land conversation, energy efficiency, and reducing carbon footprints has become a staple in science curriculum as educators and administrators move 21st century education forward.

And programs like The JASON Project are leading environmental education on a national level having reached roughly 12 million students and teachers since their inception a little over eight years ago. On November 1, The JASON Project, a nonprofit subsidiary of the National Geographic Society, announced the release of a new energy curriculum. The JASON project connects young students with world renowned explorers and great events to inspire and motivate them to become more engaged in science. Its core curriculum units are designed for 5th ? 8th grade classrooms but are flexible enough to be adapted for higher or lower grades based on the proficiency of the students.

Making science education fun and exciting? The JASON Project, grounded with inquiry-based curricula, does just that with the new energy curriculum, Operation: Infinite Potential - Restructuring the Energy Portfolio that is aligned to state sciences standards and provides at least five to nine weeks of material with suggested lesson plans, extensions, interdisciplinary connections and other teacher resources. The program and curriculum is founded on the principle that students learn best when challenged to apply their knowledge to exciting, real-world scenarios. Compelling scientists, taped on location with student and teacher Argonauts, come to life for students through videos, podcasts and Web casts, live chat sessions and interactive computer games.

The best part - it?s free - and can be accessed online at here. Teachers can now implement these new lesson plans into their science curriculum despite the budget cuts to school districts nationwide.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on November 13, 2008 (boomark / email).