Capstone Briefing Paper

Environmental Education

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Executive Summary:

The Formulation section of the report addresses what the societal problem is and how we researched the policy. It describes why the societal problem is in fact a problem, and why working to solve it can be beneficial. The survey and interview methods and results are discussed using tables to show how we gained information on the subject from experts and stakeholders. All interview questions used are included to show how we conducted our interview and to prove that all questions were created to try to prevent any interview bias.

The Implementation section of the report discusses the feasibility of the implementation of the policy. It describes the necessary funding, legislative and administrative actions, and a prince score that identifies and analyzes the players involved. The two most essential players are described here, New Roots Principal Tina Nilson-Hodges and New Roots counselor Matteo Lundgren. Both are very supportive and have the most authority over the implementation, so we determined, based on our research and observations, that our policy is very feasible and is likely to be implemented.

The Evaluation section of the report shows how we plan to evaluate the effect of our policy. We will be giving out a pre-assessment to students at the beginning of the course that will then be retaken at the end of the year to show what effect the course had on the students taking it. There is also an estimate on what the benefits of our class will be over time. Also included in this section is a graph with a trendline that projects the expected growth of the amount of time that New Roots students spend outside. A cost and benefit analysis compares the benefits of the effects our policy is expected to have versus the cost of implementing the policy, along with potential solutions to the costs.

Formulation

Societal problem:

• Most teenagers don’t spend enough time developing a strong connection with their environment.
• When people don’t have a connection to nature it is difficult for them to care about it and to protect it.
• When we as humans cannot properly protect our environment it eventually comes back around to us, the air we breathe and the water we drink will become poisoned.

Survey:

In order to determine student interest and pre-existing knowledge related to our policy, we conducted a survey. it was given to approximately 50 randomly selected New Roots Charter School students, the target population was about 160. We selected students by randomly selecting classes and distributing the surveys within them. What we concluded was the most important data from the survey was the amount of time that students spend time outside. The survey showed that 60% of students spent less than six hours a week outside.

This shows that New Roots students do spend some time outside. though we think that it would beneficial for high school students to spend more time outside in their natural environment.

Interview:

Below are the questions we used for our interview.

What is environmental education?	Is education about current issues like climate change and fracking important? Why?
What is outdoor education?	Is the lack of widespread knowledge about climate change a problem? Why?
How do you get young people excited to learn about the environment, and outdoor survival?	Do you think that it’s important for students to respect the environment? Why?
Does environmental education benefit students? How does it or why doesn’t it?	What do you think is the best way for young people to get involved with protecting the environment?
Is environmental education important to you? Why?	Is it important for students to have a background in ecology and biology? Why?
What programs/classes exist for young people?	Does the development of survival skills benefit students? How does it or why doesn’t it?
What is the main thing you think about when creating lesson plans?	How do you manage the risks of being outdoors?
What problems or roadblocks have you found when teaching outdoor skills/environmental education?	How do you ensure student safety when using potentially dangerous tools?
Do you wish that there had been an environmental education course available in your high school?	Would you be interested in participating in our environmental education course as a guest speaker?
How do you think an environmental education course would have benefitted you?	Do you think that teenagers spend enough time outside?

Our interviews with Tina Nilsen-Hodges and Tim Drake showed that both people were very supportive of the idea. We learned a lot from Tim Drake’s experiences with teaching nature education at Primitive Pursuits, for example, how to get younger people excited about nature, and why it’s important. We also received some insight from both people about the importance of being outside while learning.

Contributing Factors:

In our society there is a certain stigma placed on going outside, and particularly on going outside into the woods. Our culture is steadily becoming more dependant on being indoors, and being more dependant on air conditioning and heating to change our climate around us. We know that this technology will not exist for ever and while it is nice to have if we cannot survive without it when its gone we will die.

Policies:

Currently there are no policies that put into place environmental education in our public school level. This is a problem. Here are a few policies that we propose to address this societal problem:

1. Create a requirement statewide for schools to teach a class that takes students outside and teaches them about nature.
2. Update existing biology standards so that teachers must take students outside every once a week, weather permitting.
3. Create an after school program that teaches outdoors and about the environment.

Our first policy would be most preferable to fix our problem. A cost benefit analysis is located at the end of the evaluation section.

Implementation:

Funding (Prediction):

It is expected that for the environmental education course there won’t be much funding needed, so for the special occasions, like field trips, those who decide to participate will be asked to contribute a small amount of money towards the cost of supplies. The class will also facilitate fundraisers through the school to raise money. The only costs we foresee are supplies for camping excursions like food, campground fees, and equipment.

Administrative Action:

In order for our policy to be implemented, we need New Roots Charter School’s administration to approve it. New Roots Principal Tina Nilsen-Hodges and the New Roots counselor Matteo Lungren have to review the lesson plans for the course along with our proposal.

Feasibility:

Implementing an environmental education course at New Roots Charter School is feasible for many reasons, one of them being that it states in the school’s mission and vision that students will be empowered to “...create just, democratic communities, and thriving green economies that restore the natural world that sustains us” and to “redesign our communities for social, economic, and ecological sustainability.” Since the course will be addressing ecological sustainability and will discuss ways to restore the natural world, the school would be benefitted by the course and therefore would have a reason to approve of the policy. Our school also has a precedent for student-led courses. At New Roots, an International Humanitarian Law class has already been implemented that is student taught.

We created a Prince Chart to determine the feasibility of the policy’s implementation. The only players that have an effect on the policy are New Roots Charter School’s counselor Matteo Lundgren and Tina Nilsen-Hodges. Matteo Lundgren has a four for issue position because he is significantly supportive of the policy. The only reason why it isn’t a five is because it will be more work for him to add another class to the schedule. He has a five for power because, as the only counselor at the school, it is his decision which classes are put on the schedule. It is almost entirely up to him whether or not the course is included. The priority is also five because it’s incredibly important that he’s supportive of the policy because he decides whether or not it becomes a class. Tina Nilsen-Hodges has a five for issue position because, based on our interview, she was very supportive of the idea of an environmental education course. It’s important to her that the school follows the mission and vision that she created, and our course will be addressing the principals involved in them. She has a 4 for power since she has the ability to influence the counselor’s decisions, but she doesn’t directly control the schedules. She also has a four for priority for the same reason that she has a 4 for power. Based on these results, the policy will be very feasible because of the amount of support these two players have for the policy.

Prince Chart
Players	Issue Position	Power	Priority	Prince Score
Matteo Lundgren	4	5	5	100
Tina Nilson-Hodges	5	4	4	80

We interviewed Tim Drake from a local nature education program called Primitive Pursuits and talked to New Roots Charter School Principal Tina Nilsen-Hodges. Tim Drake showed support for our policy and offered to be a guest speaker at the class to talk about his experience doing natural education through primitive pursuits. Tina Nilsen-Hodges expressed interest in there being an opportunity for students to take an environmental education class at New Roots Charter School.  

Evaluation:

Benchmark Graph:

40% of students surveyed said that they spend more than 6 hours a week outside. We propose that if our policy is put into effect we will see 15% increase over the next three years of students who spend more than 6 hours a week outside. Our policy will help students feel more comfortable in the outdoors and we will see about a 5% increase each year of students who spend more than six hours a week outside the class is taught.

Course assessments:

At the beginning of the course student will take a pre assessment to gauge the level of interest and knowledge of the environment. the students will then take the same assessment at the end of the course to see if they improved in their skills and knowledge.

Benefits:

1. Students will understand nature and will know how to take action to protect it from threats
2. Having an increased connection to nature will help students handle stress more effectively. Nature has a therapeutic effect on most people.
3. By developing Student’s naturalist intelligence students will become more diverse thinkers and have a chance to develop interests in natural sciences.

Costs:

1. A teacher will need to be paid for teaching the class
2. An agency will need to be created to help teachers connect with experts to develop a curriculum. An existing agency such as the EPA could be modified to complete this task.
3. Schools will need to acquire camping gear and provide food for students on camping trips.

Cost analysis:

• For the cost of hiring a teacher it would be in the school’s interest to find a teacher who already has experience teaching outdoor education many teachers who already work at a school could fill this position. worst case scenario a school would need to hire a part time teacher to teach the class. the school would need to fit it into their budget.
• The cost for starting a new agency would be high. It is recommended that we Modify an existing agency as that would cut the cost a lot. Money for this can be allocated by the board of education.
• for food and other perishable supplies it would cost about 30$ per student. That money could be provided by the student, the student’s parents, or through fundraising done by the class. if the class wants to go on camping trips they would need to raise the money themselves. Donations of gear from businesses could benefit the class greatly and the business could get a tax write off. Grant funds could be set up for camping gear like tents and backpacks.