During the week of January 25th 2021, 24 teachers from 12 school districts across Washington state attended aโฏthree-dayโฏonline workshop,โฏSolutions Oriented Learning Storylines: Coastal Hazards, with Pacific Education InstituteโsโฏFieldSTEMโฏCoordinators Karen Lippy and Molly Griffiths along with two teacher leaders andโฏlocal community partners.
To begin the workshop, Karen acknowledged the land that she resides onโฏandโฏgaveโฏtime for the participants to research the lands they currently occupy. Sonni Tadlock, a descendant of the Colville tribe, presented her research and work with clam gardens, which are a traditional food source and cultural resource for some coastal Indigenous peoples. Clam garden restoration efforts are threatened by sea level rise and ocean acidification. One participant shared in the course evaluation that, โI had no idea about the ancient clam gardens and the tribal relocation plans. That was eye-opening, and Iโd love to be able to include that in the future.โ An asynchronous activityโฏconnected the sessionโs concepts byโฏhaving participantsโฏresearch their local tribal nations and identify actionable steps to incorporate tribal history and perspective in their classrooms.
A participant modeling a thermal expansion lab from the middle school storyline.
The second session introduced participants to Dr.โฏIan Miller, a Coastal Hazards Specialist from Washington Sea Grant whoโฏdiscussed the impacts of coastal hazards along the Washington coast and Puget Sound.โฏDr. Miller gave an overview of adaptation and mitigation efforts for sea level rise, coastalโฏerosion, and flooding. After hearing from Dr. Miller, participantsโฏshared their tribal nation research from their assignment inโฏsmall groups.โฏMultiple participants commented that learning about local Indigenous people was a newโฏopportunityโฏfor them which they will carryโฏinto classroom teaching.
Finally, educators learned more about teaching science by discussing three-dimensional formative assessment strategies and being introduced to PEIโsโฏSolutions Oriented Learning Storylines: Coastal Hazardsโฏto teach climate science in developmentally appropriate, locally relevant ways. After the workshop, a participant shared this sentiment, “Thank YOU for all of these new learning opportunities! I look forward to sharing soon inside my classroom and with my colleagues!โ PEI will be publishing the Coastal Hazards storylines on the ClimeTime Open Educational Resource portal and on our website in June 2021.
