SteelCycles: Environmental Education vs' Propaganda

1
SteelCycles Environmental Education vs.
Propaganda

• Jim Woods
• Director, Public and Education Relations
• Steel Recycling Institute

2
Who Are We?

• An industry trade association
• Promoting and sustaining the recycling of all
  steel products
• Educating the solid waste industry, government,
  business and ultimately the consumer about the
  benefits of steel's infinite recycling cycle

3
Why Environmental Education?

• Citizenship educating a student base who can
  effectively participate in a democratic society
• Workforce developing problem-solving skills
  through scientific methods
• Topical providing interesting and relevant real
  world issues that are addressed across a variety
  of educational disciplines
• Sustainabilityshowing students ways to meet
  their own current needs without impacting the
  ability of future generations to meet their needs

4
Goals of Environmental Education

• To foster clear awareness of and concern about
  economic, social, political and ecological
  interdependence
• To provide every person with opportunities to
  acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes,
  commitment and skills needed to protect and
  improve the environment.
• To create new patterns of behavior of
  individuals, groups, and society as a while
  towards the environment.
• Source NAAEE Guidelines for Excellence

5
Making Sure its Educational

• children deserve an education that fully
  prepares them for college, work, and citizenship.
  That means more than reading, writing, and math.
  It means promoting the development of children
  who are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and
  academically challenged.
• Help students to keep pace with the world around
  them.
• Engage students to prevent loss and waste of
  talent.
• Empower children to become productive, engaged
  citizens.
• Educating the whole child by promoting emotional
  and physical well-being as well as creativity and
  critical thinking.
• Source Association for Supervision and
  Curriculum Development

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Getting It Into the Classroom

• Just because its correct and topical, doesnt
  mean that teachers can use it in the classroom
• No Child Left Behind
• Lesson Planning
• Documentation of meeting state and national
  standards

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What is a Standard?
8
Elements of a Successful Program

• Fairness and accuracy open to inquiry and
  analysis, as well as diversity
• Depth fostering awareness and interdependence
• Emphasis on skills building developing life-long
  skills for problem solving
• Action orientation encouraging learners to use
  their knowledge
• Instructional soundness based on accepted
  instructional techniques
• Usability standards based, well designed and
  easy to use
• Source NAAEE Guidelines for Excellence

9
SteelCycles Environmental Education

• National Recycling Coalition Best Practice in
  Education Program
• Developed with educators for educators
• Developed in accordance with national and state
  educational standards for scientific education
• More than a decade of providing educational
  reinforcement of national, state and local
  environmental platforms through hands-on learning

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What is SteelCycles?

• Pre-K Grade 12
• Provides educators and community leaders with
  stimulating educational tools
• For independent use or in conjunction with
  existing curricula
• Materials available at cost of production
  (implied value)
• Multi-material approach to teaching integrated
  solid waste management, resource conservation,
  nature appreciation and recycling

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Community Activity Sheets (free)

• Primarily focused on elementary students
• Lead young people through exercises, games and
  lessons on steel-specific recycling
• Designed for duplication and distribution by
  recycling coordinators and educators

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Natures For Me!

• Invites learning in urban or natural setting for
  preschool/elementary
• Teaches responsibility towards managing natural
  resources
• Developed with pre-school and Head Start
  teachers
• Focuses on development of skills in
  classification, numbers, representations,
  serration, time and spatial relations

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YES I CAN!

• Multi-material recycling video for pre-K through
  grade 3
• Helps students understand need for conservation
  and solid waste management
• SRI developed a teachers guide to be used with
  video for important points discussion
• Professionally produced in partnership with Long
  Beach, CA

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ROSCOES RECYCLE ROOM

• Interactive childrens web site
  www.recycleroom.org
• Edutainment provides fun ways to learn about
  steel recycling and solid waste management
• Targeted ages 8-13
• Currently more than 18,000 members
• Macromedias Cool Site of the Day

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EARTH CYCLES

• Kids Teaching Kids
• Middle school Grades 3-5
• Hands on activities dealing with waste reduction,
  recycling resource conservation and energy
• Modeled for secondary students to mentor children
  grades 3-5
• Provides thorough background for both educators
  and students

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ROSCOES TOTALLY CYCLED WORLD

• Interactive CD ROM that integrates science, math
  language arts and social studies for Middle
  School
• Explores natural cycles, economic cycles, and
  stages of the recycling process
• Children are immersed in activities where they
• calculate time and energy usage
• develop a solid waste plan
• timeline development
• identify organics and in-organics
• categorize elements of solid waste

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CYCLES FOR SCIENCE

• High school curriculum supplement for secondary
  teachers and students grades 9-12
• Designed for meeting educational goals for
  learning in biology, chemistry, general/earth
  science and physics
• Contain project-oriented, multi-material lessons
  and hands-on activities
• Focuses on commonly taught science principles and
  brings them alive through real-life applications
• Provides information on integration into
  educational programs

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As We Speak

• Updating the entire SteelCycles education program
• Current state and national standards
• Electronic distribution
• Helping teachers in lesson planning
• Leveraging new, electronic tools
• Increasing rigor
• New topics (i.e. global warming)

19
QUESTIONS???

• Jim Woods
• Director, Public and Education Relations
• Steel Recycling Instittue
• jimw_at_recycle-steel.org