Lawrence Hall of Science, out of The University of California Berkley, has developed an innovative science curriculum for 8th – 12th graders. The course, Science & Sustainability, is part of their curricular series Science Education for Public Understanding Partnership (SEPUP). This curriculum takes a global perspective on issues and content integrating physics, chemistry, biology and engineering. In addition to the sciences, the course incorporates world cultures with a sociological and anthropological approach to the material. Essentially a 2-year course, it can be manipulated to fit a multitude of scenarios. The range of topics from DNA to the Laws of Thermodynamics and chemical reactions provides an excellent integrated science curriculum with real-world implications.
In addition, Lawrence Hall of Science offers several other curricular units, referred to as modules, that cover a range of topics in the area of sustainability in both middle and high school.
- Decision Making: Probability and Risk Assessment
- Environmental Impact: Comparing Industries
- Groundwater Contamination: Trouble in Fruitvale
- Hazardous Materials Investigations: The Barrel Mystery
- Household Chemicals: Better by Design
- Investigating Energy from the Sun
- Investigating Environmental Health Risks
- Investigating Food Safety
- Investigating Wastewater: Solutions and Pollution
- Living with Plastics
- Thresholds and Toxicology
- Waste Disposal: Computers and the Environment
The Science and Sustainability curriculum is flexible and can be amended to various age levels (8th-12th as mentioned) or to include extraneous units. The modular set up of the curriculum also allows for the implementation of some units, but does not preclude specific topics.
[Image source: lhs.berkeley.edu]
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