Cycles of Learning: Frequently Asked Questions

 

What grade level should my students teach for the service-learning component of the program?
The SECRETS of our Forest Home and SECRETS of our Shrub-Steppe Home curricula are designed for upper-elementary students, and can generally be applied to 3-5th grade. In some cases, due to transportation constraints, it may be more feasible for your students to teach in a middle school classroom. If so, you or your students may want to design your own lessons or to adapt the SECRETS curriculum to ensure age-appropriateness.

How many students can teach in a classroom?
Classes can generally be taught by teams of 4-8 high school students. Standard SECRETS lessons involve four instructors per class, ensuring a student:teacher ratio of roughly 6:1. For instructors with less teaching experience (as is the case for many high school students), it is helpful to pair instructors, so that two students lead each group of 6-8 elementary students through activities. By working in pairs, students have the opportunity to improve their own teaching by observing a peer, as well as gain confidence while avoiding a high-pressure situation.

Where are the lesson plans that my students are supposed to teach?
The Gorge Ecology Institute is currently unable to publish our complete upper-elementary curriculum on the web. If you are interested in participating in the Cycles of Learning program, please contact us regarding the SECRETS curricula for younger students.

Our local ecosystem is not the forest or the shrub-steppe. Could I still use this curriculum in my class?
Certainly! The curriculum is designed to use students' local ecosystems to illustrate universal science concepts. Adjusting the Cycles of Learning, SECRETS of our Forest Home, or SECRETS of our Shrub-Steppe Home curricula to your local ecosystem is simply a question of substituting appropriate structures and organisms into lesson activities.

I teach in the city. How can I adjust the curriculum to my class?
The curriculum does emphasize outdoor exploration, making it an initial challenge for schools with minimal outdoor habitat. However, exploration of this sort is even more essential in these situations, and the curriculum can certainly still be applied. Teachers may wish to focus on a comparison of the dominant structures in the "ecosystem" of the city and the structures of a local ecosystem. While it is possible to study local ecosystems through a combination of media, guest speakers, and labs, we strongly encourage teachers to seek funding for field trips, as there is truly no substitute for experiencing an ecosystem firsthand. These schools are also excellent candidates for stewardship projects focused on creating and improving schoolyard habitats.

I like most of the curriculum, but I've got a really great way to teach this concept…
Please, let us know! The Cycles of Learning curriculum is still in its beginning stages, and we welcome the comments and suggestions of experienced teachers. We believe that a partnership between Gorge Ecology Institute educators and high school teachers will result in a curriculum that becomes increasingly stronger.