Harnessing younger students’ innate curiosity about the natural world and desire to protect it can be done with hands-on classroom activities that build STEAM skills, increase environmental literacy and show sustainable paths forward. In this session, the presenter will facilitate a series of interdisciplinary lessons that involve creating 3-D models, engaging in an interactive story, and working collaboratively on solving authentic problems. In one activity, participants create a 3-D model of the Earth, which they decorate to show different physical geography features, including farmland, forests and cities. In another, they use engineering skills in experimenting ways to clean up a local river. In yet another activity, they explore the impacts of both individual and collective actions that make positive impacts on their environment and create handprint pledges to “lend a hand to the Earth” in small and large ways. The session activities aim to excite and motivate students to work toward the type of world they want, and showing them how STEAM skills can empower them to do that. The presenter will allow time for discussion and provide participants with take-home lessons in an electronic format.
