COVID-19 left an indelible mark on K-12 schools. The pandemic-related closures of 2020-2021 affected students and teachers in ways that are still being felt today. During the closure, many sites of informal learning reduced their programming with K-12 schools, and now, those organizations are rebuilding their formal education programming.

As sites of informal science learning reinvigorate efforts to support schools in their education of children, there is an opportunity for them to rethink their programming, and to build new experiences that align with where teachers and students are today. One way of doing this is through an asset-based approach. By looking at what teachers are already doing and centering their goals and needs, informal science educators can create curricula and other learning resources that build on current successes and interests. Doing this will help build relationships with these schools and ensure that what is created meets schools’ interests, needs, and desired outcomes.

In a recent study, we explored teacher needs, interests, and expectations in connection with a wildlife curriculum being developed by the New England Aquarium. Interdisciplinary in nature, the curriculum merges civics and biology, and takes a place-based approach to learning in order to relate to students’ daily lives and help them make connections with the world around them.

Through focus groups, we asked what high school teachers were already doing in their classrooms related to wildlife conservation, civics, problem solving, and systems thinking. The resulting conversations yielded valuable information on what teachers think is working well in their classrooms, what’s most exciting to them and their students, and the kinds of resources and activities that would best support their efforts to advance student learning in the classroom.

What Did We Find?

To deepen engagement and learning, the teachers we spoke with indicated that the proposed curriculum would need to do three things: (1) be relevant to students’ lives; (2) focus on solutions and actions; (3) be an all-encompassing, one-stop shop.

Relevance

Teachers stressed the importance of a curriculum that makes connections between what students are learning in the classroom and what’s happening in their local environments. Compared to traditional classroom instruction, they agreed that this approach promotes more engagement and excitement. Several recommended field trips as an exceptionally effective way to help students see the connections between ecological theories and their day-to-day lives. Such an approach, they observed, can yield deeper understandings of how ecosystems work and the impact of human activities on the environment.

Solutions

Teachers also agreed that the proposed curriculum should be solutions-focused and action-oriented. They described how such an approach can prevent a “doom and gloom” understanding of contemporary environmental issues, and recommended that educational activities show students that their voices matter and that they have the ability to protect and empower themselves and their communities. Several emphasized how interdisciplinary learning can contribute to a solutions-oriented curriculum. Among other things, this approach can help students see that they can actively involve themselves in environmental concerns and have a say in protecting the planet and their local ecosystems.

A One-Stop Shop

Teachers expressed a strong desire for a curriculum that is chock full of resources, ready-made activities, and implementation tips, and that does not require them to create their own educational content. On account of the time it takes to create this content, they preferred a curriculum that could serve as an all-encompassing, one-stop shop. Some recommended that this include real data from scientific institutions for students to work with, while others suggested that the curriculum include contact information for researchers they could pose questions to and learn directly from.

Let’s Put it to Work!

Our study of the New England Aquarium’s proposed interdisciplinary wildlife curriculum revealed that teachers are most interested in resources and activities that engage students with authentic and powerful local experiences relevant to their lives – specifically, experiences that advance solutions to real-world environmental problems.

On a broader note, this study points to the importance of becoming informed about teachers’ perceptions, perspectives, and experiences. To effectively work with schools, it’s important that informal science leaders first inquire into how teachers are adapting to the changing conditions of a post-pandemic learning environment. By speaking with teachers about how their pedagogical strategies, practices, and priorities have changed since the onset of COVID-19, informal science centers will be effectively positioned to create educational resources that align with the contemporary realities of the formal education sector (and with the current state of science learning). Having discovered what teachers’ curricular needs are, informal science learning specialists can help create experiences that facilitate STEM learning and that yield progress toward collective social impact goals.

About this Article

This material is based upon work supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under Grant No. MA-245608-OMS-20. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Photo by Kenny Eliason @ Unsplash