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The TerraCycle Curriculum Series
In nature garbage doesn't exist, but it does in the human system. The TerraCycle curriculum series focuses on how we can solve this problem.
Overview
The TerraCycle Curriculum Series is developed by The Cloud Institute for release three times a year (Spring, Fall and Winter). Each section release focuses on a particular topic, and each lesson is tailored to grade level groups. The curriculum meets the McRel National Standards.
Find out more about The Cloud Institute
Welcome to the section for teaching and learning. TerraCycle and The Cloud Institute have joined forces to provide new learning experiences for students and teachers that educate for a healthy and sustainable future by exploring in depth the materials cycles. The Cloud Institute equips school systems K-12 and their communities with the core content, competencies and habits of mind that characterize education for sustainability. We do this by inspiring teachers and engaging students through meaningful content and student-centered instruction. We inspire young people to think about the world, their relationship to it, and their ability to influence it in an entirely new way.
We have organized these interdisciplinary lessons by grade level range:
K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. They meet the McCrel National Standards so that they can be easiy aligned with your State Standards. Each K-12 lesson set is organized around an Education for Sustainability (EfS) Content Standard. There are nine EfS standards in all. There will be three lesson sets in the series each year for the next three years.
This Fall we will complete the first year series with lessons on the materials cycles and "Healthy Commons" as well as the materials cycles and "The Dynamics of Systems and Change". Over time we will add the materials cycles and: "Sustainable Economics", "Responsible Local and Global Citizenship", "A Sense of Place", "Multiple Perspectives", "Cultural Preservation and Transformation" and "Inventing and Affecting the Future".
Our intention in this series is to raise an entire generation of people who understand their role in, and their responsibility to, the materials cycles. Waste is, well, a waste. We have eliminated it from our vocabulary. Materials cycle on this planet. That is what they do. You will learn all about it in this first series in which students study the science of the materials cycles through the Natural Laws and Principles.
All K-12 lesson series will be available to you for free. They will "hang together" around the central theme of the materials cycles and sustainability. We invite you to teach and learn with them, to adapt them and to share your adaptations with all of us through our TerraCycle group on Curriki (also free). We also invite you to give us feedback using this online form. We thrive on critical feedback. It helps us continually improve our practice. Finally, WE WANT STUDENT WORK SAMPLES that were produced as a result of your students’ experience with these lessons. Please scan them and send them to us at The Cloud Institute, 307 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1201, New York, NY 10001.
Very sincerely yours,
Jaimie P. Cloud
President, The Cloud Institute
Lesson Sets
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Spring 2010: Natural Laws and Principles of the Materials Cycle
Grades K-2
How can we make beautiful things out of what we don't want any more?
This lesson wraps itself around the reading and discussion of a book about a little girl who learns about the materials cycle.
Students are then engaged in a sorting and categorizing exercise to look at the similarities and differences between materials made by Nature and materials made by people. The lesson ends in a design opportunity.
Downloads
Grades 3-5
Students investigate the material cycles of their school, determine and analyze the amounts and types of materials produced.
They learn about where material goes and the difference between what happens to what Nature makes versus what happens to what humans make.
Based on what they discover, they create and propose a plan for material cycling in their school. Students will apply what they have learned about the material cycles to a problem in their home, school or community.
Downloads
Grades 6-8
This lesson revolves around the ideas and practices of biomimicry - looking to Nature to help us solve our problems.
Students will study examples of biomimicry and then apply what they have learned to a problem that they identify in their home, school, or community.
What can Nature teach us about the principles of sustainable design?
Downloads
Grades 9-12
Students explore beliefs, strategies and actions related to the concept of Cradle to Cradle design, and make connections to their lives.
They share their response to the question, "Why is it important for global citizens to understand the basic natural laws and principles?"
Downloads
- Fall 2010: Healthy Commons
- Winter 2010: The Dynamics of Systems and Change
The TerraCycle Curriculum Series is free and downloadable from our website, and we urge the lessons to be freely circulated and customized. TerraCycle only requires that enhancements be shared with the public through the TerraCycle group on Curriki, an open source curriculum community.
We always appreciate comments and suggestions, so if you have any thoughts or feedback we'd love to hear from you.