Education Standards

Thanks to the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies for sharing its curriculum: Grasslands: A Home for Wildlife and People (http://www.birdconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Grasslands.pdf).  Other lesson plans are available by  CLICKING HERE.  

Grasslands: A Home for Wildlife and People states the following about the Academic Standards and 21st Century Skills.

The activities in this curriculum can be aligned with academic standards to ensure compatibility with classroom lesson plans. The following are examples of Prepared Graduate Competencies from Colorado Academic Standards touched on in one or more of these activities:

• Life Science: Explain and illustrate with examples how living systems interact with the biotic and abiotic environment
• Earth Science: Describe how humans are dependent on the diversity of resources provided by the Earth and Sun
• History: Analyze key historical periods and patterns of change over time within and across nations and cultures
• Reading, Writing and Communicating: Gather information from a variety of sources; analyze and evaluate the quality and relevance of the source; and use it to answer complex questions
• Physical and Personal Wellness: Participate regularly in physical activity
• Mathematics: Solve problems and make decisions that depend on understanding, explaining and quantifying the variability in data
• Arts: Employ musical skills through a variety of means, including singing, playing instruments and purposeful movement

These activities also incorporate learning 21st century skills, which are skills students must be able to apply in today’s world. These skills are the foundation of environmental education and include: Critical Thinking and Reasoning, Information Literacy, Collaboration, Self-Direction and Invention.