Eco-Inquiry: An Ecology Curriculum for Grades 5/6

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The Institute of Ecosystem Studies is requesting two year support to enhance, test, produce and disseminate an ecology curriculum entitled Eco-Inquiry. The foundation of this multi-dimensional, 8 to 15 week, 5th and 6th grade curriculum has been built through four years of local development and testing. Eco-Inquiry has three distinctive features: 1) its emphasis on the conceptual underpinnings of ecological literacy - nutrient cycling and energy flow, 2) its commitment to demystifying the practice of science and scientists, and 3) its approach to developing students' inquiry skills and dispositions through modeling the scientific community in the classroom. Eco-Inquiry uses a diversity of teaching methods (e.g., collaborative learning, teaching for conceptual change) to engage students in activities that are imaginative and highly participatory. The Institute of Ecosystem Studies (IES) is a division of The New York Botanical Garden, founded in 1983 to promote educational programs in ecology. IES field, laboratory and education facilities are at the Mary Flagler Cary Arboretum in Millbrook, New York; additional field sites are located throughout the northeastern United States and elsewhere.