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The Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI) Curriculum

The ultimate goal of EEI is to develop a curriculum that helps students achieve mastery of California’s Academic Content Standards in the context of California’s approved Environmental Principles and Concepts. The EEI Curriculum will enhance environmental education goals and academic standards already established by the California Department of Education.

Once completed, the EEI Curriculum will be reviewed by the Curriculum Development & Supplemental Materials Commission (Curriculum Commission) of the State Board of Education and submitted for approval to the State Board of Education.

• Learning Objectives for the 85 EEI Curriculum Units
• Model Curriculum Plan
• Attributes of the EEI Curriculum
• Design Format of the EEI Curriculum
• Development of the EEI Curriculum
• Draft EEI Curriculum Units Available for Review

Learning Objectives for the 85 EEI Curriculum Units

Take a look at the final list of Learning Objectives for all 85 California EEI Curriculum units (PDF) that will be used in EEI Units

Model Curriculum Plan

The Model Curriculum Plan (PDF, 1 MB) outlines the proposed methodology, scope, and sequence for the EEI Curriculum pursuant to the law’s requirements.

During the development of the Model Curriculum Plan, input was solicited from state agencies, education organizations, business groups, universities, and environmental organizations.

In addition, an Educator Needs Assessment was sent to 10,000 teachers and numerous focus group meetings and discussion sessions were conducted to gather information regarding design elements for the EEI Curriculum. Design alternatives were developed as a result of these meetings.

The results of the Educator Needs Assessment indicated that teachers would require the EEI Curriculum to address grade and discipline-specific standards. In response, the Model Curriculum is being designed to fit with teachers' existing lesson plans without increasing instructional content. Each lesson may stand alone or be used in combination with other units. The EEI Curriculum will use content and instructional materials already adopted, incorporating the EP&C’s as the content for instruction. It will provide a scope and sequence for teaching the EP&C’s through a learning continuum from kindergarten through 12th grade.

The Model Curriculum Plan was reviewed by State of California environmental organizations, Curriculum and Supplemental Materials Commission liaison, EEI Education Partnership, and educational entities.

Attributes of the EEI Curriculum:

• Teach to mastery of the standards;
• Can be easily implemented by teachers;
• Does not place an extra burden on teachers;
• Offer teachers an alternative strategy to teach the content of their subject matter;
• Make use of and work well with adopted instructional materials; and
• Be cost-effective and fit with established assessment practices.

Design Format of the EEI Curriculum:

• Comprehensive units that teach complete standard(s).
• “Bookends” used to frame instruction, directly teach some elements of the standard and review the complete standard.
• Content-based units using EP&C-related literature and materials to develop skills.
• Individual lessons using EP&C content to expand on particular elements of standard(s).

Development of the EEI Curriculum

The State Education and Environment Roundtable (SEER) has been hired to assist with Phase 4 of the EEI program through a Request for Proposal process. Phase 4 includes the development of the EEI curriculum, field testing, pilot testing and approval of the EEI Curriculum as it relates to the subject-matter areas of history/social science, science, and English/language arts, K-12. SEER, with direction and oversight from the EEI management team, is overseeing the training and coordination of the writing teams, graphic designers and editors to produce the resulting EEI Curriculum.

The EEI Curriculum is now being produced by curriculum writers, editors and graphic designers. If you are interested in being considered for this team contact EEI@calepa.ca.gov.

Field testing has begun and pilot testing is expected to occur in 2008.

Draft Curriculum Units Posted for Review

The EEI Team is developing over 85 curriculum units for grades K-12 in the areas of Science, History/Social Science, and English/Language Arts. As units become available, they are being field tested by teachers, reviewed by content experts, and posted on this website for a 30-day review period.

Highlights of the EEI Curriculum

• Is an environment-based curriculum rather than an environmental education curriculum. The curriculum is designed to teach students about their relationship with the environment and how humans interact with natural systems.
• Is designed to teach select California academic standards to mastery.
• Is aligned with instructional materials adopted by the California Department of Education (the 2005 History/Social Science adoption and the 2006 Science adoption).
• Includes “Extension Ideas” that give teachers ideas for linking their lessons with local resources, including environmental education providers, industry, and/or agencies in their area.

Draft EEI Curriculum Units Available for Review

Four sample EEI Curriculum units are currently posted for public review. There is one curriculum unit each to represent units for elementary and middle school and two units for high school grades. The public is invited to submit all comments to EEI@calepa.ca.gov.

Grade	Unit	Standard	Posted Until
4	Teacher's Edition (PDF, 11.5 MB) Supporting Materials (PDF, 5.2 MB) Word Wall Cards (PDF, 378 KB) Dictionary (PDF, 361 KB)	4.3.d	July 15, 2009
8	Teacher's Edition (PDF, 39.4 MB) Supporting Materials (PDF, 23.7 MB)	8.12.5	July 15, 2009
11	Teacher's Edition (PDF, 11.5 MB) Supporting Materials (PDF, 2.7 MB)	11.9.7	July 15, 2009
High School Biology	Teacher's Edition (PDF, 11.5 MB) Supporting Materials (PDF, 2.7 MB)	b.8.b	July 15, 2009

If you require special accommodation to access this document pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, please contact the Office of Education and the Environment at (916) 341-6769 or EEI@calepa.ca.gov.

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