by Lisa Voelker | Mar 18, 2025 | Blog, Events, Youth Voice
Student Showcase The Student Showcase during STEAM Week was fantastic! It was easy to see the passions shine through students’ understanding of the academics. Topics ranged from architecture to shelter designs for emergencies. One student started a garden club, seeds...
by Lisa Voelker | Feb 18, 2025 | Blog, Place-Based Education, Professional Development Materials
Everyone is an educator; everyone is a learner. We respect the dignity, professionalism, and creativity of educators, both formal and informal, and approach interactions with love, grace, flexibility, humor, and fun. (SEMIS Coalition Principle 7) At our Winter...
by Lisa Voelker | Nov 25, 2024 | Arts in PBE, Blog, Ecosystems / Biodiversity, Guest author: Jenna Sabolboro, Upper Elementary
Above: Students ride the yellow school bus to the trails on Belle Isle! They are heading for an adventure in photography and to document evidence of wildlife habitat in Detroit. Fourth grade students from The James and Grace Lee Boggs School researched adaptations...
by Lisa Voelker | May 4, 2022 | Uncategorized
Climate Change Literacy and Community Preparedness: Resilience From the Youth Up Monday, May 1612:30-2:30 P.M. VIRTUAL This event will start with a short story about a four-year effort to address climate change literacy and resilience efforts in science classes for...
by Lisa Voelker | Mar 21, 2022 | climate change, Community Mapping, Curriculum, High School, Teacher Toolkit
A big shout out to all the ‘NOAA teachers’, as we say: Mrs. Kerry Williams, Mr. William Albrecht, Ms. Paula Sizemore, Mrs. Andrea Stanczyk, Mrs. Abigail Woodman, and brand new to the initiative is Mr. Dillon Williams. Several teachers in the Coalition are part of a...
by Lisa Voelker | Mar 2, 2022 | Civic Engagement, Community Stewardship, Teacher Toolkit
B-WET Showcase: This was an opportunity in January for NOAA B-WET Environmental Education Program grantees to showcase highlights from their projects, including challenges and success stories. The SEMIS Coalition is one of these grantees and fortunate to be a...
by Lisa Voelker | Feb 23, 2022 | Gratitude, Image Gallery, Power of Community
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Between November and December of last year we did a Giving Tuesday campaign along with a year-end fundraising campaign. Individual donors helped us reach our match goal! Funds from these efforts will support the 2022 Community...
by Lisa Voelker | Jan 6, 2021 | Community Stewardship, Curriculum, Ecosystems / Biodiversity, Environmental Inventory, High School, Uncategorized, Water Quality / Studies
PBE Topics of Inquiry Water and land use, stream ecology, macroinvertebrates, conducted chemical, biological and physical stream monitoring techniques, stream mapping and assessment, nature drawing and journaling. Essential Question What role could the Rouge Park play...
by Lisa Voelker | Aug 28, 2020 | Curriculum Integration, Events, High School, Inquiry-Based Learning, Intergenerational Dialogue, Middle Grades, Place-Based Education, Social & Emotional Learning, Student Voice, Summer Institute, Teacher Toolkit, Upper Elementary
Young Wisdom Advice From Youth What helps me engage now? The teachers and relationships. Over the course of the last 6 months we have had the opportunity to spend time learning with a few different groups of students from southeast Michigan schools. We have been...
by Lisa Voelker | Jul 31, 2020 | Events, Professional Development Materials, Social & Emotional Learning, Summer Institute
This introduction with teacher Bill Boyle was an opportunity to understand what Mindfulness is, and is not, to develop or deepen practice, and make connections between our personal practice and the issues of our time. We gathered for one hour a day for 5 days from...
by Lisa Voelker | Jul 1, 2020 | Civic Action / Leadership, Community Mapping, Community Stewardship, Events, High School, Inquiry-Based Learning, Leadership Development, Lower Elementary, Middle Grades, Place-Based Education, Professional Development Materials, Summer Institute, Upper Elementary, Water Quality / Studies
SEMIS Coalition Orientation & Place-Based Education 101 During these two events on June 17 & 24 participants included new and returning member teachers, community partners, district leaders and administrators. At this orientation people were given a sense of our...
by Lisa Voelker | May 14, 2020 | Curriculum, Green Energy, High School, Middle Grades, STEM, Teacher Toolkit, Upper Elementary
Place-Based Education for Remote Learning: Mapping Activities Here is a collection of activities for practicing place-based stewardship education from home. These are the beginning in a series of ideas that are developing in response to the Covid-19 pandemic...
by Lisa Voelker | May 12, 2020 | Curriculum, Early Childhood, High School, Lower Elementary, Middle Grades, Teacher Toolkit, Upper Elementary
Place-Based Education for Remote Learning: Mapping Activities Here is a collection of activities for practicing place-based stewardship education from home. These are the beginning in a series of ideas that are developing in response to the Covid-19 pandemic...
by Lisa Voelker | May 1, 2020 | Civic Action / Leadership, Community Mapping, Curriculum, Professional Development Materials
Community Mapping Brief - Best Practices, MSU Outreach Partners With new technology, the possibility of mapping information about communities as a basis for decision making has captured the imagination of policy makers. This Brief is one of two that will explore the...
by Lisa Voelker | May 1, 2020 | Curriculum, Events, Social & Emotional Learning
Town Hall Spring 2020 On April 14, over 60 SEMIS Coalition members gathered online for a welcome point of connection after much distance, and a global pandemic changing the fabric of our daily lives as educators…as humans. We talked about how we can care for...
by Lisa Voelker | Mar 17, 2019 | Uncategorized
Community Forum Info Meeting (1) with presenter information.
by Lisa Voelker | Jun 5, 2018 | Events, Professional Development Materials, Summer Institute
Summer Institute Agenda 2018 Part One & Two Some details for Part Two are subject to change. Part One Logistics_SEMIS Summer Institute Hope to see you there!
by Lisa Voelker | Mar 12, 2018 | Uncategorized
Information for those planning on presenting at this year’s community forum: Schedule April 30, 2018 8:30 a.m. Registration Table opens 9-9:30 a.m. Light Breakfast and refreshments available 9:30-9:45 a.m. Opening remarks 10:00 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. Presentation...
by Lisa Voelker | Feb 6, 2018 | Curriculum, High School, Lower Elementary, Middle Grades, Teacher Toolkit, Water Quality / Studies, Water quality testing
An Introduction to Michigan Watersheds for Teachers, Students and Residents — Michigan Sea Grant Beach Mysteries — Alliance for the Great Lakes Follow The Drop — Earth Partnership for Schools University of Wisconsin – Madison Arboretum Great...
by Lisa Voelker | Feb 6, 2018 | Uncategorized
Community mapping can be a helpful process to begin a PBE inquiry with students. Community mapping can be done is diverse ways, meeting many learning goals depending on design. Try mapping your community asking certain questions, framing an issue, or with completely...
by Lisa Voelker | Feb 6, 2018 | Leadership Development, Place-Based Education, Readings, Teacher Toolkit
Place-based Education can be a complex process to dive into! Check out these videos to hear stories of schools, classrooms, students, and teachers in Southeast Michigan who are each engaging in PBE. The Spotlight on Stewards Project is a collaborative pilot program...
by Lisa Voelker | Feb 6, 2018 | Featured Front Page, Inquiry-Based Learning, Place-Based Education, Student Voice, Teacher Toolkit
Place-Based Education — broaden and deepen your knowledge of PBE by checking out the following websites. PBE may look different depending on where you live and attend school, but there are principles, ideas, and practices that connect PBE work across the...
by Lisa Voelker | Jul 2, 2017 | Uncategorized
Summer Institute Each year, we design our annual Summer Institute around an ecological theme, creating a common language for engaging in deep cultural-ecological analysis, project planning, and community inquiry and action. Using the best practices of professional...
by Lisa Voelker | Jul 2, 2017 | Uncategorized
Scope and sequence of professional learning Community partners and classroom-based teachers learn in a collaborative setting throughout the annual 9-day SEMIS Coalition professional development (PD) series. The PD series is cumulative over a one-year period and...
by Lisa Voelker | Jul 2, 2017 | Uncategorized
Earth Force Community Action and Problem Solving Process The Six Step Model: https://earthforce.org/community-action-and-problem-solving-process/ Youtube Channel for the Earth Force Six Step Process: CommunityActionProblemSolvingProcess
by Lisa Voelker | Jul 2, 2017 | Uncategorized
NOAA Assets Document, compiled by Laura Florence: noaa-great-lakes-education-resources-and-links Bay Watersheds Education & Training Program, Meaninful Watershed Education Experiences (MWEE):...
by Lisa Voelker | Jul 2, 2017 | Uncategorized
Designing Sustained PBE (Place-based Education), created by SEMIS Coalition Program Director, Rebecca Nielsen: designing-sustained-pbe-2016 Backward Design: Backwards Mapping – SEMIS planning updated Questions that Deepen Discussion: Questions that Deepen...
by Lisa Voelker | Jul 2, 2017 | Uncategorized
What’s in a cup of coffee? At Experiencia Academy, students followed the story of the coffee bean from a roaster in Ohio all the way to the fields where it grows in Mexico, Central and South America. Reach Trade Coffee Company’s Water for the America’s campaign...
by Lisa Voelker | Jul 2, 2017 | Uncategorized
How do you turn a dumping ground into a teachable space? Hope of Detroit Academy (HODA) students engage in many community-based projects as self-defined stewards of their community. While working on other projects, illegal dumping came up in student conversations as a...
by Lisa Voelker | Jul 2, 2017 | Uncategorized
The Green Team gains STEAM at DIT-CODY With the support of the community and their teachers, students at DIT-CODY are taking the lead in developing STEAM-based solutions to pressing Detroit Public School sustainability needs, like energy, insulation, recycling, and...
by Lisa Voelker | Jul 2, 2017 | Uncategorized
It’s hard to find a better example of project-based learning than how students at Jack Harvey Elementary spent their school year — raising and releasing salmon. Through the Michigan DNR’s Salmon in the Classroom program, students raised and cared for salmon in their...
by Lisa Voelker | Jul 2, 2017 | Uncategorized
Articles, Book Chapters, White Papers, and Book References Developing Teachers’ Capacity for Ecojustice Education and Community-Based Learning; by Ethan Lowenstein, Rebecca Martusewicz, & Lisa Voelker; Teacher Education Quarterly, Fall 2010 (PDF) Conference...
by Lisa Voelker | Apr 19, 2017 | Arts in PBE, Civic Action / Leadership, Community Stewardship, Events, High School, Inquiry-Based Learning, Leadership Development, Lower Elementary, Middle Grades, Upper Elementary
What stood out to participants from last year’s forum… “What stands out today for me was learning new things and learning how to listen.” Student participant, Grade 9-12 “The young students from Ann Arbor presenting on the Ann Arbor carbon plume and the...
by Lisa Voelker | Sep 21, 2016 | Uncategorized
Written by Greg Smith. One of the arguments I’ve used to justify place- and community-based educational approaches has been tied to the way I’ve seen it increase students’ intrinsic motivation to learn and participate. I’ve suggested that this enhanced motivation is...
by Lisa Voelker | Aug 30, 2016 | Place-Based Education, Professional Development Materials, Uncategorized
Written by Bill Boyle and Ethan Lowenstein. Chet Bowers asks a question that we should all be considering, especially those of us who serve as educators: “How do we live more interdependent lives based on practices that are less dependent on a monetized world, that...
