The SEMIS Coalition’s Annual Summer Institute took place July 29 – August 2, 2024. It was filled with adventure, wonder, and community building.
This four-day experience guided SEMIS Coalition teachers, community partners, and alumni through a Place-Based Education (PBE) inquiry process and immersed them in our southeast Michigan communities. Throughout the week we followed our Launch/Build/Act/Reflect PBE sequence to model learning practices and build community through teams, engaged dialogue around education, and shared stories to deepen our connections to the community. We were elated to have more than 30 member teachers in attendance from schools ranging from Dexter to Dearborn, Detroit, Ypsilanti, Lincoln, and more!
Summer Institute 2024 included six incredible place-based experiences through four lenses or “ways of seeing,” over five days. There are many ways of seeing place-based education within a curriculum and our Summer Institute participants reflected on four of these “ways of seeing” throughout the week: “outdoor learning,” “ecojustice education,” “interdisciplinary learning,” and “youth agency/voice.”
Opening day on Monday demonstrated an interdisciplinary focus exploring intersections of climate literacy and the ecological restorations at Matthaei Botanical Gardens. (Did you hold your breath waiting for the sleek, brown denizen in the stream to reveal who it was: beaver or muskrat?!) The wonderful staff from Matthaei and Maria Dozier from the American Society of Adaptation Professionals (ASAP) were our partners in learning for the day. We spent most of the day outdoors and participated in a hands-on lesson about riparian zones and native plants, visited a beaver dam and played in the Gaffield Children’s Garden.
At Oakwoods Metropark the next day, we launched, literally, in a 34-foot replica of a Voyageur canoe, paddling, learning about the trapping era on the Great Lakes. Ecojustice lenses recognized a critical need to revive healthy biodiversity, returning waterways to a cleaner state, and honoring land based people’s knowledge of interconnected systems through ecojustice lenses. We spent more time outdoors with water quality studies and an ecology hike. Finally, we had a presentation from our resident historian, Matthew Siegfrid on the history of Native American settlements and communities that once thrived in the Oakwoods area.
SEMIS members on the Voyageur canoe at Oakwood Metropark during our 2024 summer institute
At the Eastern Michigan University Student Center on Wednesday, we spent more time connecting “ways of seeing” to climate literacy, and to practice strategies. Using place-based education (PBE) to anchor content to place, and influence youth choice, voice and power in classrooms. We took a deep dive into PBE 101, centering our teacher strengths to engage young people in powerful civic engagement and transformational activism. Using milkweed and lily pad plants as metaphors, SEMIS Coalition team (Paula, Willie and Lisa) led the morning session on how to engage in place-based project learning through the Launch, (reflect), Build (reflect), Act (reflect) strategy. Reflection is a Principle (8) of PBE, and building in time to create a skill requires continuous practice over time. Including planning time for learners to reflect on their work in daily lessons is the fuel that powers and empowers.
Wednesday also included powerful content workshops from professional peers in education who shared their PBE journey. High school science teacher, Dillon Williams supported students’ understanding of and commitment to the commons and advocacy using the Civic Science project curriculum developed by Erin Gallay (University of Wisconsin-Madison “Our Water, Our Voice.”) Maria Dozier from ASAP presented a process of creating assessments to understand what workforces need to do to prepare for the impacts of climate change, and create networks to collaborate around more effective adaptation practices at their jobs, in their neighborhoods and for their cities.
Thursday morning included visits to two powerhouse places in Detroit and Dearborn: Clippert Multicultural Magnet Academy and Salina Intermediate School where students’ projects continue work that positively impacts their neighborhoods, parks and places of business through activism. Clippert Academy science teacher (now District coach), Tracy Ortiz shared how green STEM projects and data gathering from her students has increased their understanding of green infrastructure and biomimicry methods supporting the commons. Her students’ ongoing environmental work using PhotoVoice to narrate the story of Clark Park has added to the commitment and continued stewardship of this city icon.
Institute participants walked from Clippert Multicultural Magnet Academy gather in Clark Park to take a community walk and practice Photovoice as a technique for place-based inquiry
Institute participants practice math outdoors at Salina Intermediate School as they brave the hot temperatures and high humidity
A few minutes from Clippert, we met Salina Intermediate School math teacher, Khadigah Alasry. She engaged educators in exploring shadows and chalk drawings as a method for understanding scaling in STEM mathematics and determining the area of complex figures. This much needed skill could be used for urban planning, creating pollinator spaces and more! In the afternoon sessions, EGLE Air Quality Division technician Rebecca Robak gave us a tour of the state’s air quality monitor on Salina Elementary campus. Due to the density of industry in the area, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has continuously monitored air quality there for over 50 years! Purple Air sensor training by Savanna Delise from the Wildlife Habitat Council encouraged teachers to gather air quality data with their students for their own assessment. Finally, the Environmental Education unit from Michigan EGLE (Environment, Great Lakes and Energy) provided a deep dive into the teacher support available including Green Schools, EGLE classroom webinars and resource library and the MEECS (Michigan Environmental Education Curriculum Support) Air Quality lessons.
Our last day was hosted at the Wayne County Community College Ted Scott Campus. There, teacher teams came together to plan for the upcoming school year including climate change projects around watershed education, building community resilience, and protecting our land, air and water. Teachers learned tips to lead their learners in unpacking and connecting standards to investigations and projects. Using “ways of seeing,” teams reflected on classroom culture, planning goals, and unit planning. From PBE strategies, grant opportunities and making connections with community partnerships, our SEMIS teachers were truly energized and elevated by this phenomenal Summer Institute.
