About the ESLP

Overview

The Ecology Service Learning Project or ESLP is a project of Justin Bursch's Biology and Honors Biology 1-2 classes at Willow Glen High School.

Students will propose and develop garden-based projects in which they ask and answer their own questions as well as those posed by the teacher, devise project timelines and budgets, perform independent research, make predictions, write and refine hypotheses, make careful measurements, take photographs, record and analyze data, draw conclusions, create a usable final product, and maintain a website where they present all of the former. Physical [student-made] products will also be presented in the classroom or in an outdoor learning domain, and, if they are intended for use as a resource for other projects or in future instruction, they will be put to use.

To conduct these projects, students will make use of classroom facilities and the WGHS Gardens and Outdoor Learning Domains, which will serve as outdoor workspaces for students to explore, examine, and interact with the many facets of living systems. In these environments, students will search for and discover clues to the answers they seek and evidence supporting the conclusions they draw. The teacher will endeavor to support the students with materials, guidance, feedback, and encouragement as they work to develop and complete their projects. This support will take the forms of large group instruction, small group instruction and coaching, and one-on-one instruction and coaching.

Rationale

Why Garden-Based?
Students’ discoveries and experiences in the gardens and outdoor learning domains support the development of their ecological literacy and foster in them a more profound appreciation for the natural systems that sustain all life.

Why Food-Centered?
Without the best quality fuel and raw materials, the body and mind have no chance for ever reaching their highest potentials. This is why we must have a food­-centered, food­-first approach to school and curriculum redesign—and also, therefore, a soil­-first mentality.

Why Service-Oriented?
Service-learning can benefit all participants: students, faculty, academic institutions and their communities. Students gain academic knowledge and skills, interpersonal skills, and self confidence. Faculty can enhance the quality of their teaching, find opportunities for research and outlets for professional expertise. Service-learning supports the civic engagement mission of public schools. Community members receive valued service and institutional support.

Website

This website will be the online home of the project, just as The Story of the Seed project has its own home website. This website will host collections of resources and records for all ESLP projects in Mr. Bursch's Biology and Honors Biology classes, starting with those of the 2013 spring semester. Any questions regarding one of this year's ESLP projects should be addressed to the team lead of that project. This blog will be updated several times per week until all individual projects of the current year are completed. Summaries of projects from previous years will remain accessible on the Projects page.