Wildlife Promise » Taiwan

Eco-Schools USA Case Study: Ben Franklin Elementary School

Jennifer Murck — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:21:02 +0000

Ben Franklin Elementary School’s EPA Program teaches Civics and Government through an Environmental Lens

At Ben Franklin Elementary School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, students are learning how to be leaders, engaged community members and true stewards of the environment. Last year the school launched the Ben Franklin EPA program, appointing students on a rotating basis to act as junior EPA representatives for their grade by meeting with administrators and teachers monthly to determine school greening activities. These representatives actively participate in the plan-making process, voice concerns of their fellow classmates, and communicate with peers about actions they can take to help the school accomplish its goals.

Each grade level focuses on greening a different aspect of the school (energy, water, recycling, etc.) with programmatic structure provided by the Eco-Schools USA program.

First Grade Focuses on Water

Last year, first graders at the school addressed water by implementing a Stream Keeper Project that had them monitoring the water quality of their stream, making nature observations and acting as scientists, ecologists and conservationists. The students gathered year-long data, tracked air and water temperatures, and created charts and graphs to display the data. “They became stewards of the stream, taking ownership of it and often referring to it as our stream,” according to first grade teacher Jeanne Muzi. In fact, many of the students would go home and advise their parents to not use too much fertilizer on the grass or to think about where the soap goes when they wash their car. Ben Franklin’s principal, Chris Turnbull, finds that students are developing skills and understanding concepts more readily because of the real-world context of their environmental projects. “We are seeing 6 year olds measuring water depth and converting Fahrenheit to Celsius without any assistance,” he notes.

Inspiration for the EPA program came through a relationship Principal Turnbull developed with Sustainable New Jersey and the U.S. EPA. He was part of an EPA delegation to Taiwan that was coordinated by these partners, and for the past year Ben Franklin has had a ‘sister school’ in Taiwan – Jian-An Elementary in New Taipei City.

A Global Dimension

Ben Franklin Elementary School’s environmental successes cannot be attributed only to the EPA program. Credit must also be given to the relationship the school has developed with its sister school in Taiwan. Utilizing Skype and a school wiki, students have been able to communicate with peers at their sister school, sharing successes and learning about how each school is working to make its campus more sustainable. For the first half of the year, students focused on getting to know each other, observing their cultural differences, but also seeing how they are the same and all goofy kids.

The Taiwan school was quite advanced in their environmental work and used their expertise to teach students and staff at Ben Franklin about things they could do to green their school, including recycling cooking oil and making soap. Students at both schools enjoyed sharing their projects with each other and found that having an audience for their work half a world away made them more focused and in many ways validated their efforts.

“Our students are learning that they are an important part of the world, and that they can be part of the solution,” says Principal Turnbull. He finds that, overall, students are now more confident, engaged and better at asking questions. The EPA program, and the relationship with the sister school, has truly helped create a sense of pride and unity among students.

Read a blog post by Laura Hickey, Senior Director of Eco-Schools USA, about her visit to Ben Franklin Elementary School.

Learn more about how your school can become an Eco-School!

*Ben Franklin Elementary School has received a Silver Award through the Eco-Schools USA Program
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Photo of the Day: Kingfisher Courtship

Rachel Stemen — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 18:30:29 +0000

A male common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) offers a fish to a female as part of their courtship ritual. This pair was photographed in Szutsao Wildlife Refuge in Taiwan by Minshong Huang.

This Photo of the Day was donated by a participant in the annual National Wildlife Photo Contest. See more photos or sign up for the 42nd Annual National Wildlife Photo Contest.

New Jersey’s Ben Franklin Elementary is the Highlight of My Week (and a Silver Award Eco-School)

Laura Hickey — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:36:26 +0000

Laura Hickey, Ben Franklin students, US EPA's Director Jane Nishida and Justin Harris (Photo by Justin Harris, US EPA)

On Monday I had the privilege of traveling to New Jersey with Director Jane Nishida and Justin Harris of the US EPA Office of Regional and Bilateral Affairs to visit with our partners, Sustainable Jersey, at The College of New Jersey, and the Ben Franklin Elementary Schoolin Lawrence Township, NJ.

But this wasn’t just any trip.

Director Nishida and Justin Harris will be part of an EPA delegation that is visiting Taiwan next week, and our New Jersey trip was scheduled so that she would have a better understanding of what Sustainable Jersey and NWF’s Eco-Schools USA program are trying to accomplish by working with Taiwan: helping them to develop a ‘sustainable communities and schools program’ based on our US programs.

The highlight of the trip for me was the visit to Ben Franklin Elementary School. Ben Franklin is one of our registered Eco-Schools and is a Silver Award school in our program. Their motto is: “If I work hard enough, I will succeed.” Ben Franklin is a Pre-K-3 school, and the students are incredibly engaging. They also have a ‘sister school’ relationship with Jian-An Elementary in New Taipei City, Taiwan, and their principal, Mr. Christopher Turnbull, has been on a former EPA delegation to Taiwan to visit with his sister school counterparts. Even Amos the Mouse – the school’s mascot – has been to Taiwan!

Ben Franklin received its Eco-Schools USA Silver Award for addressing the program’s seven steps and three Pathways: Energy, Water, and Consumption and Waste. Each class has what they call EPA representatives, and they rotate this responsibility among students over the school year.

Ben Franklin Principal Chris Turnbull, Randy Solomon (SJ), Jane Nishida (US EPA), Laura Hickey (NWF) (Photo by Justin Harris, US EPA)

Their Eco-Schools Eco-Action Team is called the BF EPA Project for Sustainable Living, and is designed to introduce students to the importance of the environment, and natural and renewable resources, as well essential topics such as energy, air, waste, and water. On our trip, the EPA committee, Principal Turnbull, and the Superintendent of the Lawrence Township Schools, Dr. Crystal Lovell, warmly greeted us with a handmade sign at the front of the school and several wonderful videos on the work that the school has undertaken to improve environmental and sustainability literacy for their students and staff.

The best part of my job is being able to visit our Eco-Schools and see what wonderful things that they are accomplishing on the path to sustainability. Principal Turnbull assures me that Ben Franklin will be applying for the coveted Green Flag award in the near future! I look forward to being there when they receive that prestigious honor!