MAS DOJIRI, LOS ANGELES SANITATION & ENVIRONMENT
Scientists agree that we are in the sixth mass extinction. It is possible that humans could become extinct in the next few centuries, and the cause of that would be the lack of biodiversity. A biodiversity collapse could end up eliminating our food sources.
TRAVIS LONGCORE, UCLA INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
Biodiversity is a diversity of life at many different levels. ECUITY is a project to develop biodiversity-and-environmental-justice-related curriculum for middle school that’s funded by the National Science Foundation, and is a collaboration between WestEd and others of us who are partnering with them, like UCLA.
MAS DOJIRI, LOS ANGELES SANITATION & ENVIRONMENT
If we teach our youths about biodiversity, healthy soils, environmental science, maybe they’ll grow up to be stewards of the environment. That’s hugely important.
EDITH DE GUZMAN, UC DIVISION OF AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES, UCLA LUSKIN CENTER FOR INNOVATION
We have an increasing urgency around mitigating extreme heat around the world, particularly in cities which are heating up, on average, at a rate of two times as much as the rest of the planet.
MAS DOJIRI, LOS ANGELES SANITATION & ENVIRONMENT
ECUITY is empowering changemakers: Urban Biodiversity initiative for Teachers and Youth.
GRAHAM MONTGOMERY, UCLA BIOLOGY & EVOLUTONARY CENTER
The ECUITY Project is designed to incorporate NGSS, these next generation science standards, in a rigorous way, while also incorporating environmental justice as a component.
TRAVIS LONGCORE, UCLA INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
Students are able to take new questions and investigate them, and that leads to some of the most meaningful learning experiences. They actually develop new knowledge, but take away the skills that are necessary to either do science, or even to run projects, or collect data, or analyze your world.
EDITH DE GUZMAN, UC DIVISION OF AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES, UCLA LUSKIN CENTER FOR INNOVATION
You will encounter some student “aha” moments in the process. It’s a meaningful way for them to understand why not all neighborhoods look the same. Why having heat waves in Beverly Hills feels a lot different than having heat waves in South Central LA.
STACEY VAGALLON, NATURE NEXUS INSTITUTE
Some of the best science conversations I’ve ever had have been with LA Unified School District students, on their schools and in the field.
RODRIGO, 8TH GRADE STUDENT
We went to our school garden and we realized that there wasn’t enough biodiversity, basically, in our garden. When something was wrong, we just have to figure something out until it was right. Or when we saw change, that meant that we were doing something good.
BRIAN LEARN, LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Students made a small yet measurable impact on our community, not just in terms of increasing biodiversity, but increasing student engagement with others on campus and improving our mental health.
JAZZLYN, 8TH GRADE STUDENT
After going through a project, I do see myself kind of… in the future, I may become a scientist. Because becoming a scientist, it has different meanings, where you could do many things to help improve… whether it’s someone’s life, an animal’s life, or especially your surroundings.
BRIAN LEARN, LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Engaging in science does require a lot of critical thinking and collaboration and care for communities, and those things can all be very joyful. They can provide a lot of satisfaction in our students. And that is something that we really want to provide with this unit, is that they feel empowered as a scientist, and as an individual who can positively contribute to others. And that type of joy is what we hope to achieve.
RODRIGO, 8TH GRADE STUDENT
I hope people can also do the same thing we’re doing, and I hope they could do it outside of school, or in school as well, to help biodiversity here in LA County.
BRIAN LEARN, LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
By the end of this unit, they felt more empowered to make a change in their community. And I think they saw the connection between skills they’re learning in school, and an actual application in real life.
MAS DOJIRI, LOS ANGELES SANITATION & ENVIRONMENT
There is an African motto that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, take the entire village.” This is going to take the entire village.