Dartmouth, MA – The Alces Foundation, Grimshaw-Gudewicz Charitable Foundation, The Harold Whitworth Pierce Charitable Trust, and the Rodgers Family Foundation have awarded the Lloyd Center for the Environment $28,000 in grants to support its Science Curriculum Reform and Development Initiative in the Fall River public schools. 

In 2006, the Lloyd Center for the Environment launched its pilot program of its Science Curriculum Reform and Development Initiative into 47 classes in the public schools of Fall River and Fairhaven (MA).  The education initiative consists of two programs, the fifth-grade Coastal Exploration Program and the third-grade Feathery Focus Program.

The Lloyd Center’s Coastal Exploration Program is now taught in all 39 fifth-grade classes in the Fall River public schools.  Each Coastal Exploration class receives two in-school programs designed to meet the gaps in the existing science curriculum and to prepare the students for their field-study.  The in-school programs cover food-chains, biomagnification, and adaptations.  All the fifth-grades in the Fall River program will be given the unique opportunity to visit a nearby estuary for a fieldtrip involving coastal species identification, as well as salt-marsh and chemical analysis in the field. Town-specific issues and examples have been woven into the program in collaboration with the school system’s Director of Science Curricula.

The Feathery Focus Program is being taught in eight third-grade classes in Fall River.  Owing to funding limitations, Feathery Focus has not yet expanded to all the third-grade classes in the city.  The appealing and dynamic world of birds provides a focal point that captures the imagination of third-grade students and opens doors to learning about land conservation, plants, food chains, migration, adaptations and climate.  Over the school year, the class receives nine in-school lessons from Lloyd Center naturalist-educators.

There is much evidence to show that Lloyd Center science programs can make a very real difference to the children of Fall River.  Given the comprehensive demands of current curriculum planning, these programs fill significant gaps in science education at the elementary school level in the municipalities they serve, particularly in children learning to apply critical thinking and the scientific method to local environmental issues.  Several units also highlight math, general life-skills, and language or visual arts.  All of the programs are taught in an interactive and hands-on manner, intended to capture the students’ attention and stimulate their higher order thinking.

The curricula have been carefully designed to support the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks in Science and Technology/Engineering and the Massachusetts Environmental Education Plan in each class.  Lloyd Center naturalist-educators model experiential teaching methods and creative lesson plans for participating teachers and provide classroom teachers with complementary follow-up materials. 

Lloyd Center For the Environment

The Lloyd Center is the only area organization focused on educating the public about coastal and watershed issues, and conducting research on coastal ecosystems and endangered species. The Lloyd Center serves individuals, agencies, and organizations in southeastern New England (Rhode Island to Boston to Cape Cod). It

The Center cooperates on a broader level in coastal, environmental, and educational programming throughout New England, nationally and internationally.

The Center's school-based activities further expand their reach to urban audiences. A scholarship program also provides space for ten urban New Bedford students, mostly African-American and other minorities, in the Summer Program. 

You can learn more about the Lloyd Center for the Environmental at: http://www.lloydcenter.org.

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