For Teachers
Caring for the Kenai is a unique environmental contest and a wonderful educational opportunity for your students; and it's a cinch to incorporate into your curriculum. Teachers who use CFK as an aspect for their lesson plans have said, "the great thing about Caring for the Kenai is that it's not just another thing to cram into your overflowing curriculum, but something that can be substituted for other projects as a real-life, hands-on, community-oriented opportunity."
Environmental Education Resource Inservice
Caring for the Kenai curriculum unites science and language arts with the real world…
Penny Vadla shares the language arts components of a successful CFK entry at annual teacher in-service
From Seldovia to Seward science teachers gather for annual CFK in-service
Seven years ago science and language arts teachers began voluntarily gathering for an in-service day sponsored by the Caring for the Kenai (CFK) community partnership to share and discuss classroom strategies for the unique environmental and natural disaster preparedness curriculum. “Early on we realized we needed to get teachers together to discuss what it really takes to make the contest work as an assignment,” said KCHS science teacher Rick Frederic. Frederic was the first science teacher to utilize CFK as a classroom assignment twenty years ago, since then he has seen some of his CFK students be interviewed on ABC’s Good Morning America, and be invited by the President of the United States to Washington D.C. to receive the President’s Environmental Youth Award. “The CFK sponsorship that allows this in-service to take place goes beyond the CFK contest each year, and allows teachers from across the district as well as private schools to come together to share and collaborate about real world issues that relate directly to science. When teachers leave the in-service they walk away with resources they can use in their classrooms the next day, that’s been true for me every year and I’m the presenter,” said Frederic.
Science teacher Kristin Kuehl will be participating with her students from Homer High School this year, “I’m excited about it and have found once you find something that students are passionate about their ideas become student directed. My interest in science was inspired by my biology teacher and now it’s become my life time career,” said Kuehl. Tim Winters traveled from Seldovia to attend the special in-service, “We’re hoping to incorporate some alternative energy ideas such as geo-thermo and wind generation into the curriculum for the contest and partnering some ideas with the Seldovia Village tribe. CFK allows us to show students how they can impact their environment individually and truly make a difference while seeing how science curriculum in the classroom can relate to their everyday life,” he said. Over in Seward Carlyn Nichols science teacher/alternative education completed the CFK assignment as a student and this year plans to participate with her students in Seward.
Created by Sikorski Consulting two decades ago Caring for the Kenai is a national award winning environmental contest that challenges high school students to answer the question "what can I do, invent, or create to better care for the environment on the Kenai Peninsula, or to help improve the area's preparedness for a natural disaster?" The program sponsored by Chevron and Tesoro, brings together the entire community of Alaska's Kenai Peninsula and offers over $25,000 in cash awards to area schools and local students. The program is administered through the Kenai Watershed Forum, a 501c3 organization dedicated to identifying and addressing the needs of the region by providing high quality education, restoration, and research programs.
Thanking Arby’s for lunch!
Thanking Tesoro for gas!
Resources
- Classroom Speakers Bureau - A comprehensive list of people available to share their expertise regarding CFK.
- Rick Frederic - KCHS Science Teacher - Science Specialist - Teacher Mentor
Rick has been involved in this program for many years and has a website that may be of help, www.rfrederic.com/kchs/.
2010 Timeline - Important dates to remember
- March 10, 2010- Contest Deadline
All entries must be delivered to the Kenai River Center by 5 p.m. - March 17, 2010- Select 12 Finalists
- April 3, 2010- Public Presentation of Semi-Finalists
- April 16, 2010- Oral Presentation competition for finalists
- April 26, 2010- 20th Anniversary Awards Banquet
Student Proposal Requirements
This document can be used by teachers, students, and parents to help show what makes a winning proposal.
Judges Scoring Rubric - This document gives an idea of how the judging is conducted at the semi-finalist scoring.
Oral Presentation Judging Rubric - This document provides snapshot of how students are judged during the Oral Presentation of the finalists.
Oral Presentation Long Rubric - This give a detailed look at the specific critera of the oral judging process.
Idea List - This document is a list of ideas developed to get your students thinking about our area and issues we may be facing in the near future. CFK projects are in no way limited by this list.
Past Oral Presentations
We also encourage teachers to view the past two year's oral presentations. You can find them at the following addresses. Please note you will need Windows Media Player to view the presentations.
Click here to view 2005's Oral Presentation.
Click here to view 2006's Oral Presentation.
Click here to view 2007's Oral Presentation.
Click here to view 2008's Oral Presentation.
Caring for the Kenai and national standards
Caring for the Kenai is an important local program, but how does it connect to national standards and lifelong environmental education? The answer to this question has been addressed by the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) who have developed four strands of contest standards that detail the cross-curricular relationship between environmental education and the major disciplines of language arts, math, geography, economics, and history.
These strands are summarized below with direct links to the national standards of each subject area. In addition, examples have been showcased from the Caring for the Kenai contest that model and illustrate specifically how these students connected their projects to the major NAAEE strands as well as national standards in other subject areas.
Content Standards Correlation to CFK Project
Example Student Project
Caring for the Kenai meets all Alaska standards for science and english.
For Science: Caring for the Kenai meets all Alaska Content Standards, (A-D). A- A student should understand scientific facts, concepts, principles, and theories. B- A student should possess and understand the skills of scientific inquiry. C- A student should understand the nature and history of science. D- A student should be able to apply scientific knowledge and skills to make reasoned decisions about the use of science and scientific innovations.
To view AK Content Standards for Science, visit http://www.eed.state.ak.us/contentstandards/Science.html
For English: Caring for the Kenai meets all Alaska Content Standards, (A-E). A- A student should be able to speak and write well for a variety of purposes and audiences. B- A student should be a competent and thoughtful reader, listener, and viewer of literature, technical materials, and a variety of other information. C- A student should be able to identify and select from multiple strategies in order to complete projects independently and cooperatively. D- A student should be able to think logically and reflectively in order to present and explain positions based on relevant and reliable information. E- A student should understand and respect the perspectives of others in order to communicate effectively.
To view AK Content Standards for English, visit http://www.eed.state.ak.us/contentstandards/English.html