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Home > Features > Teacher Feature: Dean Goodwin
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Teacher Feature: Dean Goodwin
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by Susan , Kornstein
Director, Content Development
The College Board
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| | Adopting the Environment
As the fishing boat F/V Adventurer, a 72-foot steel stern trawler, turns into the salt sea air off the Maine coast, Captain Cameron McClellan may be thinking about more than the latest weather report and what fish are running. He may even be thinking about AP Environmental Science. Captain McClellan is part of the Adopt-a-Boat (AAB) program being developed by Dean Goodwin, AP Environmental Science teacher and Director of Environmental Education at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire.
The aim of the Adopt-a-Boat program, which Dean is developing in collaboration with the University of New Hampshire, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, is to pair captains of fishing boats with Environmental Science teachers to bring data about the environment to high school classes. Using the latest technology, the boats will send real-time data on weather, temperature, and location, as well as on the number and types of fish being caught. Ten AAB teachers are developing lessons that include the history of fishing, fish management, global markets, knot tying, underutilized species, tracking species, fishing-boat log books, fishing gear, and the daily life of fishermen. Students will also have an opportunity to visit their "adopted" boat, and captains will e-mail and visit classes.
An Interdisciplinary Approach
Adopt-a-Boat is only one of many exciting programs that Dean Goodwin has designed to empower students to actively learn about Environmental Science and its connections to other disciplines. Since his arrival at Kimball Union in 1995, he has successfully integrated Environmental Science themes throughout the curriculum. Traditional departmental barriers are coming down as environmental topics provide the vehicle for unification.
Over one-third of the student body is currently enrolled in environmental education courses, including Environmental Science (a 10-12 grade elective), Environmental Problem-Solving (for ninth graders), AP Environmental Science, Environmental Geology, Environmental Law and Policy, Contemporary Native American Literature and Film, Environmental Literature -- a Sense of Place, Literature in the Nuclear Age, Words from the Waters, and the Snow Mountain Seminar.
Dean believes that, "The basic goal in each of these courses is to show how everything in nature is interconnected, and to provide information in an accurate, unbiased, and interesting way. Environmental education should begin in our own backyard and instill a sense of place in each student." He established the "Land for Learning" seminar series, which has brought a diverse group of speakers to his AP class and other classes to discuss environmental topics. The list of speakers includes environmental activists, authors, film producers, an environmental musician, and a wildlife photographer. They each make presentations to the Kimball Union student body and members of the local community.
For Dean's students, learning Environmental Science often means using the campus and local surroundings for fieldwork. Hiking, camping, and canoeing bring students closer to the natural world. Dean has also taken groups of student as far afield as Hawaii to study the flora and fauna of the rainforests and the volcanic activity of the Big Island. They have also visited New York City for a biodiversity project with the American Museum of Natural History, and Ecuador to establish a liaison between a village in the rainforest and Kimball Union Academy. Dean's school now has an exchange program with that village, and students use their spring break to learn about sustainability issues in the Amazon region. Of course, at the same time they have the opportunity to practice their Spanish language skills, as students work alongside villagers on various projects that benefit the local people.
Inspired by the important lessons they learn in the classroom, Dean's students often continue to study Environmental Science in the summer. Their studies have taken them to Montana with the Sierra Club, Woods Hole on Cape Cod, and Africa with the Greenbelt Movement and the Cheetah Conservation Core.
Enthusiasm Spreads to AP
As you might imagine, Dean has no trouble recruiting students to take Environmental Science electives. Students enthusiastically asked Dean to teach the AP Environmental Science course when it was first offered in 1997. Now they spread the word about the course, and it is very popular at KUA.
The AP Environmental Science course was a natural extension of the high school courses Dean had developed previously, and he says that the benefits of the course are numerous. "It has helped legitimize the study of environmental topics at the high school level. This means we are drawing more professional educators into the arena of environmental teaching and lessening the impact of the environmental activist types that gave the movement a negative aspect early on."
For students, the course has a number of advantages. "The subject matter lends itself to a wider range of student interest and enthusiasm," Dean says. "It offers hopeful solutions and empowers the student to take appropriate action in his or her own lifestyle." Chet Clem, one of Dean's AP Environmental Science students, who will attend Bates College as an Environmental Policy major, says that he became interested in Environmental Science as a freshman at KUA because the problems were "real" and "we knew that it mattered." Talking about Dean, Chet explained how "Doc" was a special teacher, and often a friend. A "charismatic guy," "Doc wouldn't let you settle for less than your best." Chet enjoyed the lively discussions that started at the beginning of each of Doc's classes and didn't end once the class was over.
Other teachers also have the benefit of Dean's knowledge and teaching ideas. He is a Question Leader at the AP Environmental Science Reading. He does workshops for the New England Region of the College Board® and has established a series of one-day workshops for AP Environmental Science teachers in collaboration with the College Board, Dartmouth College, and Kimball Union Academy. But to his students, Dean is a "fun guy." Whether dressed up as Santa Claus to make a school announcement, as a baseball coach, or as someone to debate issues with over dinner, Dean brings a new sense of environmental awareness to everyone he can reach. |
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