Check out the feedback we collected from our recently piloted Bananas About Bananas K-1 lesson series!
The pilot was completed by 8 teachers from kindergarten and 1st-grade classrooms in 7 different schools across 5 districts stretching from the schools in the San Francisco Bay Area to schools in So Cal. Teachers in the pilot program had access to:
- Teacher guides
- Family guides in both English and Spanish
- 3 Lessons including:
- Lesson Storybooks
- Teacher PowerPoint Slides
- Interactive Quizzes
- Lesson boardgames for students
Below are some of the key takeaways from the feedback we collected from the pilot teachers.
Teachers are Excited about Environmental Literacy Lessons
We received a positive response from teachers upon completion of the pilot lessons series, with 100% of teachers surveyed saying they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the Bananas About Bananas lesson series.
Teachers Prefer Lessons of Less than 1 Hour
When asked to best describe the amount of time it took to deliver each lesson in the Bananas About Bananas lesson series, 87.5% of teachers responded that the timing for each lesson was “just right,” at an hour or less. With our easy-to-follow teacher guides, we aim to provide lessons for teachers that can introduce environmental literacy to students while being implemented across multiple subjects. Teachers rated the lesson material quality favorably, rating the storybooks, interactive quizzes, and teacher PowerPoints all above a 4-star rating. Teacher PowerPoints had the highest rating, which is indicative of teachers valuing the ready-to-use teaching materials for each lesson.
Teachers Prefer to Teach Environmental Literacy In-Person
Probably not a big surprise. Environment-based education is often most effective when it’s hands-on and exploratory which suits in-person instruction. While teachers piloted the lesson series in person, in a distance-learning setting, as well as in a hybrid setting, most teachers preferred in-person instruction and rated it the best form of delivery for Bananas About Bananas.
Environmental Literacy Needs to Be Accessible
The main goal of the Bananas About Bananas lesson series is to teach valuable content skills in Science and English language arts by integrating important and engaging environmental issues into materials. However, sometimes these environmental issues can be complex and it’s imperative to provide sufficient vocabulary and concept support so that students don’t get bogged down. Teachers also expressed a need for lessons to be covered across multiple days to allow students more time to learn new concepts.
It’s important to note that 75% of teachers who participated in the pilot had over 11 years of teaching experience, with 5 teachers teaching primarily Kindergarten students and 3 teachers teaching 1st grade. Although 2 of the respondents had 5 or fewer years of teaching, we acknowledge the need to ensure that our lessons are suitable for teachers of all experience levels.
Teachers Want Content Relevant to Students
When asked about an additional lesson series teachers would be most interested to teach, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (a project-based lesson series on waste management), and Protecting Animal Habitats (a lesson series on biodiversity and ecology), tied for the most requested!
We are passionate about providing high-quality and accessible lesson materials for teachers across the US, and the data gathered in this pilot will allow us to improve future lesson series in ways that can best benefit the teacher and their students.
In our effort to provide teachers with the content they are asking for, we have already begun production on My Zero Waste Journey, a lesson series on the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) that will be released in the upcoming weeks!
Are you a teacher and interested in being a part of the next Green Guardians pilot? Contact us today and become a part of an exciting environmental literacy movement!
Are you looking to gather lesson materials for the upcoming school year? Sign up to receive the Bananas About Bananas lesson series today at no cost!
Let us know what lesson materials you value the most and what you’d like to see included in curriculum units and lesson series: Reach out today!
