Redford Center Stories

Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

• Teaching Tips
  Many of the videos embedded in the teaching PowerPoints are lengthy and will need discretion by the teacher for time restraints. The Redford Center hosts "filmmaking challenges", which require reflection by students and is time intensive, as students write a story, create a video, animation, poem, poster, or other visual to show their learning. "Challenges" may be used together or as stand-alone lessons based on a topic of interest. Educators may consider replacing some examples in the lessons with examples that are more relevant to students. For example, instead of watching a video about clean energy in Arizona, consider finding a video about solar panels or renewable natural gas used in your local area.
• About the Science
  The materials in this resource examine the relationship between communities and nature, with emphasis on the impacts of climate change, social-environmental justice, the disparity in access and equity outdoors, and meaningful, youth/community-inspired solutions. This is a series of ten lessons about the climate, environmental justice, and resilience/sustainability. There are misconceptions addressed throughout the lessons. The resource is funded by the Redford Center, which is a private organization created by the Redford family. There are some biases presented within the materials that reflect the Redford family's opinions, but overall the information is of good quality. These lessons have a focus on science communication. There is little focus on the mathematical basis for some concepts. Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.
• About the Pedagogy
  Students write and tell critical stories that can inspire and impact local and global action for a more environmentally sustainable and socially just world and create models for systems thinking and creativity. Students are asked to meet a challenge by creating a vehicle of communication to show their learning on each topic. Writing prompts, conversation ideas, research ideas, and extension options are provided. Students engage in narrative and digital storytelling analysis and critical/creative thinking. The resource focuses on science communication, especially visual/auditory usually through videos and presentations. This may be intimidating for students who prefer written assignments, and educators will need to help scaffold. They will develop techniques for listening, interviewing, collecting data, film composition, purpose-driven storytelling, and more. Students will draw connections between social-environmental-economic patterns and inspire deeper self-reflection and confidence for learning across subjects. The teacher guide is comprehensive.
• Technical Details/Ease of Use
  The material is flexible and scaffolds well and additional resources are provided. Most lessons require the ability to project a Powerpoint. Some PDFs of lesson plans have formatting problems.