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Many urban New Yorkers believe that the Hudson River is so polluted that nothing could possibly live there. In reality, the estuary is thriving, and The River Project (TRP), a marine science field station in lower Manhattan, exists to showcase its vast biodiversity through place-based education. In 2014, TRP began collaborating on a city-wide initiative with the Billion Oyster Project and nine other partner organizations to integrate restoration science into Title I middle school curricula through the Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science (CCERS). Teachers in the fellowship program attend science workshops and professional developments opportunities to bring the locally relevant topic of oyster restoration into their classrooms. Through this partnership, TRP has expanded its reach beyond the typical 90-minute field trip experience, fostering relationships with teachers through professional developments workshops and in-classroom lessons to support their students’ project-based learning explorations. This confluence of educational activities created a richer, more meaningful learning experience for teachers, students, and TRP educators. 

Abstract The CCERS partnership includes collaborators from universities, foundations, education departments, community organizations, and cultural institutions to build a new curriculum. As reported in a study conducted by the Rand Corporation (2011), partnerships among districts, community-based organizations, government agencies, local funders, and others can strengthen learning programs. The curriculum merged project-based learning and Bybee’s 5E model (Note 1) to teach core STEM-C concepts to urban middle school students through restoration science. CCERS has five interrelated and complementary programmatic pillars (see details in the next section). The CCERS curriculum encourages urban middle school students to explore and participate in project-based learning activities restoring the oyster population in and around New York Harbor. In Melaville, Berg and Blank’s Community Based Learning (2001) there is a statement that says, “Education must connect subject matter with the places where students live and the issues that affect us all”. Lessons engage students and teachers in long-term restoration ecology and environmental monitoring projects with STEM professionals and citizen scientists. In brief, partners have created curriculums for both in-school and out-of-school learning programs, an online platform for educators and students to collaborate, and exhibits with community partners to reinforce and extend both the educators’ and their students’ learning. Currently CCERS implementation involves: • 78 middle schools • 127 teachers • 110 scientist volunteers • Over 5000 K-12 students In this report, we present summative findings from data collected via surveys among three cohorts of students whose teachers were trained by the project’s curriculum and findings from interviews among project leaders to answer the following research questions: 1. Do the five programmatic pillars function independently and collectively as a system of interrelated STEM-C content delivery vehicles that also effectively change students’ and educators’ disposition towards STEM-C learning and environmental restoration and stewardship? 2. What comprises the "curriculum plus community enterprise" local model? 3. What are the mechanisms for creating sustainability and scalability of the model locally during and beyond its five-year implementation? 4. What core aspects of the model are replicable? Findings suggest the program improved students’ knowledge in life sciences but did not have a significant effect on students’ intent to become a scientist or affinity for science. Published by Sciedu Press 1 ISSN 2380-9183 E-ISSN 2380-9205 http://irhe.sciedupress.com International Research in Higher Education Vol. 3, No. 4; 2018 Interviews with project staff indicated that the key factors in the model were its conservation mission, partnerships, and the local nature of the issues involved. The primary mechanisms for sustainability and scalability beyond the five-year implementation were the digital platform, the curriculum itself, and the dissemination (with over 450 articles related to the project published in the media and academic journals). The core replicable aspects identified were the digital platform and adoption in other Keystone species contexts. 

The Billion Oyster Project and Curriculum and Community Enterprise for the Restoration of New York Harbor withNew York City Public Schools (BOP-CCERS)(NSF DRL 1440869/PI Lauren Birney) program is a National ScienceFoundation (NSF) supported initiative through collaboration by multiple institutions and organizations led by PaceUniversity. Partners on this initiatitve include Columbia Lamont Doherty, the New York Aquairum, the New YorkHarbor Foundation, the New York Academy of Sciences, the River Project, Good Shepher Services, SmartstartEvaluation and Research, the University Maryland Center for Environmental Science and Fearless Solutions. Inthis study, teachers from one cohort were paired with teachers from a succeeding cohort in order to facilitate amentoring process between the two cohorts. This allows for teacher ambassardors to have a support structurethroughout the program, seek integral feedback, modify teaching techniques, integrate project research and establishlong term partnerships within the project team. 

This article provides an overview of the work pioneered by the consortium of collaborators in the Billion Oyster Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science Project (BOP-CCERS). The BOP-CCERS are working to support computational thinking in the New York City public school classrooms by creating curriculum which combines:1. The Field Station Research (Oyster Restoration Stations) and data collection2. The Billion Oyster Project Digital Platform and data input and storage 3. The New York State Science Intermediate Level Learning Standards. 4. The Computer Science Teachers Association K-12 Computer Science StandardsThe integration of computational thinking in the STEM middle school classroom is showcased through the intertwining of these dimensions into a trans-disciplinary learning experience that is rich in both content and practice. Students will be able to explain real-world phenomena found in their own community and design possible solutions through the key components of computational thinking.The Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science Project digital platform and curriculum will be the resources that provide the underpinnings of the integration of computational thinking in the STEM middle school classroom. The primary functions of the platform include the collection and housing of the data pertaining to the harbor and its component parts, both abiotic and biotic and the storage of the curriculum for both the classroom and the field stations. 

This paper explores the issue of social justice through the lens of equitable access to Advanced Placement courses inthe City of New York High Schools, with focus on Advanced Placement Environmental Science. A criticalcomponent of the Advanced Placement Environmental Science course is the incorporation of environmentalfieldwork. The National Research Council (2014) suggest that field stations are important for STEM education andprovide opportunities to engage students in the natural environment and get them excited about science. Through theCurriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science, an NSF funded opportunity, students in theAdvanced Placement Environmental Science course are integrating their field station work in Oyster Restoration inthe New York City Harbor. These interactions with the environment offer unique experiences which engagemarginalized students in both rigorous coursework and affords equity in science learning. In turn, it affords allstudents the opportunity for upward mobility and increased career opportunities in the area of STEM. 

“An environment-based education movement--at all levels of education--will help students realize that school isn't supposed to be a polite form of incarceration, but a portal to the wider world.” 1 Constructivism and the Billion Oyster Project Educators continue to seek the elusive silver bullet when trying to determine what will work for their students. Regardless of the setting – urban or rural, elite or poverty stricken, mainstream, self-contained or CTT, traditional or progressive, the main goal of the educator is to grab the students’ attention with content that is relevant, vital and situated in the students’ realm of interest. Each of the educational philosophers has their unique spin on what drives learning but many point to the real-world position of the germane connection known as constructivism. Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky, Montessori and Bruner all toted the idea that children learn, or construct their knowledge, by internalizing experiences in their lives and making meaning from these experiences. The child’s previous body of knowledge helps to shape the new information into palpable meaning that can be cognitively digested. 

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential impacts of microteaching on experienced teachersparticipating in the Community Enterprise for Restoration Science (CCERS) Teaching Fellowship at Pace Universityas part of a National Science Foundation-funded research project on the education model known as the Curriculum andCommunity Enterprise for Restoration Science (CCERS). The program builds a learning community of teachers in thefellowship program as they participated in monthly workshops in cohorts and continuously interact with each otherduring the two years of the program. Each teacher in Cohort 1 of the CCERS Fellowship was required to provide a brieflesson that they have used in the classrooms from the CCERS curriculum. Generally, the Teaching Fellows’micro-lessons contained appropriate objectives presented to the class aligned well to the objectives of the CCERSinitiative, which focused on harbor restoration learning within a STEM context. By conducting field studies atrestoration stations that students set up near their schools, students across all schools learned about the biology,chemistry, ecology and history of the Hudson River. In addition to teaching science content, all teachers incorporatedlessons on helping students to develop literacy strategies to build vocabulary. The microteaching modules allowed forteachers to gain insight as to how the curriculum was being implemented into other teachers’ classrooms. It permittedfor teachers’ exposure to the various teaching methods and resources being used to assist underrepresented studentsand students where English is a second language. 

Much has been written in the last few decades about 21st Century skills that are needed for successful entry into today’s workforce. Educators and corporate leaders agree that these skills are achieved through a deeper learning of content and an ability to creatively respond to real-world situations. Nowhere is this more evident that in the content area known as S.T.E.M., the acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is through the lens of STEM that many of the social, economic and environmental challenges with which we are faced will be solved. Given that the above statement rings true, it is the duty if educational leaders to provide students with the tools that will prepare them for both career opportunities and as members of the citizen science community. To spark this level of student interest, the curriculum being presented has to be timely, topical and immersive. Students must feel that they are an integral part of the learning process and that they have control in the outcome. In other words, they must feel that they have ownership and that they can collaborate in the learning process. 

It is important for teachers to realize that their classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse. Nowhere is this more evident that in the schools of New York City. Many of the students come from a plethora of backgrounds and in fact, there are as many as 800 languages spoken in New York City, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. Approximately 36% of the city’s population is foreign-born, substantiating the fact that the students in NYC classrooms will not have had the same cultural experiences as their teacher (Hernandez et al, 2013). In order to be successful in this setting, a teacher must create a positive, welcoming, and engaging environment. To do so, one may employ what is referred to as a culturally responsive education. Culturally responsive education emphasizes the link between culture and classroom instruction (The Knowledge Alliance: Brown University, 2008). It recognizes and respects students of varying backgrounds by acknowledging their differences in language, culture, life experiences, and values. In order to achieve this, teachers must implement the following strategies: communicate high expectations, use active teaching methods, act as a facilitator, create positive ties with community members, possess cultural sensitivity and reshape curriculum to address students’ backgrounds. In addition, situated learning or learning in an authentic context that focuses on problem-solving skills, is vital for the acquisition of content knowledge (Altomonte, et al, 2016). Each component is pivotal to creating an atmosphere where students are willing to learn and are engaged in the learning process.