Join the Frick Environmental Center Educator Cohort!
Over the past two years, we’ve been working with local high school teachers to create interactive, sustainability-based lessons about the Frick Environmental Center, one of the greenest buildings in the world. The lessons are finished and we are looking for teachers to test them out in the classroom! Participating teachers commit to using lessons from one of the themed bundles listed below. Try individual lessons, mini units, or full units from one of the lesson bundles before end of April 2023 and earn:
- A $200 stipend (paid on May 1st, 2023) - This opportunity is on a first come, first served basis.
- A free hour-long tour of the Frick Environmental Center for a class of up to 30 (transportation to Frick Environmental Center included)
- Three Hours Act 48 credit
- One ticket (plus a guest ticket) to attend the Educator Cohort Celebration in May 2023
Educators must register to receive the stipend and field trip.
Topics for the bundles include:
- Frick Environmental Center Energy Usage: Use real life solar and building energy usage data from the Frick Environmental Center Building Dashboard to bring your science and math classrooms to life. The data is perfect for practicing graphing, understanding what net-zero energy means, and more.
- Solar Energy: Frick Environmental Center’s 161.7kW solar array produces enough extra electricity to power 11 nearby homes! Deep dive into solar energy’s potential as a renewable energy including real-world activities with data from the Frick Environmental Center Building Dashboard, learning how solar panels work or building your own solar oven.
- From Slavery to Freedom Garden: The From Slavery to Freedom Garden at the Frick Environmental Center was created in partnership with the Heinz History Center, which showcases plants found in woodlands and fields that were used for food and medicinal purposes along the journey to freedom. This bundle is truly interdisciplinary, including English, social studies, and science components.
- UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs): The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are 17 goals that guide environmental, economic, and social change worldwide. This bundle includes a full-length unit and mini-unit that will work in tandem with a tour of the Frick Environmental Center by highlighting the goals embodied in the Living Building Certification.
- Sustainable Building Design & Water: The Frick Environmental Center is Living Building Certified, which is one of the most challenging building standards to meet. Using the Living Building Challenge and the Frick Environmental Center as a framework, classes can explore sustainability elements like green building materials and green infrastructure.
Lessons from bundles must be implemented in classrooms before May 1st, 2023. Lessons are designed to be used in middle or high school science classrooms (grades 6th-12th), but many of the bundles have interdisciplinary elements to be used with other subjects. Along with using at least two lessons from one bundle, educators will be asked to fill out a final survey and share about their experience to the Educator Cohort Celebration in May 2023.
Contact Ellen Conrad (econrad@pittsburghparks.org) for more information.
Learn about the Frick Environmental Center!
A project of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and the City of Pittsburgh, the Frick Environmental Center is a certified Living Building that has achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum.
The videos below introduce the Frick Environmental Center and provide deeper explanations of the sustainability features of the environmental center building and campus.
Introduction
What makes Frick Environmental Center environmentally sustainable?
Water
The Sun
Harnessing solar energy!
The Earth
Using the Earth for sustainability!
Frick Environmental Center Building Dashboard.
Click on the graph below to start exploring the dashboard!
The links below provide an orientation to the Frick Environmental Center Building Dashboard and suggested lesson plans created by high school teachers.
This work was funded through the generous support of...
