ARISE OPEN – WISE Research

Anti Racism Inquiry Science Education: Opportunities for a Preservice Education Network (ARISE OPEN)

Generously funded by the Hewlett Foundation

Building on the ARISES project, ARISE OPEN is a collaboration among the Berkeley Teacher Education Program (BTEP) leadership team and STEM learning scientists at UC Berkeley, and the BTEP Secondary STEM cooperating teachers and pre-service teachers. The partnership is co-designing customizable curriculum units that integrate standards-aligned STEM topics in local social issues and that foster equity and justice centered teaching practices.

Cooperating and Pre-service teachers are supported through a series of workshops and the STEM Methods course to jointly localize the curriculum units for their students and to engage in practitioner research cycles to refine the units and teaching practices.

Leadership Team

I was very new to the concept of urban heat islands, so a lot of the [ARISE OPEN] curricular materials unpacking what they are and how different groups are impacted disproportionately was helpful for me to determine what way I wanted to take it.
– BTEP Science Cooperating Teacher

ARISE OPEN work is leading to a library of curriculum units and teaching practices that reflect the BTEP pedagogy and can be customized for specific contexts by future student teachers and teachers. All ARISE OPEN materials are open education resources and are freely shared with Creative Commons licenses.

Sample curriculum units:

Chemical Reactions, Asthma, and Alternative Fuels: Making a Change (air pollution, redlining)
COVID-19, Data Science, and Equity (data bias, implicit bias)
Genetics, Cell Division, and Henrietta Lacks (data privacy, medical ethics)
Global Climate Change and Urban Heat Islands (urban heat islands, redlining)
School Gardens: Photosynthesis, Cellular Respiration, & Ecosystems (food insecurity)

Research that led to ARISE OPEN:
Incorporating investigations of environmental racism into middle school science.

Some people may think we are separate: “That is someone else’s problem over there.” But as impacts of climate change come more real and local you will see and you have to decide how you will help, or if you will help at all. SF ranks #5 in urban heat islands. This is a very real problem we will encounter in the near future. Let’s look at how the locations of urban heat islands intersect with how our cities were designed in the first place.
– BTEP Pre-Service Teacher Teaching an ARISE OPEN Customized Unit

Asthma redlining maps — Exploring the Continuing Effects of Redlining

UHI model grass vs concrete — Modeling Solutions for Urban Heat Islands

No, I do not think all people are impacted by climate change in the same way because it depends where you live, and if you live in a place where there are a lot of trees and grass climate change will probably be slower or less than if you live in a place where there is a lot of asphalt and a lot of streets. Solar radiation will hit streets, asphalt, trees, and grass, but the streets and asphalt will absorb the Solar radiation and turn it into heat faster than the trees and grass will.
– 6th Grade Student Using ARISE OPEN Urban Heat Islands Unit

plant growth model challenge — Interactive Models to Plan a School Garden, Conserve Water, and Combat Food Insecurity

Powered by WISE Open Source Technology

Check us out on Github