2013 Independent Study Project Syllabus
Instructor: Theresa Song
Independent study offers students the opportunity to work one-to-one with faculty in an area
of shared scholarship. It is your responsibility to approach the faculty advisor with an idea for
independent study. Faculty advisors consider each request individually; faculty are under no
obligation to offer an independent study option to any student. Only IslandWood Graduate
Faculty, as well as Randy, or Blair, can oversee independent study projects.
Supervised study experiences are not designed to simply “provide extra credit.” This experience
offers the opportunity for in-depth research on a topic. Students will work on their own
research topics or help faculty with on-going projects. Our concern is that all projects involve
learning about Education, Environment, or Community!
Time Commitment: You should plan on investing a minimum of 9 hours each week on your ISP.
You must also attend all of the ISP meetings.
Schedule:
 Proposals are due by 8am on Friday, March 15th, 2013 via email. (Refer to Proposal
Template.)
 You are expected to meet with your advisor weekly to update them on your ISP
 Lab dates*: (These will be on the EEC Calendar as well)
 Lab #1:
- April 4th: Cohort F meets from 9:30-11:30am OR
- April 11th: Cohort E meets from 9:30-11:30am
 Introducing projects to each other, adjusting scope and getting
feedback

Lab #2:
- May 2nd: Cohort F meets from 9:30-11:30am OR
- May 9th: Cohort E meets from 9:30-11:30am
 Check-ins, peer feedback

Friday, June 14th: Both Cohorts ISP Community Review from 9 to 12pm
- ISP sharing (all IW staff invited). This will be a science fair style of
presentation, much like your portfolio sharing, and art class sharing.
Summative papers, etc. are also due this day.
*These dates and times are subject to change once the Spring Quarter schedule is
finalized.
Advisor(s): It is YOUR responsibility to contact a possibly advisor(s) and negotiate the extent of
your project. You must have at least one advisor who is an IW graduate faculty member or
Randy or Blair. You should consult Theresa if you need help finding an advisor. Advisors should
be contacted as soon as possible so the proposal can be developed and submitted by the March
15th deadline.
Grading: This is a Pass/Fail class.
A passing grade will be earned by:
1. Submitting an electronic copy of what you are using to demonstrate learning from your
finished product. The demonstration must be a paper, video, blog, or ideally a
combination of the above, in addition to any other materials you have created that can
be represented in electronic form (e.g. curriculum).
2. Recommendation of “pass” from your advisor.
3. Participation in scheduled ISP coordination meetings.
All three conditions must be satisfied for a “pass” grade.
Deadlines:
As soon as possible, contact possible advisors, meet with them and develop a manageable set
of goals and a timeline with benchmarks.
By March 15th, by 8am, you must have a final proposal to Theresa.
By June 14th, turn in an electronic copy of your demonstration of learning along with any
portion of your project that can be made electronic.
Possible Projects: Below are several projects suggested by IslandWood faculty and staff. You
may choose any of these, or choose to define your own.
1. Summer Camps Projects (Blair Griffin):
If you are interested any of these, then you are encouraged to apply to teach in Summer
Camps, so you can implement your plan.
Design entire camps:
History’s Mysteries: a 5th-6th grade day camp working in conjunction with Bainbridge Island
Historical Museum. You would be taking the curriculum that they already have for their
portion of the camp (approximately 3 hours each day) and augment BIHM’s part of the
camp with IslandWood programming. This camp is meant to connect kids to this place, so
activities based in history, ethnobotany, and sense of place are the focus.
Sprouting Scientists: a half-day camp for 4 year-olds through 6 year-olds entering kindergarten.
This camp is mean to be a first introduction to the physical sciences for kids, so it focuses on
chemistry and physics. Past activities have included making oobleck and putting Mentoes in
Diet Coke. The camp could be really transformative with some more thought and structure
put into it.
Soil Sleuths: a day camp for kids entering 1st-2nd grade focusing on the wonders of dirt. This
camp incorporates gardening with forest science and macros to give kids a better
understanding of where their food comes from, and the hidden worlds in the soil. Think
microscopes, nurse logs, compost, and cooking all combined.
Other camp options:
Enriching our arts curriculum: we have a number of art-themed camps, for 4 year-olds up to
kids entering 6th grade. They are all based in nature art, but could use some fleshing out and
some new ideas for how to make art the focus of a lesson, rather than a tool to get to
science concepts. With older age groups too, we are hoping to push the envelope a bit in
how we challenge campers.
Survival lessons: we have a number of survival-themed camps, for kids entering 1st-6th grade.
Much of them are based on skills, but also on the science behind the skills. For instance, not
just how to build a fire, what are the physics of friction and heat? We could use some
lessons focusing specifically on survival skills, as well as the explanation of why they workwhether it be through science or history.
Other programs:
Voices from the Field: an SOP-like program partnering with the State for students of migrant
workers who are at risk of failing. This project would be adapting our SOP curriculum to
meet the specific goals of OSPI and IslandWood, as well as making it appropriate for
students who largely speak Spanish, and are not testing at grade level.
Lakeside Summer School: this private school hosts a summer-long program that replaces an
entire year of high school biology. They are spending a week at IslandWood, where they will
be tasked with spending a few hours each day conducting an investigation. This should be
fairly rigorous, but also able to be completed in a short time. The focus is on the scientific
process, and practical applications of what they are learning in the classroom.
2. Brightwater Program (Kate Bedient):
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
Macroinvertebrate Data Sharing: At Brightwater, we collect information about two ponds
multiple times a week (water temperature, macro biodiversity, air temp, etc). We would like to
come up with a system for collecting this data on a regular basis and then sharing the trends /
results with kids each week. This ISP would involve observing a Brightwater program and then
working with the Brightwater staff to come up with a system for collecting on-going data that
can be shared with students. Interested grads should contact Kate Bedient, Brightwater
Program Manager, kateb@islandwood.org
Brightwater Adult Workshop Development: At Brightwater we are responsible for hosting 6
adult workshops each year. So far we only have ONE on the calendar (focused on birding). This
is a new program for the Brightwater team and we would love an IW grad to help us come up
with some fun ideas for Adult Workshops (art, science, writing, sustainability, etc) that will be
attended by community members. This ISP would involve working with the Brightwater staff
to: Create a list of possible adult workshops, spell out the details / logistics for at least one adult
workshop, design marketing materials for adult workshop, lead and run a program for
community members (with support from BW staff). Interested grads should contact Kate
Bedient, Brightwater Program Manager, kateb@islandwood.org
3. Homewaters Program (Clair Durkes):
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
Create Land and Water Pre and Post Lessons to accompany our existing Land and Water Field
Study. Our Land and Water Field Study is a four-hour outdoor field study for Seattle Public
School students in 4th and 5th grade. As students learn about the effects of land on water and
water on land through their classroom science unit, our Land and Water Field Study gives them
a real world application of the skills and content learned in class. Through this project, a grad
student would learn all aspects of our Land and Water program, including attending our
training, observing, and teaching the program, in order to develop two lessons for teachers to
use in the classroom. One lesson would be taught before the field study and one right after with
the goal of helping further connect students’ in-class learning with Homewaters’ Land and
Water Field Study.
Compare and contrast two different models of environmental education: a residential
program (SOP) and a day program taught in a local ecosystem (Homewaters). Students’
experiences in the SOP and Homewaters programs can each have a powerful effect on learning
and connection with nature. After teaching SOP for two quarters, grads have had a chance to
learn one model of environmental education: a residential program. Through this project, one
grad student would have the chance to teach with Homewaters through any of our programs
(Ecosystems, Tiny Neighbors, and/or Land and Water) to learn first-hand the experience of
students in our day programs taught in the school’s ecosystem (or one close to the school)
linked closely to students’ in-class science learning. Using first-hand experiences teaching both
programs and additional research about the two different models, the grad would analyze the
benefits, challenges, and ways both programs could be used to support and strengthen each
other. This project is left intentionally open to allow the grad room to identify the specific path
of his/her research within this broader topic.
4. Create a “blindfold walk” field structure and accompanying units for a lesson about the
practice of inquiry/asking questions (Ray Cramer): Students would follow the walk
wearing a blindfold and encounter various obstacles and mystery objects along the way that
they would explore with their other senses. Lessons to support this activity would illustrate
the practice of forming questions that can be investigated by predicting reasonable
outcomes based on patterns such as cause and effect. At the end, students would travel
the walk without a blindfold and find evidence contrary or in support of their predictions.
5. Science EXPO Day, June 8, 2013 at Seattle Center (Clancy Wolf): This science celebration
held on the Seattle Center grounds will be a FREE event, featuring more than 150 familyfriendly, hands-on experiments, exhibits, demonstrations, interactive activities, games and
live performances. IslandWood has committed to running a booth – housed among those
of the Aquarium, Zoo, Pac Sci Center, Burke Museum, Museum of Flight. We're looking for
someone who would pull IslandWood's booth at this event together. We'll manage the
paperwork – you manage the content and staffing of the booth. This is a great opportunity
if you are interested in informal science education and "free choice" strategies. More info
about the day at: http://www.seattlesciencefestival.org/Science-EXPO-Day/ (This includes
some training opportunities at the Pacific Science Center through their Portlas to the Public
program. http://www.pacificsciencecenter.org/Portal-to-the-Public/ )
6. Variety of Art Projects (Jess Henderson):
 Build a marimba: Work with IslandWood woodworking volunteer Lee Stollar and our local
marimba band leader Paul Meehan to build a marimba like the one found in the
IslandWood Art Studio. The materials will be paid for by IslandWood. Some woodworking
experience recommended, but not required. Part of the process will include tuning the keys
(by chiseling/sanding the wood bars), so a good ear for music would be welcomed! The
marimba will be auctioned off at IslandWood’s spring fundraiser, Dinner in the Woods. The
second component of this ISP will be writing up instructions for an activity that will
incorporate IslandWood’s existing marimba into SOP so we can get instructors using the
instrument more on a weekly basis.
 eBook Curriculum: Create environmental science lessons for an ebook to go with the Clam
Basket story DVD featuring local native weaver Ed Carriere. Work with local artist Melinda
West to target and write up appropriate lessons that focus on the ecosystems found in the
film, or the plants and animals related to this story. For a sample of an ebook with a similar
intent, see http://www.seattleaquarium.org/Edwin
 Get creative! Turn your passion in an area of the arts into a meaningful project that relates
to the environment, education, or community work through hands-on creation, research,
and/or teaching. If you have a specific idea you’d like to make a reality, come talk to me
(Jess) and I’ll be happy to talk it through with you and work with you as your advisor for the
project.
7. Create a 2-hour curriculum for docent-led activities for small groups of elementary kids to
attend special field trips to IW (Caryl Grosch): Nature hikes with a specific emphasis, each-oneteach-one cards, any of the SOP activities appropriate for short segments. This could be similar
to the formerly held Day Programs we used to have on Fridays – they started as half-day
programs for Blakely and other local schools, and then morphed into 90-minute hikes/activities.
Some specific training for interested docents will be needed, so an indication of the type of
training, or even a training schedule should be included. This would be geared toward homeschooled students, the Odyssey school kids, etc. – those with a little more flexible schedule that wouldn’t impact the public grade school curricula. A nominal fee structure can also be
included in the proposal.
8. Got Data? Evaluating SOP/SPP (Sapna Sopori): You will work with School Program staff to
create and administer evaluation tools to solicit and analyze data from teachers and students to
directly assess the success of our programs. You will help answer questions like “what are kids
learning through SOP?”, “are we meeting our objectives?”, and “what do teachers really need
from professional development?” Evaluation is a critical though often-overlooked component
of high-quality programming; cultivating evaluation skills can help you diversify your experience
portfolio and strongly contribute to any nature center you work with in the future. Desired
candidates will be extremely organized, detail-oriented, and able to multitask.
9. Natural History ISP ideas (Karen Salsbury):
 Take your Natural History & Ecology project to another level! Work with one of the Ed
Team members to further develop your project so that it supports or expands part of
the SOP curriculum or interpretive elements on campus.
 Laura Thomas’ work could use some editing and revisions, and include more pictures.
 Audio clips through the seasons of our top 10 songbirds could be put together
 Audio clips of the diversity of coyote vocalizations and the owls and collection of coyote
and owl anecdotes around IW.
 An owl buffet collection: enhance what we currently have for SOP with more pictures,
audio clips, mapping…what else?
 A month by month bird guide would be great (thanks, Danny, for this idea!) Birds of
Seattle is a good place to start.
 An good graphic of what birds live where in the canopy
 Create a dichotomous key to IW fungi.
 Get a hydrologist or soils scientist to weigh in on our “bog vs. fen” debate
 Put together a photo guide to our top dragonfly species, including lifecycles.