Interdisciplinary –

Environmental Design
Rainshadow Community Charter High School – Fall 2009 ID
Project Group Syllabus
Joe Ferguson *** joe@rainshadowcchs.org ***
www.joerainshadow.weebly.com
Course Description: We will spend the semester looking at different aspects of
environmental design in our modern lives. We will be operating under the
theme of exploration and invention and will spend the first part of the semester
exploring environmental topics including, but not limited to; sustainable
living, permaculture, deep ecology and radical environmentalism,
outdoors adventuring, reducing, reusing, and recycling, and finding ways
to tread more lightly on our planet. We will then turn to learning how to use
discarded or unwanted objects and turn them into usable, sellable goods.
We will start be learning skills in how to mend, fix, and create clothes and
accessories from old unwanted materials. We will be learning how to sew,
knit, crochet, silkscreen, and design recycled fashions for the future. We
will consider starting our own businesses, writing business plans, and
marketing our hand-made products. This part of the class will culminate in a
recycled crafts and fashion show that we will promote and put on as a
community-wide event. The next part of the class will be working with the Reno
Bike Project on turning unwanted or slightly damaged bikes into beautiful,
rideable, and sellable transportation machines. We will learn all of the skills
necessary to do personal bike maintenance, and to eventually become a
bicycle mechanic. We will also consider designing and building our own
bicycles out of scrap materials and learning welding skills to build
monster bikes and other scrap metal creations. This part of the class will
culminate in a community-wide Rainshadow bicycle show and shine event
including bicycle games, prizes, an alley cat race, barbeque, etc. We will be
exploring and inventing all semester long.
Course Aims and Objectives for this Nine Weeks:
Upon completion of this 9-week course of study, students will be able to…
- Understand environmental problems and solutions affecting our modern
lives.
- Utilize aspects of environmental design in exploration and invention.
- Develop skills to be able to turn unwanted materials into usable, sellable
products.
- Build bicycles and perform basic bicycle maintenance.
- Promote, market, and execute community events to show off our skills and
creations.
- Create websites to communicate with classmates and the outside world.
- Work with community and nonprofit groups on a variety of projects.
Requirements:
- Participation in classroom and field activities every day.
- Record of notes, journal entries, other writings and classroom assignments.
- Completed portfolio of projects and assignments (see requirements below).
- Completion of major student-driven projects and presentations.
 Week /
Monday - Thursday
Dates
1) Intro to exploration and invention. How to explore and invent. How has
Aug 31 - Sept exploration and invention changed our lives for the better and worse?
3 The environmental impacts of our lifestyles. What parts of nature are
important and how to save and preserve.
2) Exploring nature, the outdoors, fieldtrip(s) looking for aspects of nature
Sept 7-10 preservation in our neighborhood. The wild lands right in our backyards.
Looking for environmental impacts in our neighborhood. No School
Monday (Labor Day)
3) Intro to environmental design, green technology, sustainable living,
Sept 14-17 permaculture, deep ecology, and radical environmentalism. How can we
make our school more environmentally friendly? No School Monday
(Professional Development)
4) The three R’s: reducing, reusing, and recycling. What do people do with
Sept 21-24 industrial and household waste? Composting, turning glass, plastic,
cardboard, and aluminum into usable, sellable items. Fieldtrip(s). Begin
thinking about business plans and finding market niches.
5) Recycled goods. What are people making? What eco-fashions exist?
Sept 28 - Oct Collecting unwanted materials to use in class. Begin to brainstorm ideas
1 for crafts to make usable and sellable goods. What kinds of things do we
want to make and what do we need to make them?
6) Developing crafting and mending skills. Intro to sewing, patching,
Oct 5-8 mending, fabrics, etc. Making simple accessories, jewelry, etc. Intro to
using the sewing machine and surger. How to modify clothes to make
them fit. No School Monday (Professional Development)
7) Developing more crafting and creating skills. Intro to silkscreening and t-
Oct 12-15 shirt design. How to create effective and marketable images and logos
for your startup company. Developing business plan(s).
8) More crafting skills. Intro to knitting and crocheting, dying and tie-dying
Oct 19-22 fabrics to bring them back to life, making bags, backpacks, purses,
shoes, etc. Elements of design. Craftsmanship and making quality things
to sell. Planning and promoting our big event.
9) Using our time efficiently and effectively to create our wares. Making
Oct 26-29 stuff and creating as much as we can to show off and to possibly sell.
Refining our crafts and logos, marketing, and finishing up our business
plans. No Class Thursday (Half-Day)
10) Expanding the marketplace by selling online. Using our websites to
Nov 2-5 connect with people and turn a profit. Continue to work and create
goods for our big event. Planning our event and getting the community
involved.
11) Unit culminating event: preparing for and putting on our community-
Nov 9-12 wide recycled crafts and fashion show. It’s show time… No School
Wednesday (Veterans Day)
12) Part 2: Intro to the bicycle. Parts of the bike. Different types of bikes.
Nov 16-19 Modes of transportation and eco-travel. Bicycle safety and proper riding
technique. What is the Reno Bike Project? How did it get started? What
are its goals?
13) The Build a Bike Program. Turning junk into good stuff. Basic bike
Nov 23-26 maintenance. How to tune up your ride. How to put together a bike from
scratch. Parts and accessories that you need to have. Bicycle safety. No
School Thursday (Thanksgiving)
14) Continue learning about bike building, tuning, and maintenance. The
Nov 30 - Dec tools of the trade. How to true a wheel. Working as a team to completely
3 finish building our bikes.
15) Other types of bikes. Tall bikes, monster bikes, bike carts, the
Dec 7-10 septocycle, how to design and create new things from old. Reusing and
recycling unwanted materials.
16) Advanced topics in bicycle design and fabrication. Materials, welding,
Dec 14-17 specs, components, etc. Begin to plan our community-wide bicycle
event.
17) Continue to work on our bikes and finishing them up for our big event.
Jan 4-7 Planning our event and getting the community involved. How to
promote our event? How to get the community involved.
18) Unit culminating event: preparing for and putting on our community-
Jan 11-14 wide bicycle party: bike games, prizes, alley cat race, barbeque, etc. It’s
party time.
19) Last week of the semester. Finish portfolios and websites. Course
Jan 18-21 reflection and evaluation. What didn’t we quite get to? What do we want
to do next semester in here? No School Monday (Martin Luther King, Jr.
Day), No Class Thursday (Half-Day)
Grading Policy and Assessment: This interdisciplinary course of study is worth
approximately 2500 points. It is worth 1 high school elective credit per semester.
Point Breakdown:
Attendance and Participation – 500 points
Completed Work Folder – 500 points
- includes notes, journal entries, website updates, mini-projects, quizzes, and other
classwork.
Major Group and Solo Projects and Presentations – 500 points
Completed Rainshadow Online Portfolio – 500 points
Club Attendance and Participation – 500 points
Portfolio Contents: You will submit components from this course into your Rainshadow
portfolio that will showcase your work for the full semester course of study. Your portfolio
will contain your best work from this class and will be a demonstration of your skills and
growth as a Rainshadow CCHS student. It will be expected that your major projects and
several other pieces of work from this class will be components of your portfolio.