We have added STEM-based extensions to the Going Green curriculum to facilitate a greater integration of science and foreign language instruction and attract wider circles of participants. (STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. It is similar to the German MINT - Mathematik, Informatik, Naturwissenschaft, Technik.) Current research on CLIL, short for "content and language integrated learning," shows that the conbined teaching of content and a foreign language creates benefits for learners, teachers, and schools. We know today that CLIL learners...

(Dale & Tanner 2012: 11-13)

Introducing CLIL helps schools and teachers think about school subjects in new ways and facilitate curricular renewal and innovation. Science teachers learn about the language aspects of their own subjects, while language teachers explore new relevant application fields of foreign languages. More importantly, perhaps: CLIL encourages teaching faculty to cooperate more closely across disciplines:

Subject and language teachers start to collaborate more, for example on how to work on language in lessons or on cross-curricular projects. And with learners and teachers who have high level communication skills in English, schools are better equipped to participate in and benefit from international educational projects. CLIL also encourages greater collaboration among subject teachers as well as between subject and language teachers.

(Dale & Tanner 2012: 14)

So why combine science and foreign language instruction? Science subjects use language to communicate contents - scientific phenomena are described, explained, and analyzed. In science, different types of multimodal inputs like reports, charts, graphs, and video are common. This content becomes multimodal foreign language input for learners. They learn to express complex scientific findings in academically appropriate ways - they learn to think, talk, and write like scientists (cf. Dale & Tanner 2012: 80).

(For more information, see: Dale, Liz & Tanner, Rosie (2012). CLIL Activities. A Resource for Subject and Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.)

STEM-based contents: Research tasks and eco-challenges

STEM-based curriculum extensions can be found in the content modules on plastic, green cities, food, and fashion in the Going Green e-classroom, where we have added additional research tasks and eco-challenges. Learners are given a choice: to follow a more language-oriented or a science-oriented path.

The new research tasks prompt students to explore the science behind the topic they are investigating. For example, in the course module Plastic // Recycle learners can now investigate the question what is more sustainable – paper or plastic bags. Learners are asked to think in life-cycles, that is, to research how different types of bags are actually produced, what resources are necessary during this production process, and how these bags can be disposed. Finally, learners should return to the initial question and, based on the research findings, assess how environmentally friendly both option are.

The new STEM-based eco-challenges ask students to slip into the role of scientists, that is, to conduct their own research experiments and report about the implications of their findings. This also means that learners must adhere to the basic principles of the scientific method.  For the plastics module, for example, learners can experiment with creating biodegradable plastic from everyday ingredients or they can investigate how people used to go about their daily businesses before the advent of plastics – and thereby re-discover alternatives to this material.

Using Going Green materials for a project week approach

A number of teachers are using the Going Green curriculum in their classes to carry out project days or project weeks. The curriculum is well-suited to facilitate learning in alternative contexts, including workshops or extracurricular settings. To give you an idea of how this can be done, we propose the following procedure (but feel free to experiment with the content and adjust it to you local environment):