Teaching the next generation of park stewards
At the traditional homeland of the Piscataway People, Accokeek Foundation school programs are designed using Culturally Relevant Pedagogy to make sure that all students (1) engage in academically rigorous curriculum and learning, (2) feel affirmed in their identities and experiences, and (3) develop the knowledge and skills to critically engage the world and others.
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By weaving together these three key strands, we are committed to providing meaningful, land-based educational experiences that strengthen students' in-class understanding as well as foster a wholistic connection to place.
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Student Learning & Academic Rigor
Curriculum Alignment
All our programs are aligned to the newest MSDE curriculum standards. Topics in social studies and environmental literacy reinforce classroom content and enhance in-class achievement. By interweaving often siloed subjects, students strengthen understanding in each discipline and grow through wholistic learning.
Land-based Education
Piscataway Park is full of abundant waters, still marshes, rich soils, and sheltering forests home to many native plants and animals. The Land itself tells vital ecological and cultural stories for those who listen. Through outdoor classroom experiences, school programs provide unique place-based opportunities for students to learn from the place they call home.
Cultural Competence
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Piscataway Land
Piscataway people have been here for millennia and are still here, but Piscataway perspectives often go untaught at school. For the many Indigenous students in the region, their identities feel erased and undervalued. With support from Piscataway tribal partners, school programs are designed to both make sure Indigenous students see themselves in their education, and make sure non-Indigenous students have the cultural competence to be good guests on Piscataway Land.
Interconnected Stories
At Accokeek Foundation, we recognize the many communities that have shaped this Land. From the Indigenous Piscataway, to the enslaved and free Black people, to the European settlers, school programs explore how our histories, and futures, are inherently interconnected. By learning about the diverse cultures of this Land, all students can see themselves reflected in their educations while recognizing other cultural connections that make this land special.
Sociopolitical Consciousness
Local Issues
Our programs are designed to give students the context and frameworks to understand the critical environmental and social issues of this Land. Topics like invasive species, river pollution, colonization, over-development, and food sovereignty are all centered throughout the learning process. Students are encouraged to see themselves as positive change-makers in their community.
Critical Thinking
Educators present information through interactive heritage materials that engage students' senses and provoke thought. Through interactive activities, students are encouraged to think critically about complex historical and ecological topics and present their ideas to their peers.
Flagship Program: Land Echoes
This Land remembers. Wetlands remember when beaver dams kept them sheltered; plants remember when forests were stewarded with care; waters remember when shad filled their river mouths; and we, the people, are remembering that all life on this Land is interconnected.
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In this interactive educational experience, students seek to understand the perspective of people from Southern Maryland's history: an English fur trader in 1645, a Piscataway tenant farmer in 1770, and an African American waterman in 1890. Despite being from different cultures and eras, students will learn how our struggles on this Land echo each other. By weaving together Environmental Literacy, Social Studies, and Life and Earth Sciences through hands-on activities, students will strengthen their understanding of the complex relationships that sustain all life and come to know how stories from this Land continue to echo into the future.
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Key Concepts: Interconnection, Place-based Environmental Issues, Colonization, Indigenous Peoples, Enslavement, Responsibility
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Grades: 4-9
Built for Teachers
Land Echoes is designed to align with the classroom! On the Land, interconnected subjects echo and reinforce each other.
Environmental
Literacy & NGSS
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Standard 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
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S1.G3-5. A/B/C, S2.G3-5. A/B/C/D, S3.G3-5. A/B/C, S4.G3-5. A/B/C, S5.G3-5. A/B/C/D
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Life Science: LS1, LS2, LS4, Earth and Space Science: ESS2
Social Studies
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Standard 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
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Grade 4: Unit 1 (Worlds Collide 1450-1650), Unit 2 (Resistance, Colonization, and European Expansion in North America 1500-1650), Unit 3 (American Revolution 1750-1789)
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Grade 5: Unit 2 (Challenges of a New and Expanding Nation 1800-1900)
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Grade 6 & 7: Unit 1 (Geographic Thinking), Unit 2 (Human Interaction with the Environment), Unit 6 (Human Systems - Economic Systems), Unit 8 (Regional Case Study of Geographic Thinking)
Social & Emotional
Learning
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Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decision-Making
Additional Programs
Cultivating Our Roots
​Learn what the terms “native,” “non-native,” and “invasive” mean, and why they matter. Connect to nature and observe the interactions between members of our ecosystem.
Students will learn what effects the actions of gardeners of years past continue to have on our world, and how we can have a better relationship with our environment. Through rediscovering our place in nature, students will learn environmental literacy, social studies, science, and the fundamentals of Social Emotional Learning.
Grade 2-10
Storytime
Enjoy books, songs, movement and fun that entertain and educate your littles! Hands-on 18th-century history, native plants, Indigenous and African storytelling, and farm-to-table while helping young children develop their early literacy skills. Available both onsite and in classrooms.
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Pre-K-2nd
Piscataway Park: Worlds Collide
The Piscataway Park: Worlds Collide tour uses a hands-on learning approach to foster a deeper understanding of the historical interactions between people and the land. The tour employs Piscataway Park as an outdoor classroom and utilizes place-based learning to educate students on the interconnectedness of humans, the environment, and each other. Students gain knowledge about pre-contact Piscataway culture and history, early colonial life, and contemporary environmental issues. The tour highlights how everything within a habitat plays a role in maintaining its health. Hands-on activities allow students to learn how human actions can have both a positive and negative impact on their environment and each other. ​
Grade 2-12
Wild Rice
Enter a wetland ecosystem to get to know some edible native wetland plants. Learn how Indigenous relationships with plants and animals, like Wild Rice, have traditionally fed peoples of millennia, and work to restore local Wild Rice populations.
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Grade 7, PGCPS MWEE*
