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Jun

26

Raising Awareness Through Service Learning:

Filed Under Activities, Place-based Education, Resources, Service learning, Social studies | Leave a Comment

dscf1660aCitizens for a Healthy Bay’s Junior Bay Ranger Program

By Katrina Landau

In 2003, the Washington State Legislature passed ESHB 1466 that established the Natural Science, Wildlife and Environmental Education Partnership Grant program under the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).   In the 2005-2006 inaugural year, Citizens for a Healthy Bay (CHB), a Tacoma based 501c3 organization, was one of the recipients.
This innovative partnership was created to promote “proven and innovative natural science, wildlife and environmental education programs that include instruction about renewable resources, responsible use of resources and conservation.” Read more

Jun

12

Why Care About Pollinators?

Filed Under Biological Diversity, Resources, Science, Service learning | Leave a Comment

monarch1Many people think only of allergies when they hear the word pollen. But pollination — the transfer of pollen grains to fertilize the seed-producing ovaries of flowers — is an essential part of a healthy ecosystem. Pollinators play a significant role in the production of over 150 food crops in the United States — among them apples, alfalfa, almonds, blueberries, cranberries, kiwis, melons, pears, plums, and squash.

Bees, both managed honey bees and native bees, are the primary pollinators. However, more than 100,000 invertebrate species, including bees, moths, butterflies, beetles, and flies, serve as pollinators — as well as 1,035 species of vertebrates, including birds, mammals, and reptiles. In the United States, the annual benefit of managed honey bees to consumers is estimated at $14.6 billion. The services provided by native pollinators further contribute to the productivity of crops as well as to the survival and reproduction of many native plants.

However, long-term population trends for some North American pollinators are “demonstrably downward,” says a new report from the National Research Council1.

Observable decreases in wild populations of bees, butterflies, and moths are of great concern to producers of fruits, vegetables, nuts, alfalfa, and flowers. These crops depend on wild and domestic pollinators. Growers in California, Florida, Arizona, Utah, Washington, and Hawaii are especially concerned. More important is the disturbing notion of an imbalance in the natural ecosystem and biodiversity on which all food production depends. Habitat loss for pollinators by human activity poses an immediate and frequently irreversible threat. Other factors responsible for population decreases include invasive plant species, broad-spectrum pesticide use, disease, and weather.

For the most part, the general public is unaware of the decrease in pollinator populations and the implications this has for agricultural production. The Nature’s Partners: Pollinators, Plants, and You curriculum is designed to educate young people about

  • pollinators and the important role they play in providing many of the foods we eat and the plant fiber used in our clothing and household goods, and
  • ways they can help pollinators survive and flourish by protecting and creating pollinator-friendly habitat.

The Nature’s Partners curriculum is just one step toward increasing the public’s awareness and sense of responsibility that are essential to a successful conservation program for pollinators.

Go to curriculum

Jun

9

A Zoo is a Great Educational Tool

Filed Under Activities, Biological Diversity, Perspectives, Programs, Science, Sustainability | Leave a Comment

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by Rex Ettlin
Education Program Coordinator
Oregon Zoo

First I have to tip my hat in apology to aquariums, wildlife parks and educational farms. Since I work in a zoo that’s what I can talk about. But the idea of a zoo as an effective educational tool applies equally well to all non-formal educational settings, such as art museums, science museums, nature parks or natural areas. Teachers who have access to any of these should definitely include them in their toolbox.

A zoo’s paramount purpose is to promote wildlife conservation. A zoo exists to educate. Research happens, recreation happens, but above all is the intent to educate. The educational potential is at its greatest with a professional educator designing a learning activity to use at the zoo. The zoo is a great tool and it’s at its best when a real artisan is using it, a classroom teacher who has designed focused activities connected to a long-term curriculum.

Read more

Apr

21

Graffiti, Homelessness and Asthma: Facilitating Student-Powered Urban Environmental Education

Filed Under Activities, Perspectives, Place-based Education, Programs, Resources, Science | Leave a Comment

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By Shamu Fenyvesi Sadeh
Portland State University, Center for Learning and Teaching West (NSF)

If students were asked to define “environment” and “community” what would they come up with? What would it look like if students designed their own methods for investigating community environmental issues? What would it mean if the teacher encouraged students to make connections between what they know about their neighborhood and scientific concepts such as diesel particulate pollution and carcinogens?

These are the central questions guiding a collaborative research and teaching project between an eighth-grade science teacher in a Northeast Portland middle school and myself, a long-time environmental educator turned doctoral student.

Our goal is to empower students to make connections between personal knowledge and environmental learning in ways that promote participation and learning in science class. To be responsive to the students’ interests and to facilitate our own continual learning, we use the model of action research – a spiral process of planning, implementation, evaluation and re-planning. The general approach of our plan-as-we-go curriculum is to get students involved in learning about and acting on community environmental issues of their choosing.

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