The environmental education trend for the 90s is to spend time in a specific watershed, "adopt" an endangered species, grow a tree from a seedling, or sample a stream and study its biodiversity. The idea is to awaken young minds to the meaning of an ecosystem, and to motivate them to care, beginning in kindergarten or first grade.
"These are the formative years for children's attitudes toward the environment and being good stewards. This is where the investment has to be," said Bill Andrews, science and environmental education programs consultant for the California Department of Education (CDE).
This year, the CDE, the Resources Agency, and the California Environmental Protection Agency formed the California Environmental Education Inter agency Network (CEEIN). It integrates previously competing environmental education outreach programs into a unified comprehensive educational effort to give children a "big picture" look at the environment. The three agencies, along with representatives from their departments, boards, and commissions meet monthly to develop and enhance environ mental education efforts by providing a forum to share resources, programs and products.
The CEEIN is working with the Walt Disney Co. to develop "Environmentality," a school educational program and contest to be introduced in the fall to more than 300,000 fifth grade students throughout California. The program is designed to encourage and recognize each student for thinking and acting environmentally at school and at home. Ultimately, 40 students will win a special day in their honor at Disneyland on Earth Day 1995.
Another environmental education booster is the California Executive Council on Biological Diversity, which encourages development of curricula that in crease awareness of biodiversity and links ecological, economic and social themes. (See council membership, page 11.)
An array of programs for students and teachers are in use or starting up. Some, like Adopt-A-Watershed, and a new model curriculum developed by CDE - "A Child's Place in the Environment" - focus on students' acquiring a deeper understanding of their surroundings and a desire to become involved. Others, such as Project Reach, Project Learning Tree, and Project WILD, are designed for educators. All have in common a hands-on approach that gets students and teachers more directly involved.
"There's a much greater emphasis on kids constructing meaning for them selves, because environmental education is broader than just science," Andrews said. "It asks, 'How does this apply to your life? What's your role in what you've learned? How can you get involved?" We're challenging students to engage in higher levels of thinking, such as inferring, applying, or designing an experiment."
Environmental education programs
include:
Project Reach
Fifth and sixth graders from low-in
come and urban areas will have an opportunity to visit a state park or other state environmental resource under Project Reach, a public-private partnership of the Resources Agency, Department of Parks and Recreation, and Levine and Fricke, an environmental engineering firm. Participating partners will provide for transportation and guides at each site, and the program is estimated to cost the state less than $20 per student.
Pilot field trips for nearly 1,000 students were highly successful. Los Angeles students visited Topanga State Park near Woodland Hills, and classes from East Palo Alto, San Francisco, Daly City and Oakland visited Ano Nuevo State Reserve south of Half Moon Bay. With the help of additional private partners, Project Reach will enable 50,000 sixth graders to experience the wilderness of a state park. Later, the program will expand to include other state and local facilities. For more information contact Dan Abeyta, Department of Parks and Recreation, 916-653-8380.
A Child's Place in the Environment
Currently being implemented, "A Child's Place in the Environment" is a model curriculum for grades 1-6 that integrates environmental education with history, social science, writing, and performing arts.
"It's the first time we've had a curriculum with this approach," Andrews said. "It gives teachers enough information to be confident about teaching it, motivates students, challenges preconceptions, and provides hands-on experience. We will have a whole new generation who understand their impacts on ecosystems and bioregions and how to enhance and preserve the quality of their environment."
Like most other school environmental education programs, "A Child's Place in the Environment" is funded by the state Environmental License Plate Fund. It has been field tested in 100 schools and is expected to be ready for general use by fall.
Adopt-A-Watershed
Adopt-A-Watershed, a program catching on in Northern California and San Diego, begins with a simple, but meaningful act: a kindergarten child plants a seedling in a watershed near the school and tags it as his or her own.
Five-year-olds learn the basics of ecosystem and biodiversity awareness. Over the next 12 years, the complexity increases with each grade level as students revisit the watershed, learning about wildlife, soils and aquatic ecosystems, and measuring growth of seedlings into trees. Time is divided among classroom, field studies, environmental restoration projects, and community interaction.
The program, now in its second year, is offered in 59 schools by 230 teachers to some 6,900 students, and is part of the core science curricula. It started in the Trinity River basin and is - or soon will be - in 13 counties.
"A major goal of educating kids in how to take care of their watershed is to help foster a sense of stewardship within our communities," said Kim Stokely, state director of the program. "We have found a common ground where industry, government agencies, and children can work together."
Adopt-A-Watershed was developed as a model of school-based collaboration among educators, industry, government, and the community that matched teachers with resource professionals. For more information contact Kim Stokely, P.O. Box 356, Hayfork, CA, 96041.
Project Learning Tree
One of the nation's best known environmental education programs, Project Learning Tree, operates workshops to train educators how to stimulate students to think critically and creatively about the environment as a whole.
"We put tools in their hands and show them how to use them, but leave it to their judgment how best to implement it in their classrooms," said Kay Antunez, Project Learning Tree coordinator. The program is sponsored statewide by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for teachers from preschool through 12th grade. It provides ready-made, action-oriented lessons and activities to supplement the regular curricula. For more information contact Kay Antunez, Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, P.O. Box 944246, Sacramento, CA 94244-2460.
Project WILD
Classroom teachers and wildlife experts teamed up to produce a supplementary program to help students from kindergarten through high school develop an awareness and appreciation of wildlife.
They learn about wildlife and human values, ecological systems, management and conservation, and issues and trends, and culminate their learning with action -oriented projects.
"We want to get the kids involved so they don't feel removed from the environment, but a part of it, connected and involved," said Elena Tarailo, Project WILD coordinator for the Department of Fish and Game, which sponsors the project.
A national program, Project WILD's workshops are open to educators, including youth group leaders. For more information contact Elena Tarailo, Department of Fish and Game, 1416 Ninth St., Room 1206-20, Sacramento, CA 95814.
A sampling of some other programs:
Nature Bowl - A regional environmental science competition for grades 4-6 in 13 counties in the Sacramento Valley, Sierra foothills and Delta, sponsored by the state Department of Fish and Game's Natural Heritage Di vision. For more information contact Bruce Forman, Department of Fish and Game, 1701 Nimbus Rd., Rancho Cordova, CA, 95670.
Natural Resources Academy - Bureau of Land Management (BLM) staff specialists help teach students about nature in a variety of outreach programs. One of these is the Natural Resources Academy, which opens young eyes to career opportunities in natural resource management. For more information contact Patricia Foulk, BLM, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA, 95825.
Vista del Lago - The Department of Water Resources opened a visitors center on Interstate 5 overlooking Pyramid Lake last Nov. 15 that features hands-on educational displays, including the use of water in the home, industry and agriculture, water treatment for public use, and the operation of the 600-mile State Water Project. For more information contact Jerry Reynolds, Department of Water Resources, 805-294-9206.
Mountains Education Program - A private non-profit program that offers services for people of all ages, and helps to provide public access to mountain parks, offers busing for organized groups, naturalists to educate and teach steward ship, volunteer docents, and training of inner-city youth for careers as environmental educators. For more details, call 310-858-3090, or for information about Santa Monica Mountains area parks, call 800-533-PARK.