Press Room

The Project Learning Tree® (PLT) Press Room is a resource for media, journalists, and communication professionals interested in learning more about environmental education in the United States. With more than 500,000 educators trained and using PLT environmental education materials in their classrooms, we can provide you with spokespersons, arrange interviews, discuss curriculum specifics, direct you to state or country PLT Coordinators, and provide additional information about PLT.

Developed in 1976, PLT helps students learn how to think, not what to think, about the environment. PLT, a program of the American Forest Foundation, partners with international, national, state and local partners. PLT is one of the most widely used environmental education programs in the United States and abroad.

2011 is International Year of Forests!  To celebrate, use PLT's specially designed "Environmental Exchange Box" activity.

Use our specially designed PLT Activity 20 “Environmental Exchange Box” with grades K-8, to help students learn more about their local forests, forests across the country, and forests around the globe. Please visit our online newsletter, The Branch, to read more.

2010 National Project Learning Tree Outstanding Educators: Environmental Education Benefits Student Learning

Five educators who use environmental education to spur students’ enthusiasm to learn were named the 2010 National Outstanding Educators by Project Learning Tree®, the environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation.
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PLT Gets Kids Outdoors with New Early Childhood Curriculum

Just as more attention is being focused on the need to connect students to nature at a younger age, Project Learning Tree has released a new curriculum guide and music CD to engage children ages 3 to 6 in outdoor exploration and play.  Eleven field-tested, hands-on activities showcase over 130 “early childhood experiences” which integrate investigations of nature with art, literature, math, music, and movement.
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Meet Us Outside! A Field Ecology Course to Engage All Students in Exploring Environmental Issues

This article by Olivia Griset, 2009 PLT National Outstanding Educator, was published in the February 2010 “Going Green” issue of The Science Teacher, the peer-reviewed high school journal of the National Science Teachers Association (http://www.nsta.org/highschool/).  The article includes the adapted activity “Cast of Thousands” from PLT’s secondary module The Changing Forest: Forest Ecology.  For more information, contact iaoun@forestfoundation.org.

An experiential environmental education course primarily using the school grounds as a field site was designed as an elective at Lisbon High School in Lisbon Falls, Maine, in 2005. Since then, the class has attracted diverse learners and regularly has a waiting list. While the school’s setting does facilitate the logistics of outdoor learning, it is this teacher’s belief that field-based experience benefits students no matter the size and ecology of the available site. Community experts, including a forester and woodlot owner, have helped make the learning relevant, and have also served as real-world role models for “green” careers. At-risk students normally disengaged in traditional classroom and lab settings have excelled in the course, many going on to take three or four science electives. Discussions about current environmental controversies in the state and service learning opportunities have also emerged as students conduct field investigations.

Learning and Serving through Environmental Education - Project Learning Tree Awards 33 Service-Learning Grants in 23 States

Washington, D.C. – Project Learning Tree (PLT), the national environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation, announced that it will fund 33 projects that engage students in service-learning projects that improve the environment of their schools and surrounding communities.
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Project Learning Tree in the News!

A recent article in Newsweek discussed the importance of incorporating sustainability into education and how eco-education does not necessarily have to be expensive. Project Learning Tree was suggested as an ideal program to reach those objectives.
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Environmental Education Saves the Day

Becoming a Project Learning Tree-certified school unified faculty, boosted student achievement, and saved one school from closure.
In just over five years, the results at Oil City Elementary, Louisiana have been dramatic.  Enrollment and test scores are up.  Staff, students, and parents are energized.  The community has been revitalized.  The school is receiving national recognition for its improvement.

>>>Read the full article published in the April 2007 issue of NSTA's Science & Children magazine.