By Vanessa Bullwinkle

For 35 years, Project Learning Tree has provided educators with quality curriculum materials and professional development to teach students how to think, not what to think about the environment.  But, PLT doesn't just increase student awareness of environmental issues through classroom studies.  It helps students develop their critical thinking skills and transfer their knowledge into positive environmental action in schools and communities.

Through its GreenWorks! service-learning program, for example, PLT provides grants for students to "learn by doing" in hands-on projects that improve an aspect of their community's environment.

Now, PLT's GreenSchools! program www.pltgreenschools.org  (a new national initiative in partnership with USDA Forest Service and Learn and Serve America) combines environmental education, service learning, and leadership opportunities for students to reduce the ecological footprint of their school, and turn their school into a model GreenSchool!  The program provides a blueprint for educators, students, environmental and health advocates, school board members, parents, and interested community members to teach, learn, and engage together in creating a more green and healthy learning environment at their school.

"PLT's comprehensive GreenSchools! initiative helps students become environmentally literate by using their own built and natural environment as a learning laboratory," said Al Stenstrup, Director of Education Programs for Project Learning Tree at the American Forest Foundation.  "The program engages the whole school community and is centered around student leaders making a positive change for the school and the environment, for today and tomorrow."

Schools are the place to teach students to be environmental stewards
More than one in six people who live in the United States - 55 million children, teachers, and staff members - spend their days in K-12 schools. As PLT has known and practiced for 35 years, schools are the place to teach students to be environmental stewards.

"It is extremely important to help conserve our planet's energy and we can all make huge differences by changing little things in our school," said Chloe Hart, a 6th grade student at St. Michael Lutheran School in Fort Meyers, FL.  "Everyone can help in their own way, whether it is recycling a newspaper, or changing your light bulbs to CFLs."

PLT GreenSchools! uses service-learning to connect students and their classroom curriculum to complex and challenging environmental issues, both inside school buildings and outside on school grounds.

Through hands-on exercises and service-learning projects, students gain an increased awareness and understanding about environmental issues, the importance of sustainability in their own neighborhood, and their own role and responsibility to protect and improve their community and the environment.  Since projects are student-driven and student-led, students develop their leadership skills and gain a sense of empowerment and ownership of the projects they lead to green their school.

Joseph Alva, a teacher at Jackson Middle School in Houston, TX, said, "Jackson's Green Team members have taken their leadership roles very seriously. They formed a club called 'Energy Busters.' Each member has learned about responsibility by meeting weekly and working with other members to meet the goals of the project. They have spread the word to other students and to teachers about daily waste by going into classrooms and doing energy investigations. These investigations have helped them recruit other students to join the team and help save energy for our school."

April Flowers, the principal of Melcher Elementary/Middle School in Kansas City, MO, agrees.  "Our students have strengthened their leadership skills and developed a sense of school pride through having a genuine voice in the development and implementation of our organic school garden. They are truly excited about the ability to grow their own food."

PLT's GreenSchools! program has three primary components:
- professional development training
- a set of GreenSchools! Investigations
- service-learning projects

Professional development training
Teachers and student leaders are trained through a PLT professional development workshop to ensure they are prepared to help their GreenSchools! teams effectively conduct and implement PLT's GreenSchools! Investigations (GSI's) and, using the results of the investigations, help their teams select, design, and implement appropriate service-learning projects. Training provides the school's faculty, staff, and students with the knowledge and skills they need to transform their school into a PLT GreenSchool! as well as integrate environmental education and Project Learning Tree activities into their curriculum.

"One of the most unique aspects of PLT's GreenSchools! Initiative is the professional development that's designed for both faculty and students.  They learn about the investigations together - side-by-side - which is a powerful tool in building a school's Green Team," said James McGirt, Manager of PLT's GreenSchools! program for Project Learning Tree.

PLT materials and the GreenSchools! Investigations are designed to supplement existing curricula to help teachers teach what they're supposed to teach, and PLT materials are aligned with and support the educational standards that state standardized tests evaluate.

GreenSchools! Investigations (GSI's)

A set of five investigations enable students to examine their school's energy use, waste and recycling, water consumption, school site, and environmental quality. Through hands-on investigations and analysis, students and teachers are investigating:

- How much energy their school uses, and the main sources of energy for their school.
- How much waste their school generates, and where the waste goes, as well as recycling and composting efforts.
- The source, cost, and quality of their school's water supply, and water conservation practices at their school.
- How the school site/grounds can be modified to make a safer, healthier, and "greener" learning environment.
- The environmental quality of their school to discover where improvements can be made in areas such as indoor air quality, transportation, and chemical hazards.

A Project Learning Tree National Advisory Team (composed of resource professionals, educators, school administrators, student leaders, and facilities staff) guided the development of two sets of five GSI's, one set for elementary schools, another set for middle and high schools. Each investigation, designed to be conducted by students and school staff, includes:

- Background about the topic and a series of questions that guide students in evaluating environmental conditions at their school and thinking critically about ways to reduce their school's environmental footprint.
- Suggestions for collecting baseline data using monitoring equipment (for example, light meters, watt meters, temperature probes, infrared thermometers, and CO2 monitors).
- Ideas for possible action items that might be implemented by the school.

Service-learning projects
As a result of conducting the GreenSchools! Investigations, students create an action plan, undertake a service-learning project to improve one or more aspects of their school environment, and measure the results. To help students implement their action plans, GreenWorks! service-learning environmental action grants ranging from $500-$5,000 may be awarded to GreenSchools! teams through an online grant selection process (depending on funding available from the American Forest Foundation, the national sponsor of Project Learning Tree, and our partners and supporters.) 

Service-learning projects include installing vegetable and native plant gardens, building outdoor classrooms, instituting recycling, energy conservation and alternative energy projects, and more.  An important criteria for receiving a GreenSchool! certificate is a plan by the school to maintain the GreenSchools! projects on a long-term basis to provide continual educational and environmental benefits to students, teachers, and the community.

Project Learning Tree thanks our national sponsors, the U.S. Forest Service and Learn and Serve America, a program of the Corporation for National & Community Service, who are helping make the PLT GreenSchools! program possible.

Register to get started
Register your school at www.pltgreenschools.org to receive free access to the GreenSchools! Investigations online, and learn more about the steps to take to become a recognized PLT GreenSchool!  For more information, contact James McGirt, manager of PLT's GreenSchools! program, at jmcgirt@forestfoundation.org.