Spring 1997 Table of Contents

• Recognition from Our Peers – PLT Receives Top EE Award
• New Secondary Level Module on THE CHANGING FOREST: FOREST ECOLOGY
• PLT in the City – Richmond Begins, New Orleans Grows
• Student Page – Visitor for a Day Cards
• Activity – Eliminating Microorganisms from Water
• Resource Page
• National Update

Recognition from Our Peers�PLT Receives Top EE Award

NAAEE is an organization of more than 2,500 environmental educators in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. It is respected by industry, government, and environmental groups for its professionalism, objectivity, and strong programs. An award from NAAEE is a highly sought after honor.

Recognition by the EE field's professional organization makes this award particularly significant, according to Kathy McGlauflin, PLT national director. "It means that you�PLT educators, facilitators, state coordinators, partners, and other supporters-have received one of the highest honors in the environmental education field," she said. "Without PLT's network of educators, facilitators, and other partners, PLT simply would not be the success that it is."

The Outstanding Service Award recognizes an organization's contributions and service to environmental education and its efforts in promoting and providing EE leadership. In presenting the award, NAAEE President Deborah Simmons recognized PLT's efforts to continuously improve the practice of environmental education over the past twenty.

The American Forest Foundation, which manages and cosponsors PLT, accepted the NAAEE on behalf of the PLT network. In so doing, AFF recognized the unique partnership that has allowed PLT to flourish over the past two decades. "The NAAEE award is a special honor for us," said McGlauflin "because it recognizes that the keys to good environmental education are people and partnerships."

The NAAEE Outstanding Service Award recognizes the effort made by thousands of volunteers from the business, education, and conservation communities. Thanks to you all for your role in PLT's continued success!

New Secondary Level Module on THE CHANGING FOREST: FOREST ECOLOGY

The module is intended for grades 9 through 12, and can also be adapted for middle-school use. Like all PLT materials, the new module stresses hands-on learning through experiments, role playing, and exploration. Its content correlates to topics in math, science, social studies, and other subjects.

THE CHANGING FOREST includes both outdoor and indoor activities. Educators can use one, several, or all of the activities with their students, and can do so in whichever order best suits their needs.

In Adopt-a-Forest, students explore and observe a local forest (park, vacant lot, or other area) and identify the biological and structural diversity found within a forested ecosystem.

Students return to the forest in the second activity, Cast of Thousands, to take scientific measurements and look at various factors that affect forest health.

The Nature of Plants guides students through experiments that result in their discovering optimum growing conditions for plants and for whole forests.

In Home Sweet Home, students learn about the harmful and beneficial effects of exotic (introduced, non-native species of plants).

As its name suggests, the fifth activity, Saga of the Gypsy Moth, concentrates on the gypsy moth, another type of exotic species. Students investigate different control options and make decisions similar to those that local officials must make when there are gypsy moth outbreaks.

Students explore ecological succession in the Story of Succession. They learn how succession is affected by wind, fire, disease, and human intervention.

The last two activities deal with fire. Understanding Fire and Fire Management allow students to examine the controversial issues involved in forest fire management.

THE CHANGING FOREST joins two other recent PLT secondary-level publications: EXPLORING ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES: FOCUS ON FORESTS and THE INTRODUCTORY HANDBOOK FOR THE SECONDARY MODULES.

PLT in the City—Richmond Begins, New Orleans Grows

Through a localized, community based approach, PLT in the City trains educators and community leaders to use PLT materials in an urban context. "In an urban community, there is very little opportunity for students to get an appreciation of what is happening in the environment around them," said Roland Moore, Arts and Sciences Division Chair at Richmond's J. Sargent Reynolds Community College. "We hope to change that, by working with a diverse steering committee and working with the Richmond Public Schools."

Responsibility for PLT in Virginia is shared by the Virginia Department of Forestry, Virginia Forestry Association, and Virginia Polytechnic and State University. To implement the Richmond program, the state coordinators partnered with J. Sargent Reynolds Community College. Funding comes from The Community Foundation, which serves Richmond and Central Virginia, and the Chesapeake Corporation, a forest products company headquartered in Richmond.

The steering committee will include representatives from the community organizations, state and local agencies, foundations, and area colleges. "Several community organizations committed to the well-being of youth are reviewing the curricula to see how they can help make PLT happen," said Moore. "The idea is for them to see that PLT is a vehicle for reaching and helping youth." The steering committee will take ownership of the PLT program in Richmond providing program direction, securing a commitment from school and government agencies, and seeking local funding to sustain the program in the future.

In addition to Richmond, PLT in the City will extend to other urban areas in 1997.

New Orleans Update
PLT in the City, which started in New Orleans in 1995 with a startup grant from the American Forest Foundation, is still going strong! More than 250 teachers have participated in PLT workshops and have reached more than 6,000 students with the PLT curriculum. This year, Diliard University's Center for Continuing Education received a grant from the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for over $23,000 to conduct PLT workshops for 315 Orleans Parish teachers.

The PLT coordinators in New Orleans have created vital partnerships with the educational and business communities, both to train teachers and to expose school administrators and community members to PLT's potential to benefit Orleans Parish students.

Resources

Chlorine Chemistry Education
Try using Chlorine and Chlorine compounds as a way of introducing your students to building block chemistry without tackling the whole periodic table at once. The Chlorine Chemistry Council can help by providing assorted activities and materials. For more information contact: Chemistry Education Program, 1901 L Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 452-9493. See also the sample activity.

NAAEE's 1997 Earth Day Special
To help students (grades 4 and up) make exciting discoveries and explore biodiversity, NAAEE has two special offers from March through May 1997: INSECT NET KITS and ANIMALS IN A GRASSLAND. The INSECT NET KITS cost $6 and include 5 mesh-bags and instructions for making an insect net. ANIMALS IN A GRASSLAND provides step-by-step directions for leading your class in a schoolyard investigation for only $5. Prices include shipping and handling. Mail your order, check and shipping-address to: NAAEE Membership Services, PO Box 400, Troy, OH 45373.

Banana Slug String Band
Having students learn about the environment, science and ecology through music, movement, theater, and puppetry is what the Banana Slug String Band is all about. This musical group has 5 recordings (CD and cassette) available for educators. Songbooks and a full length video, DANCING WITH THE EARTH, accompany each recording. Or you can see them perform live by booking them for your next school assembly or teacher workshop. For ordering recordings contact.—Banana Slug String Band, PO Box 2262, Santa Cruz, CA 95063; (408) 476-5776, or for booking information call (408) 423-7807.

Grants and Grant Writing Help Available
The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse (ENC) has an entire section devoted to grant opportunities. Their "Professional Resources Section" lists Federal and non-Federal grants, links to grant databases, tips on how to write grants, and lists of places and descriptions of programs that fund educational projects. If interested, log onto: http://web.fie.com/cwa/sra/resource.html

National Update

New PLT Spanish Translations Now Available!
The Spanish Translations of the Pre K-8 Activity Guide Student Pages and Glossary is now available to educators! If you are a trained PLT educator and are interested in receiving the new Spanish Translations, they are available from the national PLT office for $5.00 including shipping and handling. To order a copy, please call (202) 463-2462, or fax your name, address, and phone number and number of copies you want to purchase to (202) 463-2461.

NWF and PLT partner in the Adirondaks
The National Wildlife Federation and PLT are offering a joint Educator Symposium at the Conservation Summit in Silver Bay, New York, July 5-11, 1997. Teaching materials available through the Symposium will include general ecology, forest ecology, solid waste, urban wildlife, and environmental issues. If you are interested in learning more about the Summit or Educator Symposium, please contact NWF at (800) 245-5484 or via e-mail: outdoors@nwf.org.

PLT at the NAAEE Annual Conference
PLT will be exhibiting and involved in various sessions at the NAAEE Annual Conference. This year's Conference WEAVING CONNECTIONS: CULTURES AND ENVIRONMENTS, is being held in Vancouver, British Columbia August 15-19. The conference will focus on cultural issues and their environmental impacts as they relate to the worlds of education and communication. If you are interested in attending the conference, contact: Janet Thoreen, NAAEE, PO Box 400, Troy, OH 45373; phone and fax (513) 676-2514 or e-mail: jthoreen@igc.apc.org.